Bagged in the USA

For a round-up of peakbagging from an American perspective, see www.peakbagging.com which has links to several US peak lists plus worldwide bagging reports. Scotland is described as: 'neat, clean, and safe with no highway trash and amazingly no billboards. The mountains with bare upper slopes and trees only in the valleys reminded me of parts of Alaska. The country is set up well for tourists with good maps and lots of information centers that can help you find a room or answer questions.'

Business Bagging

Jeff Howbert

I have continued to enjoy your Marilyns list, both in the sanctum of my map room and in the field. In fact, I managed to climb 17 this year, bringing my lifetime total to 18. Not a lot by the standards of people like you and the Bowkers, but busy enough, under the circumstances. Perhaps you could have a category for 'Most Marilyns by someone who lives permanently on another continent, and only gets out in spare moments around business trips'. I was worried about what I'd do after this year, since I've wiped out most of the stuff within easy reach of London, but now that I've discovered South Wales is only two hours on the M4 from Slough, I'm smiling again.

There are currently 2902 summits in my Washington state master list, including 2199 with 400ft or more of prominence. Estimated final numbers are c4000 total and 3000 with 400ft prominence. Among these are at least 140 with 2000ft or more of prominence! Washington is clearly a world leader in topokurtosis. But I have to say I was impressed by the density in some parts of Scotland when I started looking over that part of my altas recently. P.S. One of my lists, the 100 highest peaks in Oregon, has been put online at www.mazamas.org/text/OR-100.htm by the Mazamas (the largest climbing club in Oregon).

Relatives Peaks of the West

Andy Martin

Have just finished a list of the 50 best New Mexico peaks by cut-off prominence (drop). This would make a good hiking project. There may be access problems with some of the peaks on the White Sands base. Cut-off prominence for the top 50 peaks in the western states: Alaska 5317ft, Nevada 3318ft, Washington 3032ft, California 2915ft, Utah 2704ft, Colorado 2345ft, Arizona 2320ft, Oregon 2230ft, New Mexico 1945ft. The lists for Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are not yet ready. Washington looks like the toughest in terms of technical difficulty (other than Alaska). To date over 450 peaks with 2,000ft prominence have been listed for the lower 48 states. Looking ahead to a 'lower 48 Marilyn' list, we may have a cut off of perhaps 500 metres to give the 1000 peaks in the lower 48 with best prominence. However, I have no plans to work up this list.

Mary Cox on Mount Mansfield, highpoint of Vermont

Highpointers

John Mitchler and Dave Covill run the Highpointers Club for those interested in bagging the 50 US state tops. Inevitably, this is a touch bigger than the Hall of Fame. According to Volume 47 (fourth quarter 1999) of 'Apex to Zenith' (the Highpointers Club newsletter) the Club had a membership of 2042, with 84 people having completed all 50 state tops and 156 having managed the 48 contiguous states (i.e. all except Alaska and Hawaii). So, the scale is different, but the bagging mentality, principles and problems seem familiar, as these newsletter extracts show:

...Cal Dunwoody completed all fifty in descending order of height, starting at age 68 with a two-week seminar to learn about ice climbing, rock climbing and crevasse rescue, then a traverse of Denali (Mt McKinley) in 1989, and ending with Florida's Britton Hill in 1999, age 77.

...The newsletter editors have been in contact with the Richardson family of Foster, Rhode Island, who live directly adjacent to the highpoint, Jerimoth Hill. The Richardsons cherish their privacy, and feel strongly that they have a legal right to control access. They have had several visits from people who have littered or come during the night.

...Rhode Island status: 12 visited on July 17, 53 visited on Sept 5. Next access date: 9 October 1999. A few rogue trespassers still plague the owner of the easement. Club policy requires members to visit on open access dates.

...Five 50 state completers during first quarter 1999, and four of the five finished on Hawaii.

...High Point, New Jersey: The summit tower has been closed for more than a year because it was deemed unsafe.

...Although many state highpoints are on public property, over 30% are on private property. We must therefore, in order to protect the fabric of our club and its endeavors, begin to systematically form a club-wide ethics policy.

...The Highpointers Club has reached an agreement with Penn Virginia Coal company allowing access to Black Mountain, the highpoint of Kentucky. A waiver for access must be signed in advance and mailed to the coal company. When visiting, only the road to the highpoint may be traveled.

...Whit Rambach completed the 50 state highpoints on 7 August 1994 and ends up being the first person to complete all 50 twice.

...Andy Martin became the first to complete a Pacific-to-Atlantic link of completed county highpoints. Sending the rest of his family on ahead to North Carolina, Andy took eight days going across Oklahoma, Arizona and Tennessee, to link his previously done western and eastern counties.

...Everyone who gets serious about highpointing eventually faces the challenge of Denali. The initial phase is considering whether it is even an option. Denali requires commitment to physical conditioning and attainment of skills necessary for the climb.

...The origins of mountaineering, peakbagging and highpointing as sports are distinct. Three points set highpointing apart: origins, goals and methods. The variety of goals encourages a variety of methods from climbs and hikes to jaunts and drives.

For more details of the club and the newsletter, see highpointers.org. Mitchler and Covill have also collaborated to produce a guidebook to the 63 county tops of Colorado: 'Hiking Colorado's Summits', $15.95 from Falcon Publishing (www.falconoutdoors.com).