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PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:34 am
by Hotoven
I think it could be done if he doesn't get run over by a car. Although going self supported will provide a lot of problems too.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:11 am
by brandon
http://www.thedogteam.com/14ers-Web_Pages/14ers-History/14ers-History.html

Here's a link with some history. I thought I read somewhere the Smith's rode bike back from CO to CA, but maybe not.

More power to him.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 4:49 am
by nickmech
Go for it. Somebody is always dreaming up a new adventure.
Reminds me of Goran Kropp who biked self supported from Sweden to Everest, soloed, then rode back home, in 1996. Wrote a very good book about it. Sadly he died rock climbing in Washington a few years ago.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:08 pm
by johnm
And for a little different adventure this German Fellow is currently cycling from Alaska to Argentina and planning on Peak Bagging the tallest summit in each country along the way. He is calling his trip the Pan-American Peaks. He did not summit Denali because of bad weather but I believe he has had a successful summit in every country since. Last I heard he is down around El Salvador. Attached is a link with Maps of his route & plans. It also has a link to his blog which he updates regularly. Also from his blog is a link to his spot tracking which updates 24/7.

http://panamericanpeaks.com/

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:04 pm
by Teresa Gergen
I can't tell anything from this article about what peaks he's actually planning to include in his version of this list. The lists are pretty well defined these days, and his numbers don't seem to consistently add up to anything.

"the 15 or so 14ers in California"

"all 54 of the recognized Colorado 14ers"

"the 13 recognized peaks in California plus two extras that have prominence issues"

"every recognized peak over 14,000 feet in the Lower 48—the “official” count will be 68, but it will actually be 73 peaks in all"

There are 53 ranked CO 14ers, which do not include North Maroon and El Diente and do include Challenger. There are 54 "traditional" CO 14ers, which include North Maroon and El Diente but do not include Challenger. But if you want to count every last point that reaches over 14,000 ft in CO, there are 67 points:
(count every row; the numbered ones to the left are only the ranked ones)
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/select ... &S=CO&R=14

I would not think much of a claim of doing all the CONUS 14ers if he left off Challenger, for example.

Washington has 3 14ers, all on the Rainier massif: Columbia Crest (ranked), Liberty Cap (ranked), and "Point Success" (unranked):
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/select ... =&P=0&S=WA

For CA, there are 15 "traditional" 14ers, including the 3 unranked Thunderbolt, Starlight, and Polemonium, but there are a total of 18 points that reach over 14,000 ft:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/select ... =&P=0&S=CA

He seems to have a concept of rank, since he refers to "prominence issues." I would think he would want to include at least the 53 CO + 12 CA + 2 WA = 67 ranked 14ers, including Challenger and Liberty Cap, to make any claims.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:22 pm
by Day Hiker
Teresa Gergen wrote:But if you want to count every last point that reaches over 14,000 ft in CO, there are 67 points:
(count every row; the numbered ones to the left are only the ranked ones)
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/select.php?sort=&S=CO&R=14

Washington has 3 14ers, all on the Rainier massif: Columbia Crest (ranked), Liberty Cap (ranked), and "Point Success" (unranked):
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/select.php?R=14&sort=&P=0&S=WA

For CA, there are 15 "traditional" 14ers, including the 3 unranked Thunderbolt, Starlight, and Polemonium, but there are a total of 18 points that reach over 14,000 ft:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/select.php?R=14&sort=&P=0&S=CA


Are you talking about named points over 14,000 feet, or "every last point" over 14,000 feet? The listsofjohn information might have all the named points over 14,000 (is that the case?), but it doesn't have "every last point" over 14,000 feet. As the prominence cutoff goes to zero, the number of "points" gets astronomically large,

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:41 pm
by Dougald5
To clarify on the peak count, Josh said he would climb "all recognized 54 Colorado 14ers," plus some unranked peaks. In California, he plans to climb the "13 recognized peaks...plus two extras that have prominence issues but they will still be climbed." He's not counting Liberty Cap either, "because of prominence."

