Are you a List-O-Holic?

[Mike P.]

^^^

My current plan is to start from the south.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/m...mountain-trail

Would be interested to read experiences others have had.

On a very rainy day, (they closed the park and water was coming over the perimeter road) I attempted Doubletop from the South in the 2000's. The walk over the beaver dam was under calf deep water and as other's mentioned it was steep. I go stopped when, what should have been a simple brook crossing was a raging torrent that would have required a step onto a rock I could make out under a few inches of quick moving water. (To put this in perspective this was in roughly the same time I did Owl's Head when the 2007 NH flooding occurred and the crossing was thigh deep and dumb to do.) The water moving quickly, in part due to the amount and steepness of the terrain.

Doubletop and The Owl remain as my needs to do also on a BSP trip yet to be planned.

[Grey J]

I don't think I'm a list-o-holic although I was pretty determined to finish the NH48 list and pursued it over a long period of time. I don't keep lists in any other realm than hiking and the other lists that I keep track of are all NH based. I don't think one qualifies as a list-o-holic if you have no intention of finishing a list which was always my intention with the Trailwrights for instance. I enjoyed going on additional hikes to get peaks like Boott Spur and Adams 5, for instance, but I was content to stop at 66/72 and skip the bushwhacks. I have used the Eric Savage T134 list to discover some NH 4K hikes not listed elsewhere like the Howks and a multitude of 3K hikes, but I won't finish that list either, 117/134. I've done about half the 52 with a View, but I'm saving most of those for when I get older (inisde joke). So the lists have been an imporatnt resource for me especially with regard to NH hiking, but I don't think I qualify as a list-o-holic. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[bikehikeskifish]

So what makes you one? Back on Topic.

I'll bite.

I am for sure a data junky, and a type A. I can be competitive, and while hiking is not a competitive sport, I do like repeating routes and seeing how my times compare to other efforts. I have the usual spreadsheets but being a software engineer I also have all the hiking data in a SQL database and I can run queries like "How many miles, hikes, feet of elevation, ... did I hike per year? per month?"

For reference, I've completed

NH48 (+ winter, 2X SSW48)
NE67 (+ winter)
NEHH (+ winter)
TW72 (+ winter)

I should finish The Grid in September. I am casually working on the 52WAV and the NH3Ks. I don't dare start the ADK46 until I am retired

Tim

p.s. here's the data 2012 / 2014 I was laid off and did the SSW48

Year	Hikes	TotalDist	TotalElev	AvgDist	AvgElev	TotalTime	AvgTime
2006	8	81.8	25200	10.2	3150.0	48:45:00	06:05:37.5000
2007	11	115.4	36150	10.5	3286.4	79:45:00	07:15:00.0000
2008	17	162.0	57560	9.5	3385.9	114:40:00	06:44:42.3529
2009	22	248.3	81504	11.3	3704.7	172:15:00	07:49:46.3636
2010	30	303.5	97185	10.1	3239.5	184:55:00	06:09:50.0000
2011	16	139.1	51405	8.7	3212.8	95:15:00	05:57:11.2500
2012	45	408.4	147850	9.1	3285.6	269:35:00	05:59:26.6667
2013	22	245.8	93835	11.2	4265.2	176:05:00	08:00:13.6364
2014	54	546.1	190880	10.1	3534.8	318:05:00	05:53:25.5556
2015	35	428.4	133920	12.2	3826.3	241:30:00	06:54:00.0000
2016	39	417.7	147895	10.7	3792.2	251:25:00	06:26:47.6923
2017	38	433.7	137424	11.4	3616.4	243:30:00	06:24:28.4211
2018	32	288.0	97500	9.0	3046.9	177:45:00	05:33:16.8750
2019	34	350.5	113810	10.3	3347.4	212:15:00	06:14:33.5294
2020	24	255.9	85780	10.7	3574.2	150:45:00	06:16:52.5000
2021	28	316.7	104290	11.3	3724.6	180:30:00	06:26:47.1429

[Puma concolor]

Somewhere in the space/time continuum, what used to be peakbagging became list-bagging and peakbagging became just summiting any old mountain whether it is on a list or not.

I say that only as a preface to what I continue to think is the best essay on the psychology of Northeast “peakbaggers” that I’ve ever come across. Appears on pages 9-15 of “High Peaks of the Northeast” by Bruce Scofield.

A couple of gems from the essay that still continue to sum it up for me almost 30 years after I first read it:

“Peakbagging is the activity (some would call it a sport, others a religion) that involves climbing all the peaks over a certain elevation in a specific area. It’s a type of superhiking: goal-oriented like hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, but also a lot like collecting. It motivates people to do some things that they might not otherwise do, and it gives them a sense of accomplishment and reward. There are few rules to follow and plenty of room for individual choice. The challenge is not to defeat another person, but to meet the demands of the mountains themselves. It is also addicting. Upon completing a list, many hikers just can’t wait to take on the next peakbagging arena.” (page 9)

“The psychology of many peakbaggers is such that upon completion of one list, they look for another one, or for a variation of the first. In other words, the activity is just too satisfying to give up — the process has become the goal.” (page 11)

For me, one list has naturally bled into each new list as the years have gone by such that the only list I ever attempted/completed where I truly started at zero was the Adirondack 46Rs (1993-1995) during which time I decided to go after the Northeast 111. By the time I finished the 111, I had my first two Catskill 3500 Club peaks to go along with four state highpoints and 65 of the New England Hundred Highest (67 nowadays). And it has just branched out from there.

Great responses on Doubletop, BTW. Will definitely take that all into consideration.

[bikehikeskifish]

It is also addicting. Upon completing a list, many hikers just can’t wait to take on the next peakbagging arena.” (page 9)

And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, is why the NH 48 is lovingly referred to (during the 4000-Footer Awards) as the "Gateway Drug".

Tim

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Tim, when (and by who) was that phrase first used? I stopped going to the awards many years ago, and had never heard (or read) it.

[kmac]

I like seeing my accomplishments on paper and the check marks next to the peaks I’ve done .

[skiguy]

Tim, when (and by who) was that phrase first used? I stopped going to the awards many years ago, and had never heard (or read) it.

Something tells me that Miriam and Robert might take notice with that rehtoric as being any part of their originally intended definitions or purposes.

[Tom Rankin]

Having earned about 100 patches, I guess I qualify!

[bikehikeskifish]

Tim, when (and by who) was that phrase first used? I stopped going to the awards many years ago, and had never heard (or read) it.

I want to say Eric. He may not have been the first. It is usually good for a chuckle from the audience as they all recognize themselves.

Tim