Mountain Lists & Goals

[kingof14ers]

The thread about why you want to become a 46er got me thinking about mountaineering goals, integrating them with family life, what's reasonable, and what's obsessive. Rather than hijack the thread, I thought I'd post my thoughts here being in another part of the country, and get some feedback or food for thought from people here.

Living in Colorado for the past 10 years, I've been working torwards completing our list of highest peaks, the 54 14ers (58 in my book), similar to your famous list of the magical 46ers. Some of my remaining peaks are pretty tough on Class 4 crumbly rock that is seemingly held together by not much more than 4000' of air. One day I'll finish them all, but a few factors have kept me from obsessing about completing "the list". For one I'll really need to balance family time with hiking and climbing because my wife and I are expecting and due in April. Secondly, I've relieved any pressure to finish the list and went back to the basics of loving and respecting the mountains and simply enjoying the great outdoors.

Then someone on the becoming a 46er thread, the highest 100. What an amazing resemblance! We have our list of highest 100 too. We call them the centennial peaks. I hope to someday finish all, but 4 of them. I say all but 4 because I promised my wife that I won't rope up. She has an issue with that and I respect that. So I'm confined in a sense to climb up to my comfort level unroped which includes most Class 3 & 4 terrain. 4 of our highest 100 basically requires rope for regular mortals with the easiest routes being 5.6. I'm OK with this. There are plenty of 13ers that I have on a lifetime list of peaks I'd like to do.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you have tons of lists that you obsess over? Do you have lists you feel you can almost "squeak out" with the exception of a few given your current ability or comfort level?

Finally, when you go on an extended trek to bag multiple peaks, do you obsess about completing them because the traveling distance is great? While I don't obsess to the point that I compromise safety, let be briefly explain the frustration aspect. A friend and I traveled to the San Juans to take a crack at 14ers Sunshine, Redcloud, and Handies. We packed in, almost made it up the first after being surprised with a foot of snow on the ground which was bare the night before, and then had to turn around since we only had a weekend. I don't mind turning around, but it's a 6 hour drive to the trailhead and there are plenty of trip like this to complete the 14ers. 6 hours EACH WAY! So I like to optimize my time if I can. Have any of you had similar experiences or feelings on this?

[Rivet]

I am not big on lists. But I plan to finish the 46 for sure.

I have about 20 of the Catskill 35, so I may finish those as well. But, there are a handful of those peaks with no trails and are tough bushwacks - esp. near the summits. So, if I don't finish them, that would be no big loss.

I can't think of any other list I would consider finishing. I like to climb new peaks, but I am also re-climbing favorites.

Driving is also a consideration. Two hours one-way is usually my limit for a day hike (though I make exceptions). So that pretty much rules out other ranges - like the Whites. Though, I plan to climb a few of them on weekend trips.

I wouldn't climb any peak where ropes are needed. I am not comfortable with steep slopes.

[redhawk]

My only list is each year I try to have one "biggie".
Next year it will be the Allagash Wilderness in Maine.

I used to have lists. Then I realized that it restricted me psycologically. I got tunnel vision to what was on the lists and missed out on other freat Adventures.

If my health was better, I might do some peaks, but it would be based on others whom I was hiking with.

One day I will sit down and make a list of all the peaks I have done over 10,000 feet, if I can remember them all, probably not, but I know that I will remember the things that I saw while on them.

My Adventures today are coming across the unexpected. Bushwhacking into areas with no idea of what I will find. I have found a HUGE Cauldron on top of a mountain here in the southern dacks, right in Wells. I have also found a couple of mill stones out in the middle of a wilderness and foundations for houses in the darndest places.

There wasn't any list for them, so if I relied on lists, I wouldn't have discovered them.

So at the yop of my hiking list is not to be restricted by a list.

[fvrwld]

As far as mountains... I want do the Adirondack 46. While climbing Noonmark on Saturday I think I heard a little voice in me vowing to do the winter 46. I would like to climb the highest in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.(I've done Mass and NY)

Besides climbing mountains there are many general locations where I want to hike someday...Colorado, Utah, Montana, Northern California, Europe, and Tibet are all on my "life list".

