Theory on "levels" of peakbagging

[jmegillon149]

Given so many peakbagging threads as of late-starting, ending, etc., I figured I would share the theory of peakbagging levels, based on number of peaks that I came up with. This is based upon my own experience/what my friends(of whom are at varying levels) are going through right now. I've shared it on the trail a few times, and at AMC socials, but figured I'd see if others outside my hiking circle (which is basically the NH AMC young memebers group) agreed/disagreed.

1. Peak 10-15 is about where people get the urge to really start bagging, prior to that people don't really care/think about it, etc, exception being close friends of people who are already peakbagging. For me it came after I did a Franoia Ridge Traverse, the summer after a Presi Traverse, with the couple of other peaks I had done, figured I'd go for it.

2. 10-35 is when people are really in the zone; by the zone I mean they wouldn't think to hike a small mountain like Chocurua or a repeated 4K, they must do a "new one". I've not gone hiking with people on certain weekends due to having different peaks I needed. This is also when people start picking their final one. I found this was the time when I was knocking of the Osceola's, Toms and Waumbek's of the list.

3. Around 35, the end is in sight, so why rush it, I am in this spot now, that I am at 42. Its the level when you miss some of your early ones and decide to go back to some of the "good ones". For example I spent a whole season out of the Presi's, and decided to go back last summer, when I was in the high 30's, this summer I have done 5 new peaks, but about a dozen 4K's

4. Post-48 it seems to be a good variety of folks, some are bummed, and not sure what to do. Some find new hobbies, such as paddling, rock climbing, etc., some get all into the NE4K, HH, etc., while some just go back to the good spots.

I don't know, maybe I think about these things too much!

 

[Rivet]

1. Peak 10-15 is about where people get the urge to really start bagging,

For most people, I would agree. For me, the bug started after my first peak.

2. 10-35 is when people are really in the zone;

That sounds about right. It took me 4 years to do the first 18. Then just one year to do the next 18.

3. Around 35, the end is in sight, so why rush it, I am in this spot now, that I am at 42.

It depends on the individual. For some, at this point they just want to get "done". (Well, for me, anyway). Some swear off lists at this point. Others, who are more goal driven, find new lists to conquer.

I'm planning to finish this weekend (ADK 46). I don't expect anything really big to happen. Much like graduation, the changes occur in you in small, almost imperceptible bits along the way. Not in one momentous event.

 

[dr_wu002]

1. Peak 10-15 is about where people get the urge to really start bagging, prior to that people don't really care/think about it, etc, exception being close friends of people who are already peakbagging. For me it came after I did a Franoia Ridge Traverse, the summer after a Presi Traverse, with the couple of other peaks I had done, figured I'd go for it.

I discovered the 'NH48' around peak #15. By peak #18 I was tired of it. I wanted to do too many other things to worry about a list... whether those be peaks in other states, 3000'ers, 2000'ers, obscure ponds, bushwhacks, 4000'er not on 'the list' it didn't matter. I wanted to do whatever the hell I felt like doing at that very moment and didn't want 48 almost randomly chosen destinations (200' col rule!?) on a piece of paper to dictate what I'm going to do next. There are 100's and 100's of destinations in NH alone and each destination has several different and potentially interesting approaches. I don't want to even do them all. Just as much as I feel like doing until I'm done and out of here.

I'll finish the NH48 as a matter of course because all the peaks are worthy destinaitions. I just don't treat them as being sacred over anything else. I'm on like #36 but don't think I did a single 'new' one all summer. I could be wrong.

-Dr. Wu

Edit: looks like I did Zealand over the summer.

 

[spaddock]

I was hooked after my first weekend of hiking in the ADK's.

I'm one away from finishing now but am no where near as gung ho as I was when I started. More bummed right now because of my latest injury. I've been thinking about what it will feel like when I finish and I'm not all that sure, I guess I'll have to wait and find out. That being said I doubt I'd repeat any peaks before I finish. Haven't repeated a peak yet except to get to another one (Algonquin to get Iroquois) and Phelps (because it was Winter).

For most people I'd say your rating system is about right.


-Shayne

 

[sapblatt]

Peaks and lists

I did about 7 of them around 3-6 years ago and then for a variety of reasons (laziness, a child, grad school) I just fell out of it. Last year I started hiking again and realized just how much I have missed it. I picked up 11 peaks in about ten weeks and took most of the winter off.

This year I became hell bent on finishing by my 40th birthday (see post in Trips & Events) and I have now completed all but one. How do I feel about it?

