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Hyadventure wrote:I’m attempting my last 3 California 14’ers this summer. After that I plan to turn my attention to Rainier, and then the balance of my Colorado 14’ers. If I finish this up how small a club would I join? 100? 1,000?

In Colorado bagging 14’ers seems to be quite a popular pastime. I’m guessing there maybe thousands of people who may have bagged them all? Here in California most people don’t even know what a 14’er is outside of Mt. Whitney. And since a half dozen of the California 14’ers require serious skills/effort I’m guessing far less than a thousand have bagged them all.

How many people do you think may have climbed every (72?) fourteener in the continuous 48? Do you know any? I know a half dozen people who have climbed all 15 California 14’ers, but I haven’t heard of/met anyone whose climbed them all

<Bump> Rather than start a new thread I decided to resurect this one and try to get it back on the topic started by the OP. I finally get to join the ranks of those who have been to the top of All of the recognized (and often disputed) California Fourteeners.

Shasta proved to be most elusive for me, taking six attempts. This was for various reasons including lack of preparedness, sever weather, partners getting sick or injured, and partners just wanting to turn around. Five of my six attempts of Shasta were on Snow with A/T skis.

For most of the other peaks I was able to summit on the first attempt. The only other exception was Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt was my second Fourteener in the sequence.

I completed this quest along with a good friend and my brother. We were also pondering the question of how many people can honestly claim they've summited the most widely recognized list of the 15 California Fouteeners. Our educated guess is similar to other posters who estimated it to be over 1,000. And that estimate was two years ago I'm sure the count rises more rapidly each year. But we're still guessing that it's less than 4,000.

To me doing "a" list is a good reason to get outside. I don't understand the whole altitude thing but if thats what gets you excited, cool.

. Myself I sort of like the list I know other people are doing like routes which Warren Harding did the FA (now if someone did Becky routes, that would just be damn impressive). In Arizona, I'm sort of on the quest of John Mattson routes (well, the Serpent: 5.12X) may go undone. Would like to also get a route he attempted but couldn't do and call it Mattson's Dihedral in honor for what he contributed to Northern Arizona climbing.

Congrats Rick! Fine accomplishment.

To answer the OP's question, a couple thousand people are now REGISTERED completers of the CO 14ers and I would say there are at least twice that many who have completed them and not registered (Colorado Mountain Club). 14ers.com has something like 900 completers by itself. So I'm going to estimate 6,000 Colorado completers - figure half that number have done Rainier. That leaves about 3,000 possible people to have completed the CA 14ers --- in order to qualify for your list. I know Charlie Winger and David Hart have completed the list (and I think Roach is close). There are a few guys on 14ers.com who claimed to have compelted both lists but dont mention Rainier (I would find it hard to believe that they wouldn't just go and do Rainier at some point). But thats just from scrounging around on peakbagger.com and listsofjohn.com. I would say probably 100-500 have done CA, CO and WA. Math sounds right to you?

I wonder how many people who have claimed to have climbed Thunderbolt have really climbed it, meaning the summit block. It is 5.9. That eliminates a lot of casual peak baggers.

fatdad wrote:I wonder how many people who have claimed to have climbed Thunderbolt have really climbed it, meaning the summit block. It is 5.9. That eliminates a lot of casual peak baggers.

Thunderboldt isn't even close to being ranked! Doesn't mean I don't want to climb it though...however it isn't on any official 14ers list

Matt Lemke wrote:

fatdad wrote:I wonder how many people who have claimed to have climbed Thunderbolt have really climbed it, meaning the summit block. It is 5.9. That eliminates a lot of casual peak baggers.

Thunderboldt isn't even close to being ranked! Doesn't mean I don't want to climb it though...however it isn't on any official 14ers list

Most guys chasing the CA 14ers include it. On the CO standards, it wouldn't qualify --- but everyone I've ever known to claim the CA 14ers does Thunderbolt (and Sunlight, Muir, and Polemonium). Summit block is more of a grey area though...

See here for more discussion: 100-highest-peaks-in-north-america-t61603-15.html

Fletch wrote:

Matt Lemke wrote:

fatdad wrote:I wonder how many people who have claimed to have climbed Thunderbolt have really climbed it, meaning the summit block. It is 5.9. That eliminates a lot of casual peak baggers.

