Mounting concern over conquering peaks trend
Peak bagging is all about bragging rights, and takes the fun out of hiking, says Ashlyn Oswalt, who reckons it’s much more fun to hike for enjoyment rather than ‘likes’.
Peak bagging is a term outdoorsy folk use to describe the desire to summit mountaintops. The pastime usually includes a collection of mountain or hill-top photos flooding Instagram feeds and obsessive, Type 2 fun hikers seeking out peaks to add to their collections of ‘‘tall things conquered’’.
I first stumbled upon the peak bagging concept while living in Colorado, where ‘‘bagging 14ers’’ is a Coloradan’s favourite pastime. With more than 50 mountains that exceed 14,000 feet (4267 metres) and offer a range of difficulties, it is easy to see why it has become a rite of passage to bag them all – then brag about it.
I began training to tackle the righteous 14ers by summiting lesser mountains, but then moved to New Zealand before I completed any.
Upon arriving, I set my sights on the mountains around my new Christchurch home. Coupled with Further Faster’s Mountain Dog Challenge, which encourages dog parents and their pooches to summit 10 peaks in Canterbury and post photos on their Facebook group, I set out to peak bag New Zealand.
I am outdoorsy and meticulously goal driven. Signing up for such a challenge meant I had to complete it, as fast as possible, and it didn’t matter if I enjoyed the process. I ticked off the mountains with my partner and dog each weekend, adding summits outside of Canterbury for fun.
I am not a fun hiking partner at the best of times. I usually complain the entire way, scowling when I reach summits, knowing I have to climb the same route back down – and I began treating each hike as if it were a chore to be endured.
My partner dutifully tagged along on my relentless journey, offering words of encouragement and scorched almonds along the way.
It wasn’t until we bagged Mt Barrosa, a 3.5km one-way hike with a 1364m elevation gain that I confessed all this uphill was making me hate hiking – a pastime I used to love.
Mt Barrosa is not the toughest hike, but after a long exposed slog and a treacherous downhill that led to a persistent knee injury, I called it quits.
While cursing on the descent, I realised I hated the journey and was pathetically only doing it for the bragging rights that came with the summit photos. I wasn’t enjoying the surrounding nature, only thinking about how far I was from the end.
That was three years ago, and I haven’t bagged a peak since. The idea that I had to bag every peak seemed silly if I wasn’t enjoying it. I decided to focus on hikes I actually enjoyed – rambling journeys over hilly landscapes, many kilometres through flat tussocklands, and traverses crossing riverbeds in valleys – without a peak in sight.
Social media and the opportunity to oneup hikers has led us to believe we ‘‘have to’’ summit these peaks, but we have to remember for whom we are climbing this mountain.
If you are someone who enjoys the process, great, but if you are considering dabbling in the notion, let me stop you. Especially if you are a keen to-do list maker, the idea of peak bagging can be a harmful way to suck the joy out of nature.
Instead, just go outside to have fun, breathe in nature, and walk that straight, flat path if that is what you feel like doing.
‘If you are someone who enjoys the process, great, but if you are considering dabbling in the notion, let me stop you . . . peak bagging can be a harmful way to suck the joy out of nature.’
Check the DOC website for latest alerts and track closures (doc.govt.nz) and download the NZ Mountain Safety Council’s free Plan My Walk app to prepare for your next outdoor adventure. Visit planmywalk.nz.