On one hand I am very sad because I love it so much, but on the other hand I have loved repeating many of them and I am slowly thinking about the seasons. My last two hikes have been solely for pleasure, and the last one up the King's Ravine Headwall did not even hit a peak (and it is in a very close tie with the Bonds as my favorite hike of the year.)

I have repeated a few (S. Twin, Galehead, Carter 3 times) and Liberty....

As I near the end of one chapter I will continue to hike because I love it...not to quickly chase the next list.

Now...where did I leave my redlining marker?

 

[anita514]

I'm in the 'zone' right now and don't really feel any urge to hike all the wooded summits/4k peaks of a specific list.
I guess I'm not a peakbagger per se, I just like to climb mountains of significance and gain experience on mixed terrain rather than spend all my time and energy on some list.

If I could work on any list, it would be the CA/CO 14ers and all the Cascades

 

[dr_wu002]

Now...where did I leave my redlining marker?

Ahhhh, Redling is fun! So many different approaches to so many cool areas! But also remember, booshwhacking with Dr. Wu and Barborassa is a job that you can earn money doing!

 

[sugahjohn]

Wow! Interesting topic--and one that's been on my mind as of late. Weather permitting, Sugar (my dog) and I'll be going for #s 41 & 42 (the Wildcats) this weekend. For all intents and purposes, our (really MY--the dog's an unwitting albeit willing accomplice) "quest" began on May 28th of this year with Moosilauke (#1), though I didn't know it at the time. I thought that I'd just try to get into shape by getting back into hiking after taking YEARS off, and with the added bonus of putting my 8 and a half year old dog through the ringer. The NH48 became more of a distinct goal somewhere between peaks 5 and 10, and an obsession about three weeks ago with the 12 peaks (excluding Owls Head) accessible along the Pemi Loop. With 8 to go, I'm shooting to "get 'em done" this year before snowshoe/crampon season. Why? Don't know, but it might have something to do with the fact that they're there, I have the time, and I guess I'm somewhat obsessive-compulsive so I might as well use my powers for good.

 

[Puck]

I have a bitter-sweet relationship with my lists. I keep one for my peaks and a life list of birds. The last one is not as important as the next one. For each I need to plan, gear up and go. With the peaks, my list is in the 3rd quarter. Now I am getting a list of trails and places to go back. It is like a menu and everything looks to good. Sweet.

The bitter is feeling so new young and green all the time. Life is an incredibly fun and humbling ride.

 

[The Sikes]

I knew when I started hiking the peaks again with my kids that I wanted to do a list. I had done several many years before and took a break. I never knew a list existed but when I found out, I have to admit, I am a check lister but not just for hiking. That is my personality. I like to see progress and to see a list getting smaller is right up my alley. I will rehike peaks and have but when I'm working on a list, I sometimes get into tunnel vision.

We are at 40 of 46 for the DAKs and will also complete the 111/115. My husband always says, "Save some for next year." No way can I stop with 6 left on a list. There are plenty more mountains and lists to hike next year. I like to see things completed and there are so many mountains and so little time!

As for finishing, I have such a mixture of feelings, glad to have accomplished and completed what I started out to do and wondering what's next.

I love working on lists because it keeps me focused and gives me a goal. At the beginning of the year, nothing seemed to motivate me. I didn't care to do anything and had to force myself to do everything. I was in a rut. Lists help me ...get me motivated and give me a purpose plus they bring me to places that I would not necessarily have ever gone to, like some of the bushwacks we've done or the Adirondacks. One of my favorite hikes that I had never heard of or even thought about doing was Nancy. Plus, hiking these lists brought me to VFTT....

 

[The Sikes]

I should P.S. because some people may say, "Those poor kids. They don't have a choice." The other day my son said he didn't feel like hiking. I told him OK....he could stay home and he said, "No way! and let Beth pass me!" He then thanked me for taking them hiking, that he really had a great time. My kids also love to see progress...maybe it's genetic. When we were doing our 100 highest, they were dragging me out near the end.

Plus, once you get into shape, it feels so good to do.

 

[sugahjohn]

You know, it occurs to me that I have noticed a weird line of thinking as I see the end in sight: Part of me wants to finish the durn list as quickly as possible so that I can go back and (re-)hike some peaks at my leisure, free from fetters of a list. It seems that one can "get hooked" on lists because it feels so good to finish the list, somewhat akin to my predilection to whack myself in the head with a hammer because it feels so bloody good when I stop. (I am speaking MOSTLY figuratively.)