His total count of "official" peaks is 68, but he's aiming to bag 73 14,000-foot-plus summits.

Dougald
Colorado MoJo

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:44 pm
by Teresa Gergen
The searches done in the above LOJ links are for everything over 14000 with a prominence of 0 or greater. Some of the points are unofficially named closed contours over 14000. Day Hiker, I see your point; it wouldn't be on LOJ unless it was ranked, or it had an official name or an unofficial nickname.

In my mind, the largest meaningful list for a project like this would be all of the ranked 14ers, plus all of the officially named unranked 14ers, plus any "traditional" 14ers ("Starlight" in CA is an unofficial name but one of the traditional 15). The smallest meaningful list would be all of the ranked plus all of the traditional.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:52 pm
by Teresa Gergen
Dougald, the two unranked peaks in CO's "recognized" (traditional) 54 are El Diente with a prominence of 259', and North Maroon with a prominence of 234'. By contrast, Liberty Cap has a prominence of 492' and is thus ranked by the 300 foot rule. My point is that his project is inconsistent in its choice of what to include, and he might want to do more research from the available sources for lists before launching on a competitive project that is specifically list-based.

I can't figure out 68 "official" peaks in any case. Traditional counts would be 54 CO + 15 CA + 1 WA = 70.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:26 pm
by fatdad
I think it's a cool idea. I personally find it really awe inspiring when people find ways of finding new challenges in things rather than just approaching it the same old way. Someone mentioned Goran Kropp, who's a perfect example of that approach to life. Find adventure in every aspect of the journey. It's the kind of thing, in retrospect, I wish I would have tried when I had more time and less commitments. I wish him the best of luck.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:20 pm
by Damien Gildea
fatdad wrote:Goran Kropp, who's a perfect example of that approach to life.


Kropp was a terrible example to any young climber. His book was pulped due to controversy over the lies in it. He did not 'solo' Everest, by any terms, and he used the Sherpa-built route, tried to hide it, and he had a crew supplying him with food, so he was in no way unsupported. But he was good with the talking and the media and was more about the celebrity than the climbing. He is a good example of how this type of one-upmanship and its associated publicity can go awry.

D

PostPosted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:37 pm
by Snowslogger
Damien Gildea wrote:
fatdad wrote:Goran Kropp, who's a perfect example of that approach to life.


Kropp was a terrible example to any young climber. His book was pulped due to controversy over the lies in it. He did not 'solo' Everest, by any terms, and he used the Sherpa-built route, tried to hide it, and he had a crew supplying him with food, so he was in no way unsupported. But he was good with the talking and the media and was more about the celebrity than the climbing. He is a good example of how this type of one-upmanship and its associated publicity can go awry.

D


On the other hand, he had the sense to turn around on Everest, come back and summit another day and more importantly, get down.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:08 am
by Damien Gildea
Snowslogger wrote:On the other hand, he had the sense to turn around on Everest, come back and summit another day and more importantly, get down.


Which should be considered normal, not remarkable.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:17 am
by fatdad
Damien Gildea wrote:
fatdad wrote:Goran Kropp, who's a perfect example of that approach to life.


Kropp was a terrible example to any young climber. His book was pulped due to controversy over the lies in it. He did not 'solo' Everest, by any terms, and he used the Sherpa-built route, tried to hide it, and he had a crew supplying him with food, so he was in no way unsupported. But he was good with the talking and the media and was more about the celebrity than the climbing. He is a good example of how this type of one-upmanship and its associated publicity can go awry.

D


I'm not saying that his trip is comparable to Messner soloing Everest's north side. Sure he didn't "solo" the route, but who could rightfully claim to do that during peak season? My point was that if you look at his approach to climbing Everest, riding his bike across Europe and half of Asia, by himself, etc., it is miles apart from virtually every commerical expedition to the peak nowadays. Is he Jon Waterman soloing Mt. Hunter? No. Did he eek more adventure out of his trip than 99% being guided that season? Yes.