People collect all sorts of things, so why not peaks? And as Edith Leigh discovers, peak bagging is great way to get outdoors and see the country
If Jon Povey hadn’t been diagnosed with cancer, the sport of peak bagging might never have got off the ground in New Zealand. Discovering you have Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 32 makes you realise life is short, he says. The former non-outdoorsy couch potato was introduced to peak bagging in Scotland, where it is better known as Munro bagging. Despite the not always enjoyable slog to the top, it proved to be an addictive pastime which turned him into something of a mountain goat. “I just love the feeling of being on top of the mountain. Summits are beautiful, quiet, silent places.” For Povey, “the Munro thing” made mountain climbing more fun. He liked the idea hundreds of other people were out there like him, collecting peaks off the list. Munro bagging has been around for over a century and more than 4000 people have ticked off every peak in the 284-long list of Scottish mountains over 914m, or 3000ft. In fact, some people enjoy it so much, they have ‘done’ the Munro list thirteen times over. Povey found himself wishing there was a similar list back home, but he immediately dismissed the thought as “pretty much impossible” for the average person, given the remote and rugged terrain of many of Aotearoa’s mountains. Yet he couldn’t let go of the idea. He walked up a few peaks close to home and began to have vague ideas of completing a list of great walking peaks in New Zealand and writing a book about it. Then he found himself facing six months of chemotherapy. It was the jolt he needed to stop dreaming and start doing. Instead of writing a book, which would mean doing every peak himself and could take years, he decided to put together a list and post it online to inspire others to get out there. [caption id="attachment_20909" align="aligncenter" width="1280"]
Jamie Bai enjoys a spectacular sunset before bivying the night on Mt Taranaki, in Egmont National Park. Photo: Marcus Bai[/caption]
So while he wasn’t sweating it out uphill, he spent months trawling through “every single New Zealand walking book I could find, even old ones that were out of print”, browsing Department of Conservation and regional council tracks and poring over topographical maps.
Povey didn’t want just any old peaks on his list, and, unlike most other lists, he wasn’t choosing mountains by their height.
Instead, he searched out peaks that were accessible and would “actually be places people want to go to”.
He wanted his list to be achievable for anybody, no matter their age or if they were recovering from illness. The peak had to have an existing track to the top and should not need specialised mountaineering equipment, such as ice axe and crampons, to reach the summit during summer.
Another major factor defining the list was that the summit had to be rewarding, whether it was the fabulous views, the fact it was famous landmark or had some element of history or culture.
“On some peaks you barely know you are on a summit,” he says. “I didn’t want hundreds of peaks on a list that really aren’t that exciting, it dilutes the reward.”
The website, peakbagging.org.nz, was launched in 2008 and is “totally a labour of love”, says Povey.
It is an interactive site which encourages people to get involved, with leaderboards and forums, and even to add to the list themselves.
The site is free to join and has more than 400 members and more than 200 Facebook followers.
Self-described “peak bagging junky” and avid alpine climber Marcus Bai says peak bagging in New Zealand is a wonderful idea.
Bai stumbled across the peak bagging website while searching for information about a seldom climbed peak.
Although he is a passionate alpine climber, he noticed there were “a lot of little peaks around the place” that he hadn’t done.
Better known online as GuanoGerbil, he is now the top peak bagger on the site and has bagged 60 summits from the 117-long list.
“I enjoy the small ones as much as the big ones,” says Bai. “They don’t always have to be big mountains with snow on them.
“It is more just about getting out there and doing it. It’s not about the numbers for me, because I’m out there doing it anyway.”
The 47-year-old says he is out every weekend – and often during the week as well – walking, climbing and running in the mountains, but it was the peak bagging list that encouraged him to visit new parts of the country he wouldn’t normally go to.
On a recent visit to Northland he was “absolutely stunned at how beautiful it was”.
“There are some really nice peaks I didn’t know about,” he says. “They’re great exercise and I enjoyed bagging a few in quick succession last summer to top up my fitness levels for climbing the even bigger peaks down south.”
