Define Obsessive Behavior

[Rick Canter]

The 3000' rule is very Colorado-centric, arbitrary. While 3000' of gain ensures some significant calorie burn, some gains are much easier than others and that measurement does not equate to a level of effort.

[angry]

I don’t have the determination to ever summit Carstensz Pyramid)

that's the only one that actually looks fun

[LifeIsGood]

Okay, Rose is correct, turns out that Carstensz Pyramid actually does look like an enjoyable experience, and a grand adventure in total.

But I had always imagined doing it with the proper skillset. The website for MountainTrip Guides says that if you give them $25,000 dollars, they will fly you to basecamp in a helicopter, then herd your group up the 5.6 rated route along their fixed ropes. This would be an unsatisfying experience!

Regarding the 7 Summits list: though many people would think this is a pointless, irrational, and even irresponsible, goal to have, I may pursue it if I can afford to- while conforming to both my own moral code and that of the mountaineering community.

#1 I have completed Africa, by summiting Mt Kilimanjaro, at 19,000 feet elevation.

#2 I have completed South America, by summiting Aconcagua, at 22,800 feet elevation.

#3 I have completed Australia, by summiting Mt Kosciuszko, at 7,000 feet elevation. But apparently I would have to ALSO summit Carstensz Pyramid, as the high point of a fictional continent called Oceania, to conform to the consensus in the mountaineering world.

#4 I have completed Europe, by summiting Mont Blanc, at 15,800 feet elevation. But apparently I would have to ALSO summit Mt Elbrus, to conform to the consensus in the mountaineering world, even though the mountain is EAST of the Black Sea!

#5, #6, #7 I have not summited Denali/Mt McKinley in North America, nor Mt Vinson in Antarctica, nor Mt Everest in Asia (but can’t I just count Mauna Kea in Hawaii, measured from its base, at 33,500 feet elevation?)

[LifeIsGood]

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[Scott P]

Okay, Rose is correct, turns out that Carstensz Pyramid actually does look like an enjoyable experience, and a grand adventure in total.

But I had always imagined doing it with the proper skillset. The website for MountainTrip Guides says that if you give them $25,000 dollars, they will fly you to basecamp in a helicopter, then herd your group up the 5.6 rated route along their fixed ropes. This would be an unsatisfying experience!

It's a bummer no one is doing the jungle trek anymore. That was one of the best attractions to me. You can do it for $16K rather than $25K now but that's still too much for me.

I took that one off the list for those reasons. You aren't allowed to do it on your own either so $16K (plus flights, tips, etc.!) seems the bare minimum (I do know someone who worked at the mine and was able to sneak off and climb it but you wouldn't be able to do that without working at the mine).

When they first started requiring guides for Carstenz, the peak was $6K or $7K but prices have quickly escalated since then.

I guess that's true a lot of other places though. When we were at Kilimanjaro in 1997, the guiding companies wanted $300 to climb it so we decided to push on and climb something else since at the time we didn't think we could afford the $300.

We returned in 2022 and finished it but it was over 10 times more expensive! It does support the local economies though.

[Lrsnsam]

obsessing about "the 3000' rule" by people who aren't going for FKTs.

Yes! Great one! There really are people out there who believe we should all have to re-hike Mt Bierstadt, Mt Sherman, Handies Peak, etc., as their standard routes are less than 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

Pretty sure someone who completes the 14ers with a Honda civic is more genuine to the spirit of the 3k rule than many of these purists who drive their 4x4 to 3001' below the summit only for them to all be invalidated in another 5 years when we find out the 14ers are 1 foot 3.25 inches lower than we thought.

You can always out-gatekeep a purist. "Oh, you followed the 3k rule? Too bad you counted all your combo peaks so it doesn't count..." etc etc

[LifeIsGood]

the 3k rule? Too bad you counted all your combo peaks so it doesn't count...

This is another really good one, that we haven’t included yet! There really are people out there who have adhered to a ridiculously strict personal standard of gaining at least 3,000 feet for every 14’er, which means they hiked the 4-peak Decalibro loop FOUR times before they checked off all 4 peaks on their checklist, which is something that not even the Fastest Known Time or record-seekers do.

All of these behaviors and thought processes have been discussed on this Forum before, but now they have all been conveniently catalogued in one place here.

In pursuit of self-honesty, I’ll go ahead and confess my own personal most irrational and obsessive behavior: continuing to the summit of a mountain, on numerous occasions, when my logic and reason, as well as my gut instincts, all told me that it was a mistake. This can also be termed “Summit Fever.” So then I would be standing on a lofty summit, with very little daylight left, or sometimes even in a total blizzard whiteout, wondering why I had even continued. These are joyless summits, filled with anxiety, rather than the long meditative summit sits that I so enjoy.

[CaptainSuburbia]

Climbing winter 14ers will get you 3k at most peaks. I think the DeCaLiBron winter gate might be a little short.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the monthly griders as being an obsessive behavior.

[LifeIsGood]

I don't think anyone has mentioned the monthly gridders as being an obsessive behavior

Whoa, I totally forgot about these people! Personally, I would like to some day complete 12 ascents of Long’s Peak, at least one during each month of the year, but doing this for all of the 14’ers does seem obsessive. Has anyone ever completed this?

Similarly, a non-hiker would perceive it as rather deranged for someone to climb, say, over 600 peaks, in order to complete the checklist of Colorado peaks over 13,000 feet. But for most of us forum members, people like Supranihilest and other 13’er finishers are quite badass, and very inspiring!

[HikerGuy]

Spreadsheets, CalTopo, 14ers.com, LoJ...the hiking part is just data for the former to obsess over.

[CaptainSuburbia]

I don't think anyone has mentioned the monthly gridders as being an obsessive behavior

Whoa, I totally forgot about these people! Personally, I would like to some day complete 12 ascents of Long’s Peak, at least one during each month of the year, but doing this for all of the 14’ers does seem obsessive. Has anyone ever completed this?

The most on LOJ is 39 complete 14er monthly grids.

[Eli Watson]

But have you summited the highest landmass of each tectonic plate???

Colloquial geography gets interesting sometimes. The British Isles have traditionally considered themselves as distinct from 'Europe'. Mexican schools teach their students they live in Central America - North America starts with the gringo border.