Introduction

This is the first report for the BwB International Peak-bagging Tables under the new format, comprising Halls of Fame for all P-categories, and Progress Registers and Rolls of Honour for some.  Hours of work and discussion by the HoFMeisters have gone into producing what is, we hope, a much better and considered ‘product’ than my solo efforts were for 2019. 

This is the final edition of the 2020 Tables.

Halls of Fame, and the BwB Awards System

Halls of Fame (‘HoFs’) will be familiar to many British peak-baggers, and to all who are users of Peakbagger.com, but possibly not to the wider world.  Once a person has climbed a certain number of peaks in that height and/or prominence category, he/she enters its Hall of Fame.  In the UK, Halls of Fame tend to operate by using levels or a tier system, with Hall members attaining the upper levels/tiers as their peak-count passes set thresholds.  In the USA, Andy Martin’s Front Runner Lists (see here) have similar characteristics, with people ranked in descending order of peak-count, down to a threshold.

We have gone for a somewhat different approach for the Baggers without Borders Tables.  There is just one Hall of Fame for each P-category, with only one level.  Once in the Hall, members receive Bronze, Silver or Gold Awards as their peak-count passes certain thresholds.  Each Award is more difficult to reach than the previous one.

We have devoted much time to determining the appropriate thresholds for the new Awards system.  We started by looking at the actual distribution of bag-totals in each Hall, and then determined the Awards thresholds on what looked to be a fair distribution across the Hall population.  For the top Awards we also took a view, for the highest P-categories, on what a very dedicated peak-bagger could achieve, bearing in mind the technical and other difficulties that some peaks present.  Finally we ensured that the thresholds made sense, in comparison with all the other Halls, so they work together in lock-step.   

Review of the Year

2020 was indeed a challenging year, on all fronts, and not only for peak-bagging.  The COVID-19 Pandemic has dominated the news across the world, and has had a profound effect on the daily lives of so many people across the globe.  However, peak-baggers tend to be a resourceful set of people, and a surprising amount of activity went on.  There were examples of people in the early months of 2020 heading from the northern to southern hemisphere in search of sunny peaks, before the pandemic hit and lock-downs began.  As different countries and states imposed various restrictions, people still managed to find ways of peak-bagging within the COVID rules, especially in the summer months in the northern hemisphere when the restrictions were eased.

Ninety-nine people have been recorded for 2020 in the final edition of these Tables (sixty-three in 2019), as well as nine deceased baggers who feature in the Halls of Fame and Rolls of Honour for the first time in 2020.  The Rolls of Honour have been introduced for notable international peak-baggers who died before reaching a Hall of Fame, as a mark of respect and to preserve their names and bag-totals for posterity.

For 2020, milestone peaks for Hall entrants are shown for the first time, with the year of ascent.  In addition, the highest peaks for all Hall members in that P-category are also recorded.  Two Hall members have climbed Mount Everest (8849m, P8849m).  One other 8000m peak makes an appearance too – Broad Peak 8051m, P1701m.  Two 7000m peaks are recorded - Noshaq 7492m, P2024m on the Pakistan/Afghanistan frontier, and Pik Korzhenevsky 7105m, P1650m in Tajikistan.  Ten 6000m peaks are represented, including Aconcagua 6962m, P6962m in Argentina (highest peak in the Americas) - by far the most popular highest summit for North American Hall members - and Denali 6190m, P6140m, the highest mountain in North America.  Europeans have tended to record Kilimanjaro 5895m, P5885m in Tanzania, the summit of Africa, as their highest.  Five other 5000m peaks also feature.

The average age of those in the 2020 Tables is 55 years, although ages range between 10 and 91 years.  61% of the people in the Tables this year reside in Europe, 35% in North America, 2% in Asia and 2% in Australia.

Obituaries

Each year in this Report there will be short obituaries of any international peak-baggers who died in the year who feature in the BwB Halls of Fame, or appear in the Rolls of Honour.  In addition, there may also be a personal tribute to a person who died in an earlier year who appears in the Tables.

Jake Robinson (1995 – 2020)

Jake’s tragic early death at the age of 25 shocked the mountaineering community in Washington State, USA, in September 2020.  He was an extremely promising peak-bagger and mountaineer, not only in his home State, but throughout the USA and beyond.  Besides considerable feats in the USA, he had time to go peak-bagging in Canada, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.  Had he lived to a seasoned age, he is likely to have taken his place among the highest elite in the prominence-bagging world, and possibly exceeded them.  He died in an accident on the Kololo Peaks, in the Cascades, Washington State, among the mountains that he loved most.

For more information on his achievements, see his page on Peakbagger here, where there is a link to his obituary.

Rob Woodall remembers Adam Helman (1960 – 2015) 

“I was fortunate to be able to share a number of overseas peak-bagging trips with Adam.  He was an unusual character, but like all who knew him, I was impressed by his intellect, enthusiasm, determination and organisational skills.  

My first encounter was a five-week trip to Indonesia with Bob Packard; Adam had made the effort to learn Indonesian, and it certainly came in handy a few times.  He was fluent in Spanish, and this facilitated a number of Central and South American trips.  

His culinary tastes were legendary: he relished extremes of sweet and spicy, and would often produce something strange and tasty for a summit snack.  He loved chicken bones (!), hated coffee and beer, indeed rarely touched any alcohol, but I recall a meal in Japan which became rather lively when he started on the sake.  

And there was the time when we turned a Japanese train carriage into a drying room.  

Our last peak was Colombia’s Ritacuba Blanco (5410m, P3645m).  I’m indebted to Adam for many good peaks, and the peak-bagging world is less colourful without him.”

Greg Slayden’s well-written obituary of Adam on Peakbagger can be found here.

Looking forward

2021 is again looking to be a challenging year.  Indeed worldwide peak-bagging, especially in the higher P-categories, is likely to be more difficult than in the past for the foreseeable future, during, and in the aftermath, of the COVID-19 Pandemic.  A combination of more challenging travel, tighter frontiers and the ethics of long-haul flights in terms of ‘climate footprint’ may make progress in the highest P-categories slower and more measured.  ‘Stay local’ will be important – or at least within your own continent.  Peak-bagging habits may change, making progress in the lower P-categories more ethically acceptable and favoured.  Baggers without Borders is well-positioned to reflect these changing circumstances, with P100m, P300m, P500m and P600m Halls and Progress Registers available, offering more localised bagging opportunities.

Mark Trengove

BwB HoFClerk

June 2021

Here are links to the 2020 Tables:

• P100m

• P300m

• P500m

• P600m

• P1000m

• P1500m

• P2000m