What are your Hiking Patterns?

[bigmoose]

GREAT THREAD Sherpa Kroto. And THANKS!
My wife has always accused me of "climbing for stats" instead of for fun...
"You Peakbaggers are so busy with your lists, you miss those stupid mountains you climb!"
Now I can pull up this thread and I suddenly look sane in comparison! My climbing records are written in ballpoint pen on lined notebook paper and not very evolved...good, though, for looking back and seeing, for instance, there was "deep, heavy snow on the AT, north sides of the Crockers" June 10, 1997.
One "stat" I like to keep is the elevation gains of the hikes. I've climbed a cumulative 114 miles over the past 11 years...enough to put me into orbit??!

 

[ADK4Life]

There is no real point to a list, some of us do this out of love for the mountains and not the stats..I def don't need a 46 or 111 beside my name like a merit badge..not when some of the best hikes are not even on the list. I am going to start climbing all of the peaks in the cascade range..I don't know that there is a number related but it makes for a real adventure considering I am from the NE. Most of us will have climbed the great peaks of the NE 1,000 times during our lives.

 

[Seeker]

Is anyone else completely lost?!

"by "unique" I meant of "x" number of summits were on different mountains. So there could be 2 or more summits of the same peak covered in one month, but it would only be counted once in ."

Huh?

Don't bother 'splaining. I think it just means you've done a lot of hiking.

 

[MEB]

Yup....I'm lost too...now I know why I'm not a math major!

I never kept track of what I hiked prior to starting the 48 but now I do through journaling and keeping a scrapbook.

 

[lumberzac]

Interesting thread.
Here is my current pattern. I’m only showing the Adirondack 46, because that is the only list I’m currently actively pursuing. The March, April, and May are at zero because I spend most of my time in the spring fishing. November is also at zero, because I spend almost every weekend hunting. July is currently the month I seem to reach the most summits. This is probably mostly due to the extended daylight hours, so I end up doing longer hikes with more peaks. There are just too many outdoor activities I enjoy doing and not enough weekends to do them.

ADK46
Jan 2
Feb 3
Mar 0
Apr 0
May 0
Jun 8
Jul 17
Aug 7
Sep 9
Oct 8
Nov 0
Dec 2
total 56

 

[Puma concolor]

When it comes to keeping track of dates, I'm just like Ken. I meticulously keep track of the dates of first ascent but once I've been there once, I'm not too interested in dates of re-ascent. There's no way I'm going to try to count by month like SK, but in general, I've hiked heaviest between May and October with a healthy dose of winter hikes thrown in. Like Dr. D., November is my weakest month ... I think it has something to do with a) not wanting to get shot and b) obnoxious amounts of falling oak leaves in my yard.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Mark S. wrote: "Like Dr. D., November is my weakest month ... I think it has something to do with a) not wanting to get shot and b) obnoxious amounts of falling oak leaves in my yard."

Maybe Mark's a) explanation is my answer, but I am going to turn over a new leaf (not oak) this November; watch out hunters for my blazing orange wool hat and vest!

 

[Davehiker]

Can I call myself a peakbagger?

I remember the mountains I've hiked, and usually the route, but I don't write down anything, and I don't remember the dates (or even the year!) If I ever manage to do the 48, does it still "count?" I often repeat peaks, and hike peaks and trails that aren't on any "list."

 

[Raymond]

I haven't done as many multiple climbs of 4000-foot peaks as some of you have, but I have done all 115 mountains on the 111ers of the Northeastern USA's list, so here is the monthly information for the initial climb of each of those peaks:

June: 1 (Lafayette, June 30, 1984)

July: 19 Coincidentally, July 19 was the date of my first Adirondack High Peak (Giant, 1983) and my 46th (Whiteface, 2002).

August: 28 Yikes! August 28 is my son's birthday (1991)!

September: 41 16 of them in September 2000 and another 9 in 2002.

October: 26 Fewer this month in more recent times.

By year:

1977: 11
1983: 12
1984: 14
1985: 11
1994: 11
1995: 11
1998: 16
1999: 14
2000: 37
2001: 18
2002: 21
2003: 16
2004: 12

By day of the week:

Sunday: 1Xx111
Monday: 11x13
Tuesday: 1X17
Wednesday: 18
Thursday: XX25
Friday: XXXX18
Saturday: Xx13

 

[SherpaKroto]

Ok, I'll try again. Let's say you climb Tom, Field and Willey each year for 3 years, every August. Let's also say that these are the only summits that you've climbed in August, ever. On my list it would say:

August: 9 (3)

It would mean: 9 summits of 4K peaks covering 3 unique summits (Tom, Field, Willey).

I'm a QA geek, what can I say? I say I need a hike!

BigMoose: even if your wife looks at this thread, her opinion won't change

 

[mavs00]

Wow, you people scare me............... .

I don't or at least haven't kept records in the manner you guys do. I must be in the Ken camp too, as once I climb it, I don't bother with tallying multiple ascents, other than journal entries. I DO take meticulous journal notes on most peaks I do (as many of you know, ad nauseaum), I also have GPS data and tracklogs on a bunch of bushwhacks, but I certainly don't mathmatically spreddesheet them out. In fact, I really ought to find a better way to organize it on my computer.

As for patterns, yeah................ my recent trend has me hiking stuff that will either kill me, or make me a better hiker, I'm not sure which.. I gotta stop hiking with my bushwhacking VFTT friends.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Wow, you people scare me............... .

I don't or at least haven't kept records in the manner you guys do. I must be in the Ken camp too, as once I climb it, I don't bother with tallying multiple ascents, other than journal entries. ........

It isn't in my style to do that, but after finishing hte 46, I mantioned to Grace that I now wouldn'T have to keep records of my climbs. She scolded me, and told me it was important to ALWAYS keep records. So I did. Or I try to.

Since my records are not on a spreadsheet, I can'T do the kind of fancy calculation..... Hmmmmm Just thought of something...

I wonder if there is a market for specialized peak bagging software. Certain key fields are entered, then it can produce lists in all weird combinations, make suggestions (if you do this peak, then you will have an all -peaks-beginning-with-'A'-done-in-August' list.

Yep... seems to be a market. Maybe I'll make a million|

 

[mavs00]

Actually, that's not a bad idea at all pete......... even if it was just a fancy spreadsheet thing. I probably forgot to add that another (large) part of the reason I DO NOT keep a detailed spreadsheet, is that I'm too stupid to figure out how to do it

Still, Grace would be proud, as I stated, I do keep a record, it's just in a journal form.

 

[Raymond]

Spreadsheet? I don't need no stinkin’ spreadsheet.

I just used a color-coded T-shirt I created for myself (if you were at the AMC's awards banquet last month you may have seen it) and counted up the years, months, and days of the week, made easier by the color-coding.

 

[RoySwkr]

My hiking pattern on the NH4s has been similar to Sherpa K's, with April, May, and November my weakest months, probably for similar reasons in April and May, which has been lots of time skiing Tucks; not sure why I have been such a hiking wimp in November.

Exactly the same for me, it would have been even more so before I made more effort to hike those months. I don't do Ravine skiing but used to go whitewater canoeing. I think the lingering snow in the spring means fewer peaks per day so even if you hike the same number of days you get behind. As for November, the roads start getting gated and the days are short so fewer peaks per day again. Also chance of freezing rain which IMHO is worse than snow. Hunters too, and I'm not quite ready for cold weather.