Chapman Mt or Timber Peak?

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:59 pm

Yesterday I go to what I thought was the top of Timber Peak and found a register for "Chapman Mt." I can find only one other reference to "Chapman Mt" on the web, and John Robinson doesn't mention it either.

Can anyone tell me what's going on here? According to Google Earth, the location of the Chapman Mt register is short of Timber Peak, though at about the same elevation.

Post by **Taco** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 4:46 pm

Might have been an old name prior to Mt Baldy Resort did the whole "3-T's" thing.

The Chapman Trail goes along it's west flank, connecting with Icehouse.

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:28 pm

Can anyone who has been there tell me what's at the top of Timber Peak? The peak I was on ("Chapman Mt") had a signpost with two wooden signs that had all their lettering weathered off a long time agao, plus the register in the mailbox set into the tree.

It looked like there might have been another summit a little ways beyond after a dip down in the forest, but I didn't see any footprints in the snow.

I'm trying to finish a video and I don't want to look like a doofus getting two mountains mixed up.

From Sierra Club Hundred Peaks Section on Timber Mountain:

Name given by early Sierra Club skiers and hikers (ca. 1930). It was singled out by Walt Wheelock as one of 30 early m peaks with use-names that at that time had "not yet become well established" (1954).

This peak overlooks the Baldy Notch facility of the Mount Baldy Ski Lift Company. They recognized the value of accepting a romantic-sounding local use-name for this peak (1950). With its addition, and the later renaming of the original Mount Harwood to Thunder Mountain by the USBGN, the "three T's" as a dream advertising gimmick were completed (1963).

I found this in the HPS archives, from 2001:

all eleven of us arrived safely atop Timber.

Where we found not one, but two registers! One in a container labeled Chapman Mountain nailed to a tree, another in the usual cairn. Just to be on the safe side, we signed both. (So, does this count as two peaks, Timber and Chapman? Where are the Peak Police when you need them?)

Indeed, where?

He219 · Post by **He219** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:42 pm

simonov wrote:Can anyone who has been there tell me what's at the top of Timber Peak? The peak I was on ("Chapman Mt") had a signpost with two wooden signs that had all their lettering weathered off a long time agao, plus the register in the mailbox set into the tree.

It looked like there might have been another summit a little ways beyond after a dip down in the forest, but I didn't see any footprints in the snow.

I'm trying to finish a video and I don't want to look like a doofus getting two mountains mixed up.

Nope, that's the Summit of Timber Mountain alright.

Chapman Peak is just an older name from the trailblazing days as Taco wrote, changed for the Triple 'T' effect and because it's more descriptive of what you'll find there.

There is no higher point there, or a little ways beyond.
Just down.

Post by **Taco** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 8:12 pm

THat box is probably the most exciting thing about Timber.

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 6:05 am

Thanks, that confirmed it.

Video complete.

Post by **Taco** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:50 pm

Nice video!

Not to be too picky, as you probably know the names now, but the 3-T's are, from N-S:
Thunder Mountain 8587'
Telegraph Peak 8985'
Timber Mountain 8303'

Telegraph is without a doubt the nicest peak, with a small summit proper, but a nice broad south summit with awesome views to the south and west, and lotsa small camping spots. Thunder Mountain gets tons of wind, and has a ski lift on top, so its' significance in an emergency is that you can get back to the lodge rather easily, linking up with a second lift that takes you to the notch from its' base in the Miners Bowl area.

Travis · Post by **Travis** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:57 pm

I enjoyed your video, sort of reminded me of Survivorman.

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:27 am

TacoDelRio wrote:Nice video!

Not to be too picky, as you probably know the names now, but the 3-T's are, from N-S:
Thunder Mountain 8587'
Telegraph Peak 8985'
Timber Mountain 8303'

Did I screw that up? I was delirious after the walk to the Saddle. I'll have to add some subtitles.

Post by **Taco** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:32 am

simonov wrote:
TacoDelRio wrote:Nice video!

Not to be too picky, as you probably know the names now, but the 3-T's are, from N-S:
Thunder Mountain 8587'
Telegraph Peak 8985'
Timber Mountain 8303'
Did I screw that up? I was delirious after the walk to the Saddle. I'll have to add some subtitles.

No worries. I say off-the-wall crap in some of my videos out of physical exertion.

He219 · Post by **He219** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:16 pm

Nice video Mitch.
I like how you captured your arrival from two angles.

I have yet to hit Telescope Peak.
It's like Kyser Sose, the elusive 4th-T.

TacoDelRio wrote: I say off-the-wall crap in some of my videos out of physical exertion.

Exertion; That's what you call it?
Hehe. Seriously, you're the best spontaneous narrator I've met, the Ole' Farmer's Almanac of SoCal Mountaineering.

Post by **Taco** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:28 pm

Thank you, Good Sir!