Most climbed mountains

[Scott P]

Of course mountains such as Longs Peak, Bierstadt, Elbert, Quandary, etc. can be really crowded, but in case anyone is wondering what the most popular mountains to climb in the world are, I'm guessing it is the sacred mountains in China. Huang Shan, for example is a beautiful mountain.



Check out the number of people climbing the mountain on some days:

I couldn't get the original video to work. This one isn't as good, but shows the crowd.

https://youtu.be/xFJUkCko-F8

I don't know why I can get the video to imbed? Anyway here is a photograph of a weekend day on Huang Shan:



Huang Shan is indeed popular, but Tai Shan is even more so and might be the most climbed mountain in the world. Here is a photograph of the trail:



Several of the sacred mountains in China see millions of hikers/climbers a year. Some of them have seen more than 100,000 ascents per day. That's about three times the number of annual climbers on the most popular 14er. Outside China, some of the sacred mountains in Myanmar and Sri Lanka also see millions of ascents a year.

I wonder what the most climbed mountains in Colorado or the US are? I would assume that some of the peaks around Denver might be at least equal to the popular 14ers.

Mount Monadnock New Hampshire might be the most popular mountain to hike in the United States, but although it is sometimes claimed as being the 2nd most popular mountain in the world, it isn't even remotely close to the sacred mountains in China or in other Asian countries. One really rediculous claim you might hear out there is that Mt. Hood is the 2nd most climbed mountain in the world, but it isn't even remotely close to being the most popular mountain in the US. In fact, it isn't even the most popular mountain in Oregon. For some reason the claim gets repeated a lot, but it far from true.

It is possible that Quandary is the most climbed 14er in the world since in recent years some of the Colorado 14ers have exceeded Mt. Whitney which was formerly the most popular 14er in the US.

I can't think of any 14ers in the world that could exceed the popularity of Quandary, though several many lower ones could.

Anyway, I just thought this might be interesting.

[Chicago Transplant]

That's pretty insane!

LOJ has the ability to produce a list of the most climbed peaks by state, but its only registered members. This list includes repeat ascents. Might help give an idea of relative popularity anyway.

Green Mountain in JeffCo wins with 4195 member ascents including repeats.

Bierstadt has the most out of 14ers at 1543, but again this is only LOJ members.

https://listsofjohn.com/mostclimbed?c=All&state=CO&d=

[cougar]

Those summit registers must be impressive, they would also give a good count.

I've also heard the claims of Mt Hood, Monadnock, and Fuji being most climbed. Think Mt Davidson in SF or other urban mountains or drive ups would be up there, Clingmans Dome?

[Salient]

Those summit registers must be impressive, they would also give a good count.

I've also heard the claims of Mt Hood, Monadnock, and Fuji being most climbed. Think Mt Davidson in SF or other urban mountains or drive ups would be up there, Clingmans Dome?

Yeah, Clingmans Dome is definitely up there (I’ve been on a relatively busy weekend) but there are far more busy mountains.

[dpage]

2 in my hometown come to mind.
Mill Mountain in Roanoke VA has a neon star and a park on the summit with a parking lot yards away. Every visitor to the valley makes a pilgrimage to overlook Roanoke from there, runners, road cyclist, and mountain bikers all get weekly workouts up the mountain, and a local marathon takes you up it and another along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

McAfee Knob on the AT sees tons of day trips year around including a friend who's been up over 350 times himself. Every AT thru hiker poses for the same picture sitting on the knob, feet dangling over the edge. The parking is a disaster with cars being ticketed or towed on weekends.

[EigenDylan]

Green Mountain in JeffCo wins with 4195 member ascents including repeats.

https://listsofjohn.com/mostclimbed?c=All&state=CO&d=

989 of those are alyson kirk!

[Scott P]

I've also heard the claims of Mt Hood

There are many such claims, but they don't seem to be true. According to the NFS at least, Mt. Hood gets just over 10,000 climbers per year. Some of the Colorado 14ers have double or triple that. Even among glaciated climbs some of the Alps far exceed this as well.

Fuji

Fuji recieves 200,000-250,000 ascents per year. This is far fewer than Chinas sacred mountains, or those in Myanmar/Sri Lanka, but other than those it is up there.

[Scott P]

Green Mountain in JeffCo wins with 4195 member ascents including repeats.

https://listsofjohn.com/mostclimbed?c=All&state=CO&d=

989 of those are alyson kirk!

[Scott P]

I would imagine that the most popular peak in the entire world is Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. It gets 7-9 million visits per year. It must be said though that most people don't hike or climb up. There are trails to the summit though and they are popular (we hiked there as well). I don't know what percentage of people walk up.

In the US, Mount Monadnock might be the most climbed mountain (drive up summits really wouldn't qualify unless enough people hiked them).

In the Western US, it might be Camelback Mountain near Phoenix. Green Mountain near Denver might be up there too. Twin Peaks in San Francisco has far more visitors than either, but it's only 922 feet high so it wouldn't qualify as a mountain by most standards. Same with the other peaks around San Francisco. Diamond Head near Honolulu would be the same. Maybe some of the summits around Los Angeles, San Francisco, or San Diego might give Camelback a run for its money though?

Maybe Bierstand or Quandary could be the most popular 14ers in the world?

For a 15er, it might be Mont Blanc (about as popular as the most popular 14ers), but since a lot of people live close to that high or even that high in places like Nepal and South America, they might have peaks that are more popular.

What would be the most popular 16er? Maybe Lenana Point? I'm not sure.

For a 17er it is almost surely Chacaltaya in Bolivia. It probably used to be even more popular as it was a ski resort.

For an 18er it might be Kala Pattar? Just a guess, but it does see more people than any 18er I can think of.

For a 19er it is surely Kilimanjaro which has far more annual ascents/attempts than any of the Colorado 14ers.

Of course most of the rest of the world uses the metric system so they might be more interested in 5000, 6000, 7000, and 8000ers.

[greenonion]

Your list of most climbed mountains could also double for the list of mountains to most avoid

[climbingcue]

Your list of most climbed mountains could also double for the list of mountains to avoid

I 100% agree...

[Chicago Transplant]

Your list of most climbed mountains could also double for the list of mountains to avoid

I 100% agree...

of course all 53 ranked 14ers are on the LOJ list.

The one that surprised me was PT 8485 in Mancos, until I realized Mark Ott, aka Mancos Mountain Man climbed it 362 times and the other 6 people who have claimed it only have done it once. I guess that one isn't really crowded

I guess that is one of the limitations of having a limited user pool for this type of exercise. There are a couple of other similar "backyard peaks", I guess the two Green Mountains just have a lot more people who use them for training.