Now that he is running out of official peak bagging peaks to do within easy driving distance of his hometown of Hamilton, he is going back to redo some of them with his 14-year-old son Jamie, who has already ticked off 26 peaks himself.
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Maungarago trig in Northland isn't on the official peak bagging list yet, but Bai reckons it should be as it is an "awesome little peak" to do. Photo: Marcus Bai[/caption]
As none of the peaks are technically difficult it is “a great family thing to do”, says Bai.
“You know that any peaks listed will be worth doing, and will be an enjoyable and satisfying experience.
“I tell everybody about [peak bagging]. I think it’s a fantastic idea. It encourages the average Joe to get off their backside and get out there and do stuff.”
Auckland peak bagger Craig Thomson, who has 43 peaks under his belt, describes the peak bagging website as a one-stop shop. The online forums also enable people to talk to others about what to expect, or to look at posted photos to get a pretty good idea of what they are up for.
For Thomson, peak bagging is a way to keep fit and involve the whole family. His 13-year-old twin daughters have been coming with him since they were eight.
The love of the outdoors they developed has extended to trail running and they recently became the youngest people to complete the 75km Hillary trail in a day.
Thomson is convinced all the peaks they have tramped gave them the mental and physical toughness they needed to run and hike non-stop for 20 hours.
Thomson also came across the peak bagging site by accident and when he first started ticking peaks off the list, he and his wife Mel were out in the hills every second weekend.
For Povey, motivating people like this is exactly what he set out to achieve: “It’s a constant mixture of satisfaction and surprise that people are so into it.”
The now 37-year-old, who has been cleared of cancer, has once again been slowed down a little by the arrival of his first baby six months ago.
Getting into the hills isn’t so easy any more and he feels a little guilty he can’t spend more time making the site better, he says.
However, one of the most common criticisms he gets from some people is that the peaks are too small to be considered mountains.
As he points out, there is already a list of New Zealand mountains based on topographical merit, created by the New Zealand Alpine Club. That list includes 856 mountains, all over 1400m, a height that was chosen to exclude peaks that do not extend above the bushline.
Many of the mountains on this list are difficult and remote, and 71 of them are over 2500m. In 1991, the alpine club also compiled a list of 100 great peaks to celebrate their centenary.
Passionate alpine climber Don French has been picking off this list for the past 21 years and is just five peaks short of finishing all 100.
This epic feat began with a rash statement – “I will climb the list” – made when he was trapped in St Winifreds Hut by bad weather.
However, French says it isn’t really about ticking off the list. In fact, he isn’t even looking forward to finishing it.
Rather, he says it’s “a motivational thing”. The list helps him focus on what he wants to achieve and if bad weather or circumstances conspire against climbing a planned peak, instead of letting it ruin the weekend he can look to the list and say “here’s a folder full of research” on this peak, let’s do that instead.
The alpine club’s 100 peaks challenge does not represent the 100 highest peaks, or even the 100 greatest, or 100 classic New Zealand mountains, says 53-year-old French. Rather it is a “carefully selected and thought out list, designed to encourage participation in mountaineering at all levels”.
It includes easier peaks and many North Island peaks, which may not be that significant on a national scale, but are achievable in a weekend, or long weekend, for people living in the major centres.
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New Zealand peak bagging instigator Jon Povey enjoys the top of Conical Hill, off the Routeburn Track in Fiordland. Photo: Julia Becker[/caption]
When it comes to actually getting outdoors and doing stuff, having a list works, says French.
For walkers and trampers, the peak bagging site presently has 87 peaks on its official list and 30 on its unofficial list.
Povey explains the unofficial list includes peaks which might qualify for the list, but have not yet been suitably researched and written up for him to be confident of sending someone off to climb it.
For those that like challenges there is a New Zealand first waiting to be had – to be the first person to bag all the peaks on the list.
After all, if more than 4000 people can climb all 284 Munros in Scotland, surely at least one person in a country famed for its outdoors life can manage 117.