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duncanlennon
May 12, 2009, 8:12 PM
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Lately there's been some news of an effort to replace the Old Man with a glass 'monument' that would become a tourist attraction. For those who know the cliff better than I do, how stable is the area? I know that whole side of the cliff is exfoliating, and rockfall is frequent, making a large glass structure seem ridiculous. Also, how do the planners intend the tourist public to get there? It's a long hike from both the base and the gondola. Aesthetics aside, it's an engineering nightmare. And aesthetically, well... I'd rather not see it there but it does do a unique form of justice to a state landmark.
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Gmburns2000
May 12, 2009, 8:39 PM
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It won't happen for several reasons. Probably the most important reason is that the people of NH really don't want it. I can't find the link, but I read recently that over 75% of all of those polled in NH said they did not want to rebuild the Old Man, regardless of how it was done (earlier proposals included rocks and not glass). Cannon is a fairly stable place to climb, in my opinion. It gets its reputation as being loose due to the lack of climbing that actually goes on there. However, the rock face is exfoliating and the very large talus field below is a good indication that any sculpture would not last forever. Having said that, to assume it wouldn't last a lifetime is really uneducated. The mountain is falling down, but that doesn't mean it'll collapse over night. The hike from the gondola to where the old man is currently takes about an hour. It could be quicker if a path existed. There is currently no path to the Old Man site from the gondola, though there are hiking paths nearby. The only path that goes directly to the Old Man is the descent trail on that side of the cliff, and it is about as crappy and steep as a dirt descent trail can get. It would take A LOT of work to fix that up for the general public. While I wouldn't want to see the sculpture built, my biggest issue if they did decide to build it would be the proposed waterfall. That would potentially do what to how many climbs?
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ckirkwood9
May 12, 2009, 8:57 PM
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In reply to: Cannon is a fairly stable place to climb, in my opinion. It gets its reputation as being loose HEHHE... a loose cannon. :) Sorry - I Couldn't resist!
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Gmburns2000
May 12, 2009, 9:38 PM
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ckirkwood9 wrote: In reply to: Cannon is a fairly stable place to climb, in my opinion. It gets its reputation as being loose HEHHE... a loose cannon. :) Sorry - I Couldn't resist!
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bill413
May 13, 2009, 12:33 AM
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One of the problems for me was the "magic" that the Old Man was not made up of a single rock. Rather, it was the profile formed by a number of separate outcrops. The proposed glass monument does not capture that at all. I think that it looks interesting, but don't think it terribly needs to be there, nor even in that particular shape. Besides, what would that do to the finish of a lot of the climbs??!!!!?? An obviously overwhelming concern. (I did enjoy "loose cannon.")
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