Thunderboldt isn't even close to being ranked! Doesn't mean I don't want to climb it though...however it isn't on any official 14ers list

Most guys chasing the CA 14ers include it. On the CO standards, it wouldn't qualify --- but everyone I've ever known to claim the CA 14ers does Thunderbolt (and Sunlight, Muir, and Polemonium). Summit block is more of a grey area though...

See here for more discussion: 100-highest-peaks-in-north-america-t61603-15.html

Fletch has got it right, I don't know anyone (Californian) who has claimed to climb all the California 14'ers and not climbed Thunderbolt, Starlight, and Polemonium. I've knocked out 20 14'ers in Colorado now and I think I'm on schedule to finish up on goal. Since it's recent upgrade to 14,000', I'm thinking about adding Sunlight Spire (5.9) to my list as well. That would make my total 14'er goal 76 peaks. I was back up Thunderbolt two weeks ago and got a chance to lead the summit block and I took care of some unfinished business on Middle Palisade last weekend. I'd like to go back and re-climb a couple more Calfornia 14'ers in better style too.

Congratz Rick! Getting through the California 14'ers is a major accomplishment.

Matt Lemke wrote:

fatdad wrote:I wonder how many people who have claimed to have climbed Thunderbolt have really climbed it, meaning the summit block. It is 5.9. That eliminates a lot of casual peak baggers.

Thunderboldt isn't even close to being ranked! Doesn't mean I don't want to climb it though...however it isn't on any official 14ers list

The following user will pass on thanking Matt for this post: Jules Eichorn.


14ers lists are all arbitrary - why not 13995ers lists? The only thing that makes them meaningful is tradition, and Thunderbolt Peak is historically a California 14er, even if it is not a 14er (or a peak at all) in other states.

Using numerical criteria or not, it's pretty hard to look at a photo of Polemonium & Starlight (subpeaks of North Pal) & conclude that they're independent peaks... Muir (what could easily be called a subpeak of Whitney) is slightly more debatable. I would personally call Thunderbolt an independent peak.

For those who value the opinions of others in deciding their own opinions, it should be noted that Norman Clyde explicitly refers to the 11 or 12 (one of those 2 numbers- I can't remember which) California 14ers in Close-ups of the Sierra.

Personally I adhere strictly to a 300 foot prominence rule... counting Muir as a peak but not Thunderbolt, Polemonium, or Starlight. However, the 14ers list in CA is really more of a historical list than a list of 14000 foot mountains, and it is a very worthwhile objective to get all 15 locations even if 3 of them are not true summits.

mrchad9 wrote:Personally I adhere strictly to a 300 foot prominence rule... counting Muir as a peak but not Thunderbolt, Polemonium, or Starlight.

I believe Muir comes in at only about 276ft of prominence. Close, but not strictly meeting that criteria. That said, I enjoyed Muir, Thunderbolt, Polemonium and Starlight, all.

Yes... I've seen that website. And it appears to have merit, but I'm not going to go out there with an altimeter and measure every saddle that appears to be close. So for myself I go by the most recent data on USGS topos, which gives Muir a 100 meter mean prominence. It's not perfect but its consistent and the idea is that it would be close enough on average. It's of small importance for me as I plan to climb Muir anyway due to the historical nature of the list (otherwise I'd be done... I've manage to save perhaps the most fail of them all for last).

Matt Lemke wrote:

fatdad wrote:I wonder how many people who have claimed to have climbed Thunderbolt have really climbed it, meaning the summit block. It is 5.9. That eliminates a lot of casual peak baggers.

Thunderboldt isn't even close to being ranked! Doesn't mean I don't want to climb it though...however it isn't on any official 14ers list

While Thunderbolt is not "ranked" on Summitpost, it is included in the list as the 15th highest Peak in California.

I realize that some consider Thunderbolt to be a sub-peak of North Palisade. And I'm aware of the controversy regarding other peaks and/or sub-peaks having more prominence than some of the 15 generally recognized California Fourteeners. Starlight, Polemonium, and Muir are commonly subject to the recurring debates. I'm not sure how many "official" lists are out there but in California the 15 peaks generally recognized are published by the "Mountaineers" in the Porcella and Burns guide, now in its second edition.

According to the Web site Lists of John, only 9 people have climbed all the Colorado 14ers, California 14ers and Rainier, myself being one of them.