My focus for 2023 was clear! I just declined an invite for Denali at the beginning of the year and knew I had to fill a large gap between where I was (beginner level) and where I want to be (advanced level). That meant a lot more intermediate level experience was needed. So I immediately signed up for formal training, bought books and pursued peaks that could begin filling that important but necessary gap. I think I made some good progress throughout the year!
STATE HIGHPOINTS
2023 was a milestone year for me and my 50 state highpoint project:
It started in late May with Oregon to kick off my summer mountaineering tour of the Pacific Northwest. By July, I was in Idaho again for my wife’s annual family reunion and to try for a personal best on Borah. The stars then aligned for me in early August to knock out Washington. At that point, I had everything west of the 100th meridian which marked the first major milestone of the year. The second milestone for me came only two weeks later with a trip to Hawaii. Mauna Kea put me at the half-way point of this project.
One final trip to the east in September gave me North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia that brought my total count to 28 of 50.
With all this time spent in other states, I had not hiked once in my present home state of Utah for five months (from early May to middle of October)!
MOUNTAINEERING
The peaks I wanted to tackle for more mountaineering experience was pretty focused too. It included South Sister and Mt Shasta on my way home from Mt Hood. Then a return to the Pacific Northwest for some rope team and crevasse experience on Mt Baker and Mt Rainier.
SIX-PACK OF PEAKS
I didn’t sign up for the Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge in 2023. For one, the peaks were the exact same ones as last year. I like variety and this challenge wasn’t going to offer that for me this year. Second, there have only been 3 finishers in the previous two years… so that tells me this doesn’t get much promotion, if any. And third, I thought this organization had a social aspect to these challenges as a way to meet other hikers. Since I haven’t experienced that yet either, I saw no point in pursuing this challenge again.
OTHER EPIC ADVENTURES
Other epic adventures this year included an Everest Ridge Repeat of Mount Timpanogos in April and a Cold Fusion attempt in May to help prepare for the peaks that were to come in the following months.
Everything I did in 2023 was with Denali in mind… including plans to kick off the new year from the highest elevation I have ever experienced!
