Heading to the summit of Gora Belukha 4506m, P3343m, Altai Mountains, Kazakhstan - photo Mihai Giurgiulescu

Introduction

This is the fifth report for the BwB International Peak-bagging Tables, comprising Halls of Fame for all the BwB prominence categories, and Progress Registers and Rolls of Honour for some.  The BwB Tables began in 2019, but the annual report that year only related to Tables of Progress Registers.  The Halls of Fame were introduced in 2020.

Review of the Year

2024 proved to be a very busy year for people participating in the annual Tables.  About 9,000 ascents of peaks of at least P100m were recorded – an average of about sixty per person.  Aside from the main regions of activity in North America and Europe, countries visited further afield for peak-bagging included Greenland, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Egypt, Algeria, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand, Reunion, Mauritius, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Argentina, Guatemala, Jamaica, El Salvador and Mexico.

One hundred and fifty-two people (1) registered for the 2024 edition of these Tables, a net increase of five, when those with whom we have completely lost contact are subtracted.  In addition, eight deceased baggers feature in the Halls of Fame and/or Rolls of Honour.  However, some of those registered in the Progress Registers did not make any progress in 2024, and so do not appear for that year.

The average age of those in the 2024 Tables was 55 years (2).  Ages ranged between 9 and 95 years.  The median age of those participating was 58 (58 in 2023).    

59% of the people in the Tables this year reside in Europe, 38% in North America, and 3% in Africa, Asia and Australia (3).  13% of the people in the Tables self-identify as female and 87% as male (4).

The annual P-Index League Tables were introduced in 2022.  By 2024, 170 people were registered to compete for one of the fifty places.  For 2025ff. the Tables will be expanded to a hundred places.  You can read Brent Lynam’s report here.  You can find the information about the P-Index League here. 

7000m+ Report

No ascents of 7000m or 8000m peaks were recorded by BwB members in 2024.  However, the number of members who have reached the summit of Mount Everest 8849m, P8849m has now risen to five, with new member Serge Massad’s successful ascent back in 2018.       

An updated Table of 8000m and 7000m peaks climbed by BwB participants is given below.

Obituaries

I am pleased to report that no obituaries are needed for 2024, so this section only contains a tribute to a notable person who died in an earlier year who had an interest in international peak-bagging and features in the BwB Tables.

Tim Hagan on South Early Winter Spire 2384m, P207m USA-WA  in 2002 – photo Kim Hood

Kim Hood remembers Tim Hagan (1953 – 2015)

I met Tim Hagan in the 1980’s on a climb of Aconcagua in Argentina. We were part of two groups of climbers who joined up for the expedition and, during that trip, Tim and I became good friends. It was the start of a climbing partnership and friendship that lasted for the next 25 years until his death in a climbing accident in 2015. Through the years we would meet at a local pub and plan climbing trips that would take us to North Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, Antarctica and ranges in Canada and the United States. We would decide on a destination and, with some planning, attempt to pull off a grand adventure. Living in the Pacific Northwest provided hundreds of summit opportunities. Tim and I were in the hills weekly.

Tim was a Boeing engineer, educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, who had a detail-oriented approach to the outdoors. He was a quiet man who would share his wonderful sense of humor with close friends and who could be depended on fully. With GPS in hand, we shared many years of outings. His GPS tracks are still used by many of the current members of Peakbagger. He was an excellent pianist, photographer, friend and trusted climbing partner.

I am fortunate to have known someone with whom I could spend days stuck in a tent, trust to have on the other end of a rope, and always willing to share a pint or two.

Tim’s obituary on Peakbagger can be found here.

2024 developments

Regular BwB features continued in 2024, as in previous years.  Denise McLellan, our social organiser, hosted the BwB annual online talk in February 2024.  Eric Gilbertson gave a fascinating account of his climbs and surveys in Uzbekistan – see here.  Denise also hosted an online social event in January 2024 – see here.

As promised in my report last year, a new service was added to the website in July, enabling members to order free e-certificates to mark their entry into a Hall of Fame or gaining one of the higher awards.  You can find this here.

Rob Woodall and his judging panel announced the 2023 winners of the BwB Annual Awards in July – see here.  Rob also continued to maintain our register of members’ achievements – see here.

The 2024 edition of the BwB Journal was published on the website in September, with a wide variety of topics featuring. 

In the autumn Deividas Valaitis introduced a BwB WhatsApp Community, including a news-feed service called Mountain Morning News.  You can read more about it here. 

For the 2024 bag-totals at the end of 2024, and into 2025, we managed to further automate the data gathering process for the Tables by introducing a compulsory e-form for those who do not record all their ascents on the Peakbagger website or app.  We can now data-gather automatically for about 82% of the Table participants, leaving about 18% to use the e-form.  

We will be going even further for 2025 – on which see in the next section.

My thanks go to all the HoFMeisters for their help and support, and, in addition, to Deividas Valaitis for all the IT work he has done, and continues to do, for BwB.

Peak-baggers’ Calendar Rounds

We are introducing a new section this year to the P100m and P300m HoFMeisters’ Reports – Calendar Rounds.  Steve Smith, who has taken the lead on this for BwB, gives the following commentary on this new feature:

 ‘A Calendar Round’, in the context of prominence-based peak-bagging, is when a bagger has completed first ascents up peaks of a particular prominence on every day of the calendar year – but not necessarily within one solar year. 

