Most climbed mountain

[Bluethroatedone]

So, a friend asked me if the Monandnock legend is true...

Thought I'd share the little research I've done so far and see if anyone else has any more evidence...

Only source has been Google so far.

Fact 1: Tons of people believed Monadnock is either the most climbed or second most climbed. Thousands of mentions on various websites

Fact 2: Debate exists whether Fuji is truly climbed by that many people due to other modes of transportation

Fact 3: Others believe their mountain is #2 (behind Fuji):
Candidates include: Kilimanjaro
http://safari.go2africa.com/africa-features/climbing-kilimanjaro.asp
Hood: http://www.mthood.org/facts.html (Estimated to be climbed by 10k people / year)...they probably argue Monadnock is not a mountain but a Monadnock - yup the word exists meaning a rocky mass or "mountain" standing distinctly seperate from a mountain range.

Fact 4: (okay not really a fact) Nearly all such claims come devoid of any data supporting the claim. A few give an estimate to the number of climbers of that mountain, but none do a comparisson to others. (Cheshire county claims 125K/year for monadnock which btw makes no sense to me. Lets assume the mountain is only climbable 9 months of the year. That would require an average of 463 people per day. Even if you assume 100 people climb it every week day, you'd still require ~700 people per weekend day and that assumes no cold rainy windy etc. days.... I know the summit is crowded but Jeez there's just NO way)

So I'm comming to the conclusion that its an urban legend/guess that may or may not be true. If we assume "climbed" to mean summited from road/trailhead (not on same "mountain" using only feet as locomotion where mountain in question rise at least x vertical feet (500,1000?) from trailhead, a few other candidates might be:

Rainier
Uluru
Mount Si (Washington State, near seattle)
That nub in Phoenix
Kala Pathar? Gokyo? etc. in Nepal
Machu Pichu
Some nub on the annapurna ciricuit?

If we relax definition to not require summiting, you'd have to believe Mont Blanc to beat it out....

Any thoughts as to other candidates? Anyone have data?

 

[giggy]

no way its rainier - thats about 10k try every year and about half make it. The reason i know that is becuase that stat scared me prior to trying it.

 

[MichaelJ]

Even the NH State Parks website makes the claim, but doesn't support it:

A magnet for hikers, Monadnock is said to be the second most frequently climbed mountain in the world, after Japan's Mt. Fuji.

 

[nartreb]

Lets assume the mountain is only climbable 9 months of the year...that assumes no cold rainy windy etc. days

You need to revise your assumptions. I've NEVER been alone on the summit of Monadnock regardless of the season or the weather.

The park service must know how many people use their lots because it affects their revenue stream.
I found this here [pdf]: (page 9 et seq)
"approximately 95,000 visitors come to the state park annually" (written in 2003)

The document also has interesting info about numbers of vehicles and concentrated use on holiday weekends.

Edit: An average 700 hundred per weekend day (outside of winter) sounds about right to me, and the document confirms this, talking about "several hundred hikers on the summit at the same time." Since the mountain takes only an hour or two to climb even for the, shall we say, inexperienced hikers who make up the bulk of these numbers, few spend more than an hour on the summit, and it's crowded all day long, a busy summer day can easily see several thousand visitors.

 

[hikerfast]

that mountain is not climbed 9 months a year. its climbed every day. often in the winter on the weekends it's a total mob scene. one day in 1979 it was reputed there were 10,000 people who summited

 

[dms]

That 10,000 figure is from that years Columbus Day weekend, I think it's stated in the AMC White Mountain Guide.

 

[hockeycrew]

Are we considering the people who train on Monadnock by summiting it several times in one day? I've heard of people training for Everest by running up and down Monadnock.

 

[pedxing]

Buses on Fuji go up about 1/2 way on average - and they are on the mountainside . The closest starting point to the top (altitude wise) is at 2400 meters, for a 3776 meter peak. That's better than 4K feet of elevation gain, and the other starting points(including the most popular one) are lower. There are definitely more demanding climbs, but I think Fuiji would have to count as a climb. Of course, they way the vast majority of people climb Fuji doesn't meet the definition of

"climbed" to mean summited from road/trailhead (not on same "mountain" using only feet as locomotion

 

[post'r boy]

it's monadnock,ever since the road went in on fugi it was disqualified as the most climbed mountain!!
p.s. ari gato!!!

 

[Mike P.]

I have been to Monadnock with no one else on the summit. It requires going up for sunset or sunrise & not on a weekend.

