International Peak-baggers' Halls of Fame & Progress Registers
Hiking below Mount Cook, South Island, New Zealand - photo Graham Illing
(This picture file is licensed under the Creative Commons License)
Baggers without Borders ('BwB')
If you are British or American mountain hiker you may be familiar with the concept of ‘bagging Munros’, in the sense of attempting to reach the summits of all the mountains in Scotland over 3000ft originally listed, with subsequent amendments, by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. His hill-list did much to spawn the 'bagging' habit, and to give rise to this popular past-time. Since 1891 hill-lists have proliferated outside the UK, first in the USA and subsequently Ireland. Hill and mountain lists are now worldwide, and some baggers operate internationally too. Popular international mountain lists include the Ultras and the Majors – peaks defined by their ‘prominence’ rather than their height.
For an explanation of 'prominence', see at https://www.rhsoc.uk/prominence/.
Ultras have a prominence of 1500m and Majors 600m. There are estimated to be over 1500 Ultras in the world and over 32,000 Majors. Also popular are 100-, 300-, 500-, 1000- and 2000-metre worldwide prominence lists, and also the 100 most prominent mountains. Nobody expects to complete these lists, especially as some hills and mountains are virtually inaccessible for geographical or political reasons. However, there is a healthy competitive spirit among international baggers to scale as many as possible. Remote peaks are especially prized.
You can learn more about the Prominence Categories ('P-categories'), and see the Tables, by using the menu bar on this website.
Until 2019 it has been the Americans who led in the international bagging habit, with plenty of online support for people to log their ascents on such websites as Peakbagger (https://www.peakbagger.com/) and Peakery (https://peakery.com/) and discuss bagging on social media platforms.
There are also FRLs (Front Runners' Lists), mainly in imperial measurements (feet, not metres) at http://www.cohp.org/prominence/records.html.
The Forum
In the autumn of 2019, in an attempt to further promote international bagging, the Europeaklist web-master set up an online Google Groups Forum to appeal to international peak-baggers worldwide, not just in the USA and UK. It is called Baggers without Borders ('BwB') - see at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/baggingwithoutborders.
The forum is for those dedicated to the activity of bagging peaks across the world, without the confinement of national or geographical borders. Peak-baggers use the Forum to discuss issues of interest and to ask for advice about particular countries, peaks, routes etc.
If you are interested in international peak-bagging, check out Baggers without Borders. If you want to take up the activity, join the Forum. It’s free .
Peak-baggers' Halls of Fame, Progress Registers and Rolls of Honour
Every year Tables are published on this website, in various prominence categories, of international peak-baggers' all-time totals at the year-end, and for the year. You do not have to be a member of the Forum to feature in these Tables. If you are interested in joining, please contact the BwB HoFClerk, using the email address given at the bottom of the home page on this website.
To enter a Hall of Fame, you need to have reached the summits of a certain number of peaks in that P-Category - for details, use the website menu to check out the thresholds for each category. Awards are given to those in the Hall who attain higher peak-bagging totals.
Those who have not yet reached the Hall can feature in the Progress Register, if there is one for that P-Category.
The Rolls of Honour are reserved for notable peak-baggers active worldwide who did not reach the threshold for that Hall before they died. The annual BwB HoFClerk's Reports will include short obituaries of deceased peak-baggers in the Halls of Fame and Rolls of Honour. Profiles of them can also often be found on Peakbagger.com.
Each annual Table is compiled by a HoFMeister, who also promotes people into its Hall of Fame and makes the annual awards - Bronze, Silver and Gold for that P-Category. The HoFMeisters also act as the management board for running BwB.