Settle a Debate between My Friend and I

[mushroompirahna]

My friends and I have had a long-running debate. They claim that biking up the highway for Mt. Evans and Pikes Peak qualifies as summitting the mountain on the basis that they are ascending the total elevation on their own power. I claim that you must complete a mountaineering route (regardless of if it's on a bike or hiking), and thus biking the Barr trail would qualify, but biking up the road does not count (despite it still being impressive and difficult to bike up the Pikes Peak Highway).
I decided to post this here to see what other people think qualifies as an ascent and I added a few additional claims one could make to make it a well rounded poll.

[CaptainSuburbia]

It's your list. Count them how you want.

[hellmanm]

If you touched the top, you summited. I think that some feats are more impressive than others, but I’ve always considered summiting to be a black/white thing. All the stuff about 3,000’, car vs bike vs foot…etc is irrelevant to the question of whether or not you objectively touched the top.

It goes both ways though. Hiking 20 miles and 6,000’ on sunlight without doing the block wouldn’t be a summit in my book, even though driving up pikes and walking 50 feet would be.

[glenmiz]

It's your list. Count them how you want.

[montanahiker]

Driving to the top of a mountain isn't summitting, it's driving.

[Gene913]

In response to the question of whether someone who rides a bicycle up the Mount Evans road, and then walks up to the summit, has "climbed" Evans, I am persuaded by what Roach has to say on this subject in his Colorado Fourteener's guidebook. Paraphased, Roach says yes, the bicyclist ascended under their own power and even hauled up the bicycle's weight. So yes, this may be an "ascent", but it is not a "climb" and is outside the sport of mountaineering. The cyclist ascended Evans under their own power, but with considerable aid from mechanical advantage. Climbers should carry their equipment, not let their equipment carry them.

[Scott P]

It's your list. Count them how you want.

This.

Although I think it's silly to claim that you "climbed" Mt. Evans if you drove to almost the top, it's your list.

Personally I don't count summits that I drive to or very close to, nor (with one exception) do I sign the logs if I drove to them or very close, but others do. The only exception was the highpoint in Indiana. I wanted to sign the log just so I could whine about how lame flat highpointing is.

As an example, I don't count myself as summitting (nor do I sign logs for) Mauna Kea (Hawaii state highpoint) even though I have been on the summit. My logs only record Mauna Loa since I walked up that one.

A lot of people have "counted" Mauna Kea even though they drove to very near the top, but that's their own business.

[Jorts]

If you touched the top, you summited. I think that some feats are more impressive than others, but I’ve always considered summiting to be a black/white thing. All the stuff about 3,000’, car vs bike vs foot…etc is irrelevant to the question of whether or not you objectively touched the top.

It goes both ways though. Hiking 20 miles and 6,000’ on sunlight without doing the block wouldn’t be a summit in my book, even though driving up pikes and walking 50 feet would be.

Hell yeah hellmanm. I like the 3000' rule. However, "summiting" is summiting, regardless of how you got there. Taking the Imperial chair lift to within 200 ft of Peak 8 and hiking the rest, is summiting. Heli-skiing in AK is summiting too I suppose. That's why I like the 3000 ft rule.

In response to the question of whether someone who rides a bicycle up the Mount Evans road, and then walks up to the summit, has "climbed" Evans, I am persuaded by what Roach has to say on this subject in his Colorado Fourteener's guidebook. Paraphased, Roach says yes, the bicyclist ascended under their own power and even hauled up the bicycle's weight. So yes, this may be an "ascent", but it is not a "climb" and is outside the sport of mountaineering. The cyclist ascended Evans under their own power, but with considerable aid from mechanical advantage. Climbers should carry their equipment, not let their equipment carry them.

If I ski up a summit, I'm still climbing it even though my skis are carrying me over the surface of the snow, at considerable advantage by allowing me to disperse my weight over a larger area than what could be achieved by foot. Maybe that's false equivalence. Skis are allowed in wilderness areas. Bikes are not.

[LURE]

my arbitrary rule on evans is that you can't even count a bike summit if you started any higher or closer than idaho springs.

[joliver9321]

Hiking is hiking, biking is biking and driving is driving. Only on the rare occasion is a 14er accessible to bikes and cars so in the end I feel this does not constitute a legitimate summit. I've driven to the top of Mount Evans and walked the remainder to the summit but do not count it as a summit. For me its the personal gratification and pride I get from summitting a 14er on my own physical power, carrying my own gear and enduring the early morning awaking, hiking in total darkness, stopping to refuel my calories, staying hydrated etc.

[dan0rama]

I'd say, if you think you summitted, then you summitted, and if you need others to validate that for you, then you need therapy

[CarpeDM]

In this case, it's "between my friend and me." Debate settled.