 

[Tim Horn]

If your have ever climbed Fuji then you know that the numbers are real. There are no alternative forms of transportation up Fuji, you must walk from station 8, the highest parking lot available. (Like using Caps Ridge trail up Jefferson but much more elevation gain) If you have been there then you know that Fuji is not an easy hike. Take Washington and throw in some extra height, volcanic rock and another 20,000 people and you start to get an idea of Fuji. I would think Fuji has more traffic in July alone than any of the listed mountains see's in a year. Whole shcools of kids go at once. Old folks homes sponser trips ect. ect. Of course if you have never been you probably cannot believe the numbers of people in the snail trail leading to the top. The same scene occurs all over the country in August during the Obon season when people make pigrimages to shrines on top of prominent volcanoes(mountains). Oh yeah, many of the hikers wear straw sandles and white robes during their climb. So yeah, it is climbed in different gear but each step is made the same way in the East as it is in the West.

 

[SherpaKroto]

I have been to Monadnock with no one else on the summit. It requires going up for sunset or sunrise & not on a weekend.

...or in the pouring rain

Only thing about trying to go at sunrise is that the hike down is rather busy. The reverse would be true heading up for sunset.

 

[WCTDave]

At the risk of sounding clueless...why is Monadnock so popular?

 

[Steve-o]

I have climbed Monadnock several times and had the summit to myself.
Probably a combination of timing and luck.
In the summer,the sunset week-day hikes are good.It does'nt bother me seeing a few people on their way down.
In the winter, I like the Marlboro tr. or the Dublin tr. as these trails can be tough, or impossible to get to with out 4WD.
Also, to climb it in inclement weather,sometimes you'll see 0 people.

Ever since I can remember, It was Fugi #1 & Monadnock #2.
I know nothing about Fugi but, now you have me interested.

 

[sierra]

Cant confirm the figures but the mountains climbed alot. Ive climbed it over 300 times myself, year round sometimes 5 days in a row for training. I also have been on the summit many times alone, mostly in bad weather conditions and early in the morning ( I used to climb it by headlamp before work).
As for why its so popular, quite frankly, its a great little mountain. Some of its attributes imo, has the features of a big mountain ie.treeline, scrub, high winds, ferocious winter storms ( that are great training for higher peaks) and some fantastic trails, plus great bouldering all over, I used to run up with my climbing shoes and boulder all over that hill.

 

[pedxing]

Now I'm wondering if my info is out of date. Is there really a bus to Station 8 on Fuji now? I tried searching on google and could only find reference to the bus stops at Station 5.

The Japanese have a saying that whoever climbs Mount Fuji is a wise person, whoever climbs it twice is a fool. I was a wise man at 12 y/o (staying overnight at station 8), but made a fool of myself when my sons were about that age.

 

[funkyfreddy]

ah, the good old days.......

When I was a kid in the 70's I used to climb Mt. Modnadnock several times a year while at summer camp. Later on I worked at the camp and climbed it even more, taking groups of kids up there with me. Believe it or not there were a few times on a nice sunny day in the summer where I and a few others went up there and were the only ones on the summit.

Later on in 1997 I climbed it on a fall weekend and was shocked by the # of people on the summit as well as how much more the area had been developed. I'm afraid this same sad song is being played all across the northeast and its name is overpopulation.

 

[dms]

Wow!

To quote the AMC White Mountain Guide, 25th edition, page 549: "on one Columbus Day in the late 1970's, it (Monadnock) was ascended by throngs estimated at nearly 10,000 people"!!!

 

[post'r boy]

it's the most special mountain in the world to me!! hands down!!!


Trail: monadnock via pumpelly trail up and back
Date Hiked: 8-25-05

Conditions: dry

Special Required Equipment: human body, + 1 hikin' chickety

Comments: had to hike this mountain a.s.a.p. after our A.T. journey,to pay my respects to a very special person.

Submitted by:neighbor and chickety

 

[dug]

"At the risk of sounding clueless...why is Monadnock so popular?" -Dave

For relative ease, you can reach tree level and have magnificant views of southwest NH, Massachusetts, and Vermont. It's in the southwest corner of New Hampshire which is mostly lowlands and small hills. The 3000'+ peak has a large rock summit treeline area, which on a sunny day can look like seals sunning themselves on the rocks.

Some trails can get you to the summit in under an hour if I recall.

Many a beer has been had on top, and apparently Poster Boy has enjoyed it's magical powers, as well.