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Dunno about yoru scale.. Maybe the net/discussion groups change things.

I hiked for 20 years... aimlessly.. just hiking what I felt like at the time. Routes that looked interesting. Then I started taking my kids hiking.... aimlessly...

We were wandering around with no particular goal, then one day, we entered a 46 step program to salvation. Suddenly, our hiking had a GOAL. Yes, we were saved! Our amiless wandering finally made sense.

For me, I never even knew lists existed for the first 20 years of my hiking.

Now, I'm working on a whole bunch of lists, but not seriously. Every time I climb something, I find out what list it is on, and check it off on that list. One of these days, I'll see a list is nearing completion, and get serious about finishing it. But then again, if someone asks me to climb a peak that I've already climbed, I'll do it. Even after my 46 step program, I still find myself wandering aimlessly at time.

 

[Double Bow]

These stages may be accurate for some or many but, it wasn't like that for me. My first two "just happened", without any knowledge of "The 48". Years later, when I found out about the list and was getting back into hiking, I hit is full force and did 10 that month! Unfortunately, that was at the end of that year's (2001's) season and so I didn't do any more.

The following year was very hot and I had a lot going on so, I only got 3. The next year lots going on, only got 5 (though did a week backpacking in VT). Last year, I did 14 (plus 1 in VT) and thought that was a lot. This year, I started with 34 and knew the finishing line was in sight. I knew I'd finish this year so I uped it to finishing before my birthday, 7/18. Well, I did it and revisited a bunch as well. So far, I've climbed 40 4Ks this year across NE and will be doing 3 more this weekend.

While I was glad to complete "The List", I was also sad that the quest was over. Sure, I'm working on other lists now but not with the same gusto. NE 115 or 52 With-A-View, it's all the same to me now. They're just tools to guide me to new places. I'll keep climbing the 48. I'll do different routes, months, seasons, whatever but, it doesn't mean to me what it used to. I get more enjoyment out of helping others work on their 48. It seems to mean more. My destinations, these days, are based equally on location and company.

 

[Rick]

....I hiked for 20 years... aimlessly.. just hiking what I felt like at the time. Routes that looked interesting. Then I started taking my kids hiking.... aimlessly...

Ditto On Pete. I didn't know anything about the highpeaks or that there were even any over 3 or 4,000 feet. I really liked backpacking and planning epic weekend journeys relying solely on myself on a variety of trails outside of the Adirondacks.

It wasn't until a I met a bunch of peakbaggers at the Ward Brook Lean-to around '92 where they were speaking gung ho of peakbagging and I asked a simple question of "what would be a good peak to start on?" (Why Seymour, Rick In fact, we're heading up there right now.....) and that was it.

I am again wandering aimlessly now, but with a 5 year old, but with the goal of completing the AT, the NE115 and my winter 46, oh yeah and the Catskill 3500, sometime later in my life as I find weekends are now being filled with youth chess club, soccer practice and such other things that my wife claims are extremely important to the development of a child. (To which I argue, "I had none of while growing up, and just look at me now.." )

 

[clg898]

I first became aware of the list when I got my first White Mountain Guide for Christmas. I was in either the 3rd or 4th grade and my father had been taking me hiking around Blue Hills, Wachusett, etc. for several years. He would take my brother and I up to NH for 4 or 5 days right after school got out for the summer. My first "real" peak in NH was Chocorua... I believe that was in the summer between 3rd and 4th grade. I remeber going to AMC Pinkham Notch and looking at the maps, thumbing through the books, and eating oatmeal in the cafeteria before hiking up to the base of Tucks that same year. It was really cool seeing snow in late June and then telling my friends back home! It was that trip that I recall finding the 4000 footer list in the back of the White Mountain Guide. When I got the guide for Christmas that winter I remeber plotting out 4000 footers for the next summer. I guees you could say I had list fever.

But, you know what they say about the best laid plans... Growing up, my family hiked a lot. We hiked as a family, so we would comprimise on hikes that everyone wanted to do. That meant we saw a lot of waterfalls, ponds, and abandoned logging camps, secluded swimming holes, etc. While I lobbied for 4000 footers, my brother wanted to see old cellar holes, or caves, my Dad is a photo buff, so he wanted ponds and waterfalls, etc. Our hikes weren't designed to bag peaks, that was more of a side effect of where our hikes took us and we ended up hiking to a lot of places that I would have missed if I were just headed to the top of a peak.