I don't have a formal list but I do have in mind many other hikes in the Adirondacks that I want to do. There are mountains, trailed ponds, trailess ponds and even just hikes to nowhere. There are also many bodies of water that I want to paddle. Maybe I should write them all down. When it comes to the Adirondacks I can really relate to Gary's signature..."Its not a map, its a to-do list"

[kwc]

lists?

nawwwwwww, no lists for me.

i think Hawk has it nailed with the tunnel vision thing ... sometimes we get too wrapped up in completing some list that we forget why we even started the list in the first place. and sometimes the list becomes a job/chore rather than something to be enjoyed. i have 5 high peaks under my belt, but i'm not sure if i'll do anymore, but who knows? i've climbed some pretty cool mtns, like noonmark, roostercomb, round, snow, vanderwacker, pillsbury, and snowy, all had awesome views and good memories, none were on any list to complete ... just did 'em 'cause they sounded interesting in the adk guidebook.

and those are just my perceptions of the list thing.

for those who are following a list, hats off to you for what you've accomplished and hopefully it's been a blast along the way.

there are still a lot of places i'd like to visit ... for the first time and for return adventures. i'll visit if and when the opportunities arise!

[Rik]

I like lists! I use them to help me decide where to go. I use many to keep it interesting and bounce from one to another. What I don't care for is time frames on my lists. No pressure to finish by such and such a date. I just chip away at them until I get close to the end then maybe I'm a little more motivated to go out and get the stragglers. I also work on lists I doubt I'll complete (state highpoints for example). And most things, especially mountains, are on some list somewhere.

pretty cool mtns, like noonmark, roostercomb, round, snow, vanderwacker, pillsbury, and snowy, all had awesome views and good memories, none were on any list to complete

Most of these are on lists. Firetower list, ADK100, 3kers(770). Sometimes by looking at a list I find someplace I might not otherwise have visited.

[Dick]

Well, it's nice to see I have some non-list company! I thought I was all alone. I've posted on the "why do we hike the 46" thread, so I won't bore people with that here. But I mentioned on that thread that we had decided, right on the way down Haystack (our 46th), that we would do no more lists. We did indeed obsess over the 46 list toward the end. I like Redhawk's perspective. There's so much else to be seen. I know there are people, some perhaps on this list, who hike the 46 multiple times. I'm not at all critical of those that do. It's just that can't understand it.

[oldsmores]

I'm definitely not a list person. I can understand in an intellectual way why people use lists as motivation, but don't relate to it very well. If a list gets you to hike more often, or in different places, then it's not a bad thing. But I've had too many great days on hikes that probably wouldn't make anyone's list - if I'd been working off a list I probably would have missed them. I don't mind turning around if conditions are bad, or changing my itinerary because someone I run into wants a hiking partner to climb something different. At the most basic level, I hike because I like to walk in the wilderness and I climb because I like the views. Lists don't help me with either of those things.

[kingof14ers]

I think I'll stick to my only list of 14ers. Between now and then, there are tons of mountains that I want to visit. While all mountains fall on some list (hey there's a list of all mountains within every 1000' increment), an individual mountain doesn't necessarily make you a list follower. There are tons of foothills in my backyard that are intriguing looking. I hope to do more of them just because I can drive to and from work knowing that I've visited the top of each. Some of them aren't even named.

[Tom McG]

Lists

I used to be more of a list person then I am now. The 46 were fun (and still are) the Catskill 3500 were OK, and the Northeast 115 were gruesome. Or as my hiking partner said as we were walking out on an old road after doing Whiteface and Passaconay, “I’ll be happy when we finish this list and we can hike for the fun of it.” If I’m sitting on top of a mountain I look around for places that grab my interest and add that to my “to do list”. I’m no longer looking for established lists, like the Grand Slam or the High Points, just nice places to explore. With almost 3-1/2 million acres of State owned or easement lands in the Adirondacks and Catskills there’s a lot of great spots to add to my list.
Tom McG

[Skyclimber]

Hiking with a list, makes hiking more exciting in the respect there is a goal to reach at the end. New Mountains, trails, places, views to see. New challenges, new experiences. Opening up a whole new vista to hiking. Keeping the climbing adventure alive and more interesting. It's hard to put that into words. Like "Life has a goal," "Life is a Journey," but we just don't know what that is, until the time comes.

