Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:11 am
surgent wrote:Climbing "all" the peaks is an impossibility, but Bob sure did push the margin.
All the ranked peaks (and named unranked peaks, and a lot with unofficial names as well) have been listed on LOJ for many states, and John Kirk is adding more states all the time. Once a list exists, someone will complete it. The list for Colorado wasn't complete yet when Bob Martin was climbing here.
CO has 4,365 ranked peaks, going down to an elevation of 4,711 ft. As soon as the list was finished, there was an explosion of people climbing lower peaks in CO. Some of these people are climbing up to 70 ranked peaks in a month, even in winter, most of them lower peaks. Sooner or later, someone will climb them all. Young people who start out climbing with the lists already in existence, with GPSs, and with beta all over the internet have a huge advantage over the climbers of Bob Martin's era and will make short work of the lists.
AZ has 7,397 ranked peaks, going down to 701 ft. CA has 10,993 ranked peaks, going down to 301 ft. Those numbers sound like a significant challenge. But, in the same way the majority of CO peakbaggers only care about the 14ers, it seems like CA peakbaggers only care about the SPS and related Sierra Club lists.