Now that I'm older, I can say that in the past 20+ years of hiking in the Whites I've bagged most if not all of the 4000 footers, many of them a half dozen times or more, a great number of them in winter. That said, I've never really kept track or planned a trip intent on bagging a peak. I understand the argument that doing lists takes people to places they wouldn't necessarily go to if not for the list, but when I plan a hike, I just go where my mood takes me. Sometimes I'm in the mood to go someplace new, other times I want to go back to one of my favorite places.

I've been aware of the list for a long time, and was bitten by list fever for a short time when I was young, but now I realize that I have a to-do list at work and a to-do list at home... I guess I don't want my free time dictated by a to-do list as well.

 

[--M.]

Caution: Differing Viewpoint!

I'll try to avoid being incendiary. It's mostly not helpful.

On the other hand, I must give voice to an alternate point of view.

I love hiking. I often use lists. Using them together becomes dangerous for my love of hiking because of the concept of "work."

Should I ever find that I have completed all 48 of this or 46 of that, I hope that I don't have the urge never to hike again. I have always had cavils about the nature of the concept of "peakbagging" per se, because it has implied -- for me -- the deliberate ignoring of the essence of hiking in favor of the ability to say I touched a USGS marker and am now "done" with a given peak.

I'm certainly not implying that anyone else does that, although I'm pretty sure some do. It's just that the essential nature of hiking -- for me -- is somehow antithetical to crossing things off lists.

Similar comments have been made about "speed hiking." I've always felt that the more important comment is that one should only "hike one's own hike." If that includes deliberate peak-bagging, then so be it.

But if I'm passed by a head-down dervish working single-mindedly toward a check-mark, it makes the "To each his own" liberal in me cower in the face of the "Slow down and smell the roses!" purist.

I tame that beast, but I allow it to speak every once in a while.

Sure I've done this poorly, but there it is.

--M.

 

[Karl Hungus]

My first 4000fter was on 6/25 of this year (Cannon). On 6/26 we did Lincoln and Lafayette. Later that evening a friend told me about the 48 4000fter list. That was all I needed to hear. I've been on a mission ever since. We agreed to hike all 48 together. At this point right now we have 20. Hopefully we will get 4 more on Columbus Day. It's a little tough to get up there as much as we'd like because our schedules just don't mix well and we live 3 hours away from the Whites.

We both love working to accomplish this goal. We've only been at it for a short time but already we have a bunch of great stories and experiences. I'd have to say that all the people we encounter on our journies add to the experience. It's very interesting to share stories and experiences with those that we encounter on the trail.

We are saving the Presies for last. Planning on saving Washington for #48. Neither of us have ever been to that summit and it seems appropriate to end there. The most important thing is that whether you're doing a list or just hiking around, enjoy what you're doing and make sure you take it all in.

 

[clg898]

My first 4000fter was on 6/25 of this year (Cannon). On 6/26 we did Lincoln and Lafayette. Later that evening a friend told me about the 48 4000fter list. That was all I needed to hear. I've been on a mission ever since. We agreed to hike all 48 together. At this point right now we have 20. Hopefully we will get 4 more on Columbus Day. It's a little tough to get up there as much as we'd like because our schedules just don't mix well and we live 3 hours away from the Whites.

We both love working to accomplish this goal. We've only been at it for a short time but already we have a bunch of great stories and experiences. I'd have to say that all the people we encounter on our journies add to the experience. It's very interesting to share stories and experiences with those that we encounter on the trail.

We are saving the Presies for last. Planning on saving Washington for #48. Neither of us have ever been to that summit and it seems appropriate to end there. The most important thing is that whether you're doing a list or just hiking around, enjoy what you're doing and make sure you take it all in.

I don't want to mess with your plan, but you might find Washington a let down after the other 47 peaks you climbed. Personally, it's one of my least favorite peaks with the Cog and Auto Road, and gift shop and cafeteria, etc. I might feel a bit disgruntled to have hoofed it to 47 summits only to find throngs of people spilling out of vans and SUVs as I finish my 48. Just something to think about if it hasn't already occurred to you.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I finished the NH 4Ks 40 years ago when I was 13. I hated doing them at the time - I was pretty much co-opted by parental authority to climb them - but have ever since been hugely grateful for eliminating a potential future source of compulsive behavior. Now I just wander around, summitting when I choose and exploring lower altitude things many people never see when I choose. I have benefitted from not stressing myself out. It's clearly a personal preference, but I personally eschew lists of any kind.