Hiking the same mountains, multiple rounds, Dick says, "he doesn't understand." Climbing any Mountain multiple times is not boring, in the respect every time you go there is something new to see. The Mountains change with the Seasons, change with what Mother Nature may had created, like the new slide on Colden from Avalanche Lake ripping Avalanche Pass Walls to the ground, Hurricane Floyd creating a view on Cliff, the fire on Bear's Den, making awesome views along the way to Dial, (which was completely wooded in years past) Hurricane Floyd creating views along the path to Sawteeth, instead of waiting until you reach the summit.

Like Grace Hudowalski always said, " a reclimb is like visiting an old friend !"

[Dick]

Hiking with a list, makes hiking more exciting in the respect there is a goal to reach at the end. New Mountains, trails, places, views to see. New challenges, new experiences. Opening up a whole new vista to hiking. Keeping the climbing adventure alive and more interesting. It's hard to put that into words. Like "Life has a goal," "Life is a Journey," but we just don't know what that is, until the time comes.

Hiking the same mountains, multiple rounds, Dick says, "he doesn't understand." Climbing any Mountain multiple times is not boring, in the respect every time you go there is something new to see. The Mountains change with the Seasons, change with what Mother Nature may had created, like the new slide on Colden from Avalanche Lake ripping Avalanche Pass Walls to the ground, Hurricane Floyd creating a view on Cliff, the fire on Bear's Den, making awesome views along the way to Dial, (which was completely wooded in years past) Hurricane Floyd creating views along the path to Sawteeth, instead of waiting until you reach the summit.

Like Grace Hudowalski always said, " a reclimb is like visiting an old friend !"

Thanks for your perspective, Skyclimber! 'Boring' is your word, not mine. I didn't didn't use it, and I didn't mean to suggest that there isn't something valuable to see the second time around, or the twenty-second. I have already made multiple trips on many, have many of those "old friends," and will continue to make more. It's just that for me, I need to find other vistas as well, and lists get in the way of that, particularly if it's the same list. But to each his own, as they say.

[Skyclimber]

Thanks for your perspective, Skyclimber! 'Boring' is your word, not mine. I didn't didn't use it, and I didn't mean to suggest that there isn't something valuable to see the second time around, or the twenty-second. I have already made multiple trips on many, have many of those "old friends," and will continue to make more. It's just that for me, I need to find other vistas as well, and lists get in the way of that, particularly if it's the same list. But to each his own, as they say.

I didn't mean for you to take that personally and actually it wasn't a "remark," towards you in anyway, shape or form. If you thought it was "I apologize." I was just placing an opinion about list in general and what reclimbs mean to "me." Again sorry.

[Dick]

I didn't mean for you to take that personally and actually it wasn't a "remark," towards you in anyway, shape or form. If you thought it was "I apologize." I was just placing an opinion about list in general and what reclimbs mean to "me." Again sorry.

Nothing to apologize for at all, Skyclimber! I didn't take anything "personally." One of my many faults is that I have to be careful how I word notes on the internet. I took no offense at your post all. I've enjoyed reading all of your posts, and have learned from them! It looks like I didn't use enough smilies!

[Neil]

My favourite list is Hillman1's: ''Ski off every slide in the High Peaks region.''
I'd never even known about ''lists'' until hitting the Dacks. Turns out, there's all kinds of 'em. I know I'll complete the 46 and I hope to do the winter 46 and that will be it for lists for me. I'll still be a Dackhound and hope to be able to dream up all kinds of off-beat fun stuff to do when those lists are complete. I don't care too much about the patch or getting my name on the roster except for the friends they might bring into my life. The most important thing is to get outside, be challenged, live some emotions, have fun and store up some great memories. And climb Allen in less than six hours