Day 75 - Significance

A pretty uneventful week this week. I've been rushing to get a number of things done and it's kept my pretty busy. Not a whole lot of very exciting things though. Except I got a box of pain-relief heating pads in the mail from Tory. . .I'm not sure what kind of pain she expects me to be in. . .now I'm a little worried.

Ohhhh I was pondering about my choice of hobbies and decided to write a bit about my peak-ranking system, so if I ever say things like "climbed the #5 peak in jersey" or "it's number #12 in the whole northeast", people will know what I'm talking about.

Most peakbaggers (folks who make a list of peaks and try to get to the top of all of them) base there lists on one of 2 things: Elevation and Prominence. Elevation is easy--height above sea level. The top 10 peaks in the northeastern US, by elevation, are

Mount Washington, NH: 6,288'
Mount Adams, NH: 5,774'
Mount Jefferson, NH: 5,712'
Mount Madison, NH: 5,366'
Mount Marcy, NY: 4,344'
Katahdin, ME: 4,288'
Mount Lafayette, NH: 5,240'
Algonquin Peak, NY: 5,115'
Mount Haystack, NY: 4,961'
Mount Skylight, NY: 4,925'

Focusing on the highest peaks has it's merits--especially in the northeast. All of the peaks above have an exposed summit, which means fun scrambling and great views. There are significant drawbacks though. Except for Katahdin, all these peaks are in New Hampshire and New York. Moreover, save Katahdin and Lafayette, they're all within a 4 mile radius of either Marcy and Washington. Not much variety.

The other common ranking method is prominence. Prominence is the height the peak rises above it's lowest point not shared with a higher peak. In other words, if the sea levels raised so that the peak was the highest point on an island, that islands elevation. On every list of mine (and generally excepted in much of the mountaineering/peakbagging community) a point is only considered a stand-alone peak if it has a prominence of at least 300'. The 10 most prominent peaks in the Northeast are

1. Mount Washington, NH 6,148'
2. Mount Marcy, NY 4,914'
3. Katahdin, ME 4,288'
4. Mount Mansfield, 3,633'
5. Mount Lafayette, NH 3,320'
6. Killington Peak, VT 3,315'
7. Slide Mountain, NY 3,280'
8. Sugarloaf Mountain, ME 3,160'
9. Whiteface Mountain, NY 3,093'
10. Equinox Mountain, VT 3,040'

Prominence gets the biggest peak in any given range or area. The good part? Bigger hikes, more variety, and arguably "bigger" mountains. The bad parts of prominence are the opposite of elevation. Peaks like Killington, Slide, and Equinox aren't 'much' higher than the neighboring mountains, and don't rise above treeline therefore giving poor rewards (read: views) for the long climbs*.

I think I've come up with a much better way to decide which peaks are the best to focus on. I take a combined height--prominence + elevation (generally shown divided by 100 to be a little more manageable). For lack of a better name, I've come to calling it "significance". It tends to give the most prominent peaks weighted by elevation, singling out the most truly significant peaks. The top 10 most significant peaks in the eastern US, then, are

1. Mount Washington, NH 124.4
2. Mount Marcy, NY 102.6
3. Katahdin, ME 95.6
4. Mount Lafayette, NH 85.6
5. Mount Mansfield, VT 80.3
6. Whiteface Mountain, NY 79.6
7. Mount Moosilauke, NH 77.3
8. Carter Dome, NH 76.5
9. Dix Mountain, NY 76.1
10. Giant Mountain, NY 75.8

Significance gets the best of the best. The top 4 on this list are in the top 10 of all 3. Peaks that stand out in one category or the other tend to be higher, but it also captures those that are both very high and prominent, such as Moosilauke and Whiteface. I've tested this method in lots of scenarios--top peaks in the country, in individual states, areas and even separate ranges. Every time I'm satisfied with the results. Here's some pictures of the 5 most significant mountains I've climbed:

5. Handies Peak, CO--159.4 (el: 14,048', pr: 1,888')


















4. Wheeler Peak, NM--165.7 (el: 13,161' pr: 3,409')


















3. Mount Harvard, CO 167.5 (el: 14,420' pr:2,327')


















2. Sierra Blanca Peak, NM--175.1 (el: 11,973' pr: 5,533')


















1. Blanca Peak, CO 196.7 (el: 14,345' pr: 5,326') **view from the top


















All 5 of these peaks are in the top 5 I've climbed either ranked by prominence or elevation, but only Blanca Peak(#2 on both lists, fittingly #1 on this one) is ranked on both. And moreover, I think these 5 really are some of the most, if not the 5 most incredible peaks I've climbed. And here, for your reference, is the least significant mountain I've climbed (that meets the requirement of 300' prom.):

26. Bearfort Mountain, NJ--18.0 (el: 1,480', pr: 320')

















Okay, so that's not the VERY top of bearfort. . .but that's about it, really.

So now you know what I'm talking about. Feel better? Whenever I post about a mountain I'll try to remember to post it's significance, etc. along with it.

*Killington has views from the top, but only because of logging.

Song: "All the Old Showstoppers" -The New Pornographers

-U

PS. the mountain i mentioned the other day, the big adventure for 2010, will be my first peak with over 200 significance. 203.0 to be exact. Another hint. . .as if anyone who reads this doesn't know already:-)