| NOVEMBER 1992 | 222 | |||
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The HPS, SPS and DPS lists are all "politically" determined. Certain minimum criteria may be used (e.g. 5,000 foot minimum for HPS listing) but the other "lists" that I'm aware of tend to use very strict criteria to determine which peaks are included. A peak qualifies or it doesn't; no vote is ever taken. With such strict definitions peaks can fall on and off lists as official government maps get updated, and access can sometimes be difficult. Access is ameliorated in Europe because hikers have considerable historical rights. In this country a new owner of private property can cause great difficulty. European countries often have organizations that keep an eye on "public footpaths" crossing private lands and make sure that they are being used frequently enough to prevent the farmer from declaring them abandoned. The organizations also make sure the farmer doesn't stack his hay (or worse) across the footpath. Occasionally a public footpath will pass quite close to a farm house and a clearly marked public footpath can feel more like someone's yard. In New England, crossing private property can be a problem, but the land is usually owned by an absentee lumber company and sneaking through is a frequent solution.
One famous set of peaks are the "Munros", after Sir Hugh Munro, who wrote a best selling book in 1891 about Scottish peaks over 3,000 feet. Recently there were 279 Munros. Munroclimbing is quite popular and is widely known in Britain, even by non-hikers. I've been asked by ordinary people in that country how many Munros I had done in response to my mentioning that I liked to bag peaks. The first Scottish Munro list finish occurred in 1901, the second 22 years later, twice the gap that followed Andy Smatko's SPS list finish in the mid sixties. Munro never finished his list -- he was saving an easy one near his house for that even -but despite multiple attempts he was never able to get Inaccessible Pinnacle, a peak which has also prevented many others from finishing. By 1977 there were 143 Munroists. with about five people a year finishing. In 1974 Hamish Brown did the whole thing on a single four month trek aided only by a folding bicycle, covering 1,639 miles and 449,000 feet of gain. After hearing of this I've often wondered if it would be possible to do all of the SPS peaks in one swoop. My copy of Harnish's Mountain Walk is a fifth printing, an indication of the general interest in peak bagging in Britain.
Other lists abound in Britain, one being the fourteen peaks over 3.000 feet in Wales. This list is often done as one long day hike of over 20 miles and 8,000 feet of gain. Occasionally it is run both ways in the same day, the mother of all death marches. In parts of England the mountains are often called "fells," and folks who like to run in the hills are referred to as fell runners. Being passed by a fell runner on a steep trail can be quite humbling to us ordinary folks. Games such as the annual HPS attempt to do the maximum number of listed peaks in 24 hours are quite common in Britain, evoking much comment.
Another game I'm familiar with is doing the hundred highest peaks in New England (3,760' to 6,288'), or the 64 peaks in New England over 4,000 feet. New England peaks may seem modest by our standards but the weather is unpredictable and ferocious, causing many deaths from exposure. In New England the tree line is about 4,000 feet and outings in the Appalachian Mountain Club schedule say things like "participation limited to those with 4,000 foot experience."
Also widely played are bagging all the 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado (over 50) or the 13,000 foot peaks (about 250). Someone is maintaining a list of people who have reached the high point of all fifty states. This is not always a local high point. In Kansas the high point is on a slope a few feet from the Colorado state line. In Delaware it is the top of a hill on a city street.
A few years ago Reinhold Messner created a bit of a sensation by doing the 14 peaks over 8,000 meters, arguably the premier peaks list. Jerzy Kukuczka, a Pole, then did this list on a limited budget, either by new routes or else old routes in winter. Messner often used the easiest route and would sometimes be testy about Kukuczka's feat. Spicing up a list with harder routes or shorter times is common. The HPS has experimented with routes, and Tina Stough created a sensation when she finished that list in nine months in the early 80's.
And of course we have a local boy about to complete a big time list. Perhaps tired of repeating our awesome but relatively unknown SPS list every few years. Doug Mantle is going for Vinson in Antarctica this winter. In true list finisher fashion he's saved Kosciusko (7,314') in Australia for last so that his friends can join him when he becomes one of the first people to finish the seven high points of all the continents. -- John McCully
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