Even the most prolific baggers may well find they have not achieved completion because of days of the year when they have not managed an ascent. Family birthdays often get omitted especially for married baggers; on that subject wedding anniversaries could be another. The one to watch out for, as calendar rounds span 366 days, is 29 February. Many baggers, having become aware of calendar rounds, can find they have to wait more than 3 years to achieve completion.

Analysis of peakbagger.com data reveals very few people have complete calendar rounds, even at the lower prominence levels. Careful planning is required, especially for higher prominence completions, simply because there may not be a hill of the required prominence in the area you may be on a particular day.  This means, if you miss that day, you have a full year before you get another chance.

You can check your own calendar round progress on the Peakbagger app for a specific prominence; P0m, P100m, P300m and P600m. If you find you have completed any of these, you can check your exact level on the Peakbagger website from your home page - select ‘Days with Ascents Grid’ and ‘First Year’ from the ‘Attributes’ drop-down list.

If this is something you would like to be expanded in 2025, look out for the forthcoming BwB questionnaire to record your interest.

Looking forward into 2025 and 2026

BwB Members’ Survey

Later this spring we will be launching a consultation for all about the form and future of BwB.  We are hoping to adapt into some form of members’ online club.  This could ensure continuity in the longer term, as I step back.  The new landing page for the website (see here) reflects this change.  We need your views on whether this is the way to go, or thoughts on other ways to take BwB forward.  So please look out for a message landing in your inbox with a link to an e-survey form for you to use to tell us what you like about BwB, and what aspects are of little interest to you.  Even if you are generally indifferent to BwB, we want to know, and why.  The e-form is short and will not take up much of your time.  I strongly encourage you to fill it in.    

BwB International Peak-baggers’ Tables

These have grown significantly in size and numbers since 2019.  In addition, they have become more and more complex, with new features designed to make them informative. This has made my task, and that of the HoFMeisters, ever more time-consuming, in checking and cross-checking the data. 

We have made great strides so far in gathering the data for the annual Tables by means of computing tools.  We need now to do the same thing with the Tables, using software to do most of the work in compiling them.  This will mean that, starting from 2025, the Tables will be much simpler, while keeping the essential features of a Hall of Fame, higher awards for Hall members, and progress registers.  The design for this has just begun, and details will be announced in the annual newsletter in November.         

Retirement

As I have mentioned in my previous reports and newsletters, the time would come when I needed to withdraw from the roles I undertake to keep BwB running.  For personal reasons, that time has now come.

I have discussed a phased retirement plan with the HoFMeisters that involves me stepping back between now and the end of 2026.

This plan started last year when I retired as editor of the BwB Journal after publication of the 2023 edition.  I am pleased to announce that Fergal Hingerty has agreed take on the role of commissioning editor for the 2025 edition next autumn, ably assisted by Rob Woodall as proof-reader.  In 2024 I also handed over the running of the P-Index League to Brent Lynam.

In 2025 I will withdraw from my roles as social media organiser, Forum administrator and membership secretary.  In 2026 the webmaster and HoFClerk roles will fall vacant.  Others will need to take on these roles if BwB is to continue without me.  Please give serious consideration to helping out.  BwB has always worked on the principle that all its activities and functions are free, but now some of your time is needed if they are to continue and grow in new ways.  The more people volunteer, the less time will be needed for each person.

I wish you a year full of peak-bagging exploits and adventures, and again encourage you to pass on your love of the mountains to others.

Mark Trengove

BwB HoFClerk

Wales, April 2025

The 2024 Tables can be accessed via the menu board on the left-side of the website, or directly by the links below:

·        P100m

·        P300m

·        P500m

·        P600m

·        P1000m

·        P1500m

·        P2000m

·        P-Top 100

Footnotes

(1) The number of registered participants over the years has been:

·         2019:  63, and 0 deceased

·         2020:  99, and 9 deceased

·         2021:  124, and 11 deceased

·         2022:  134, and 8 deceased

·         2023:  147, and 8 deceased

·         2024:  152, and 8 deceased.

The decrease in the number of deceased after 2021 is due to a more detailed appraisal of whether they were interested in peak-bagging by prominence, as well as internationally, when alive.

(2) The average age of the participants over the years has been:

·         2019:  not known

·         2020:  55

·         2021:  57

·         2022:  53

·         2023:  54

·         2024:  55.

(3) The distribution of participants across the world over the years has been:

·         2019:  Europe 86%; North America 13%; Asia 1%.

·         2020:  Europe 61%; North America 35%; Africa, Asia and Australia 4%

·         2021:  Europe 63%; North America 34%; Africa, Asia and Australia 3%

·         2022:  Europe 65%; North America 30%; Africa, Asia and Australia 5%.

·         2023:  Europe 61%; North America 36%; Africa, Asia and Australia 3%

·         2024:  Europe 59%; North America 38%; Africa, Asia and Australia 3%.

(4) The distribution of participants self-identifying as female or male over the years has been:

·         2019:  10%/90%

·         2020:   8%/92%

·         2021:  10%/90%

·         2022:  11%/89%

·         2023:  12%/88%

·         2024:  13%/87%.