International Peak-baggers' Tables 2022

HoFMeister’s Report

2022 was the first post-pandemic year when most international borders were open, more or less as normal.  As such, it is difficult to assess if this was a good year for bagging or not, when compared with pre-pandemic times.  Only time will tell.

A total of 3,285 P300m peaks were climbed by all the 118 participants of the 2022 Table, averaging nearly twenty-eight peaks per person in the year.

This year is the second for the junior section, with seven participants climbing a total of 338 P300m peaks, averaging nearly fifty peaks per person.  An amazing effort by all.  There are now six participants, with Jan Reifer graduating this year to the adult progress register.

Once again Rob Woodall was the front runner with 199 P300m peaks.  Next closest was Deividas Valaitis with 132.  They made a number of joint-peak-bagging trips together in 2022, making a formidable team.  I heard it mentioned that one of them commented about the other, saying:- “He doesn’t seem to sleep. When he is not hiking, he is writing up trip reports”.  Which one of the two stayed awake to make this observation is not clear.

What may also be of interest is the highest number of P300m peaks climbed in any of the years since BwB began in 2019.  This honour is currently held by Josef Nuernberger, who managed 295 P300m peaks in 2020.  This is an impressive figure, but with 218 of them being P600m and 42 P1000m, this makes it even more notable.  That is the high bar set by Josef for future years for those P300m enthusiasts aspiring to top it.

Of the six new participants in this year’s Hall of Fame, only two qualified from the Progress Register.  Mihai Giurgiulescu acquired the necessary number of foreign summits in 2022, and Patrick Thornley, who hit the qualifying number of 350 peaks ‘bang on’ with his twenty P300m ascents in 2022, finishing on Mount Eagle 354m, P354m on the US Virgin Islands.

The other four people were new participants to the P300m Table - Daryn Dodge and Craig Barlow were straight in at the Bronze level, with Alastair Govan and Roy Schweiker easily qualifying for the Hall.  Welcome to you all!

Look out for more qualifiers next year, with twelve people in the Progress Register poised to reach the Hall of Fame in 2023.  Even your P300m HoFMeister, on 308, is hoping to qualify for the Hall.

Only one person in the Hall last year achieved an Award in 2022 - Deividas Valaitis, comfortably overshooting the bronze qualification.

If this year’s totals are repeated in 2023, there may be some new participants at both Silver (Petter Bjørstad, John Stolk, and Adam Walker), and Bronze (Steven Song, and Connor McEntee).

All that remains is for me to congratulate all the participants.  I hope you have a fulfilling and successful peak-bagging year in 2023.

Steve Smith

P300m HoFMeister

April 2023