"Brigham Young University has become the sole owner of its signature landmark — and all it took was $180,000, four years and an act of Congress. With Y Mountain now the exclusive property of the private Provo school, students, alumni and outdoors enthusiasts are celebrating. They expect the land-ownership transfer from the U.S. Forest Service to improve safety on the steep one-mile path that leads to the block letter."

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3703399-155/byu-climbs-a-mountain-to

Why didn't the Lord just appear to the Forest Service and Congress and command them to deed the property to ChurchCo. Faith can move mountains, right -- from one owner to another.

Well a mountain is a temple so

It would be bitchin' karma if an earthquake cause the mountain to collapse and swallow the "Y".

RB

Safety? It's a damned mountain!
What are they planning to do? Put in escalators?

Not sure if this is still a tradition or not but when I attended in the late 70's there was a day early in the semester designated as "whitewash the Y day." I was new to mountainous terrain at that point in my life but even I could see how steep the area around the Y was and, gladly, opted out of this activity. I don't know when the tradition began but clearly it started way before I arrived on the scene. Why it's taken them 40+ years to "improve safety" is beyond understanding.

"Around 1979 or 1980, the Y was coated with a sand and white cement mixture called gunnite, eliminating the need for annual whitewashings. The project required 100 cubic yards of sand, 5,400 pounds of cement and 10,000 gallons of water. The Y is now painted every two to five years. The project takes three people 10 hours to apply 155 gallons of paint, which is transported by helicopter."

http://yfacts.byu.edu/Article?id=156

So it happened after I left.

But this info then begs repeating the question of why a mountain needs to be made safe. And why the heck were they putting students in danger prior to the gunnite solution?

Kathleen nli Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Safety? It's a damned mountain!
> What are they planning to do?

Build a mall. I think they are going to call it "Y Mountain Mallassacre."

Steep? Maybe for an apostle.

I think they should re-introduce real cougars to Y mountain.

yeah, its not really dangerous to hike up there unless your an invalid.

slave student labor to the expense of gunnite and the added costs of using a helicopter.

Well they're still whitewashing the reputation of the mass murderer whom the Y represents.

I think it should be painted black for an entire year in order to honor his righteous teachings about the priesthood.

Well, since they actually have an incentive to maintain it, it probably WILL be better maintained. I can't really see what incentive the federal government would have. The path is unpaved and steep and gets muddy when it rains. Maybe they are going to pave it or put in some stairs at the tougher spots or something.

180K to buy a mountain. Jesus would approve. Right?

Jesus would move the mountain (to a place the Mormons already own, no doubt). :-)

180K is cheap. Just think what they could build up there. It's just a shrewd real estate investment.

So now are they going to kick off people who hike in shorts and tank tops?

Ex-TBMs here, answer me this:

How would the people of the Utah Valley react if a giant Christian Cross was placed on the mountains?

They didn't buy the mountain. They bought a strip of land leading up to and surrounding the Y. This is a good thing since BYU will be responsible for maintaining and improving the trail. Ultimately it saves taxpayer money! (I suspect the money came from a donor--BYU gets a lot of money from Alumni donations.)

I hope the EVIL CULT plans to take care and maintain the property then, rather than expecting the Forest Service to kiss the EVIL CULT's butt.

Them homosectials best not be holdin' hands on the path to the Y or else they'll be 'rested.

this is for the people who commented on how steep and how treacherous that the trail was, (dodging the police with an unlicensed vehicle on city streets on the way over to the trail was much more risky than the trail itself and I am proud to say that the local police never successfully prevailed upon me.) and how steep and how treacherous that the mountain slope is where the Y letter is actually located. at one time, I used to ride my dirt bike up to the Y letter on the trail. It was a pretty easy ride for anyone who has basic capability with a dirt bike. Riding on the Mountain slope is another matter, as it is much steeper and would be much more difficult. One day I rode up to the Y letter. There was a guy on a trials motorbike already there, riding up and down and across and around and around all over on the letter itself and on the adjacent ground. (Try that sometime!) It was amazing. No doubt such an act would be considered Utter sacrilege by religious BYU fans.

There are some really great motor cycle hill climbing spots at other places on that mountain although I am sure they have been strictly shut down by now.

The BYU campus police / gestapo now have more area to exercise their stifling unquestionable MORmON authority.

DW and I hiked up there on July 4, 197-. On the trail right near the Y we encountered a large badger flattened out sunning himself in the middle of the trail. We wanted him off the trail and didn't want to surprise him as we edged by. So I tossed some rocks at him gently. He got pissed and snarled and held his ground. So we both clambered up the slope above, edged across, and came back down, quite the fete for my non-adventurous and weak-muscled girlfriend. We hiked up into the canyons beyond and found a clearing off the trail, where we (illegally) built a small fire and cooked some food we had brought. It was gorgeous up there. We began kind of making out, then proceeded on to a state of undress, enjoying the sun on our rather white bodies. We didn't do much, of course, just a lot of touchy-feely stuff. But right after we had gotten our clothes back on, a guy from my ward showed up from nowhere, wearing a stupid nerdy hat and carrying a hiking stick and knapsack. He was probably watching from the bushes or something, although we were back pretty far from the trail. We walked back hours later and had to carefully find our way along down to the Y in the dark, but were able to watch the July 4 fireworks from above. It was a nice day. It was my only real encounter with the place.

Echo NormaRae - this is a post of mine from a thread on this board last week:

"In another more recent example, ChurchCo just got Orrin Hatch and Jason Chaffetz to push through legislation that allowed BYU to purchase 81 acres of national forest land on Y mountain in Provo so that BYU could 'control' the trail that leads up to the big concrete Y on the hill. Of course, BYU didn't say it like that but we all know what they bought it for. So watch out you U of U bandits - no more red paint on the Y or you'll be charged with misdemeanors and felonies! Trespassing laws now come into effect since the trail is now on private land. And that's how ChurchCo works. They buy influence and protections just like any major corporation would - helk - ChurchCo is the government in Utah and they get their way on a lot of things."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2016 03:38PM by tamboruco.

Universities buy land all the time. This would be no different if Notre Dame, Baylor, or Pepperdine bought land.