3-24-16 MRNP Reservation System Changed

Mount Rainier National Park's backcountry campsite reservation system has crashed.  Existing reservations are cancelled and all permits will be first-come, first served this year.  Though this TNT article doesn't specifically mention climbing, I believe this means sites such as Muir and Schurman will no longer be reserveable:
www.thenewstribune.com/outdoors/article67900817.html

Wow...just wow. I can appreciate that legacy software and technological debt are easy to accrue, but between the forest service and other national parks, surely this wheel (a reservation system) has been solved at least a dozen times by different agencies. And the lack of off-site backup boggles the mind.

I'm still entirely baffled about how a storm can cause a permanent software failure...very very confusing. This is like the pool having a leak at a hotel, results in everyone's reservation getting expunged?? I can draw some very fine line of connection but until it is explained in more detail, it sounds totally asinine. Unfortunately I suspect if it was explained in more detail, the resultant facepalm would be great enough to cause severe facial trauma, hence the scanty details. Next up, most park staff business conducted via legacy @hotmail.com email addresses and major workflow problems because geocities shut down.

LMAO! Junior meadow rover ranger computer wizzes--not even 1970! LMAO

Hey at least they'll be free this year (no charge for walk-ups). But what a crapshoot.

Sounds like a market testing method to see what the price barriers will be in the future...

... create chaos and charge lots more for certainty...

I'm still entirely baffled about how a storm can cause a permanent software failure...very very confusing....

I suspect that the system wasn't ready for prime time and one of the many problems was a lack of fault tolerance for a power or network outage at the Tacoma Woods administrative center. (A single tree falling could take out power and network connections to that location) Being able to point to some "unforeseen natural disaster" as the source of the missed deadline sounds better going up the management chain than "Initial load testing shows that the system will fall over on opening day when there are tens of thousands of reservation requests"

Remember how under capacity HealthCare.gov was during it's first few months ? Nobody in the NPS wanted a repeat of those circumstances.

With the "first come, first served" policy this year -- I wonder if there will end up being long queues of people camped outside the three stations where the permits are issued.

Tips for scoring 2016 walk-up climbing permits:
mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2016/0...ts-walk-up-only.html

Wow...just wow.  I can appreciate that legacy software and technological debt are easy to accrue, but between the forest service and other national parks, surely this wheel (a reservation system) has been solved at least a dozen times by different agencies.  And the lack of off-site backup boggles the mind.

Recreation.gov exists for a reason... sounds like it's time to onboard national park backcountry campsites

So how are the guide companies going to be handling their guided climb reservations? I can't help but imagine that they're going to be given preferential treatment--hard to imagine a 12 person Muir DC guided group getting bumped to plan B because there are more people in line ahead of them and permits fill up. Or heck that even happening for a Kautz climb since there are more limited numbers allowed there.

Given that they will book climbs now for dates in the summer.. without being able to reserve until the day before, it's just interesting.. haven't seen any response from guiding companies yet, makes me think they've got their arrangement worked out, it's the public is SOL.

Oh, didn't you hear? Guide services are "good to go":

Reservation-system failure at Mount Rainier a game changer for hikers, climbers

thanks for the link. So there's the true racket. I Didn't realize they had a 2nd tier reservation system, but I guess I have a little more insight on that now too. Whenever someone suggests I give the FS or NPS a break or give them the benefit of the doubt, you can provide example upon example of actions speaking louder than words about what is important and prioritized. The end-user recreationalist looking for free/low cost public land human powered beyond 500m of the parking lot, amenity-free activity is rarely a priority.

informal: an illegal or dishonest scheme for obtaining money.
"a protection racket"
synonyms: scheme, fraud, swindle; More
a person's line of business or way of life.
"I'm in the insurance racket"