Peakbagger

Peakbagger
Name	Peakbagger
Type	Outdoor recreation, mountaineering, database
Founded	1998
Founder	Bob B.
Country	United States
Language	English
Headquarters	Seattle, Washington

Peakbagger.

Peakbagger is an online database and community dedicated to documenting mountain summits, climbing objectives, route information, and user trip logs across continents, ranges, and protected areas. The site aggregates elevation data, prominence calculations, summit coordinates, and lists used by climbers targeting peaks in regions such as the Alaska Range, Rocky Mountains, Himalayas, Andes, and European Alps. It serves as a resource for mountaineers, hikers, and researchers who track ascents, compare routes, and participate in challenge lists tied to well-known summits like Mount Everest, Denali, Mount Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, and Mount Elbert.

Overview

Peakbagger functions as a searchable repository of summit data, offering pages for individual peaks, ranges, and administrative regions such as British Columbia, California, Colorado, Nepal, and Argentina. Each peak page commonly lists elevation and prominence tied to benchmarks like the NGA GEOnet Names Server, USGS, Ordnance Survey, and Instituto Geográfico Nacional (Argentina). The platform cross-references internationally recognized objectives such as the Seven Summits, Fourteeners, Munros, Furkas Pass, and Alpine four-thousanders while integrating community-contributed trip reports and photos that reference routes near landmarks like Mont Blanc, Matterhorn, K2, Cho Oyu, and Annapurna.

History

Founded in 1998 by an individual enthusiast, the site emerged amid the growth of outdoor forums and databases alongside projects like SummitPost, Hikr, Mountain Project, and institutional repositories such as USGS National Map and Natural Resources Canada. Over time Peakbagger adopted elevation models including SRTM, ASTER GDEM, and LiDAR datasets used by agencies like NASA and European Space Agency to refine summit stats. The site’s development paralleled advances in consumer GPS from companies like Garmin and mapping services from Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, and Bing Maps, influencing how users submitted coordinates and photographs from expeditions to ranges including the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, Pyrenees, and Carpathians.

Notable Peaks and Lists

Peakbagger hosts pages and challenge lists for internationally prominent summits such as Mount Everest, K2, Denali, Aconcagua, Mount Vinson, and regionally important lists like the Appalachian Trail high points, Longs Peak, Mount Whitney, and the Presidential Range. The site supports classic lists including the Seven Summits, Seven Volcanic Summits, Colorado Fourteeners, Munros, Corbetts, Wainwrights, and specialized compilations for areas like Alberta, Scotland, Iceland, New Zealand, and Tasmania. Peakbagger also catalogues prominence-based lists such as Ultra-prominent peaks and country high points like Bobotov Kuk and Gangkhar Puensum.

Methods and Equipment

Users commonly reference navigation and safety equipment from manufacturers and organizations: handheld GPS units by Garmin, satellite communicators like SPOT (satellite)],] and Iridium Communications, technical climbing gear by Black Diamond Equipment, Petzl, and The North Face. Trip reporting often cites map products from USGS, Ordnance Survey, Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya, and route descriptions paralleling guidebooks by authors affiliated with American Alpine Club, Alpine Club (UK), and publishers such as Mountaineers Books and National Geographic. The community uses topographic models including SRTM and LiDAR alongside coordinate datum standards like WGS 84 when logging ascents on peaks such as Mount Rainier, Pico de Orizaba, Mount Cook (Aoraki), and Mount Fuji.

Community and Events

Peakbagger functions as a hub for trip reports, summit logs, and discussions connecting climbers who participate in events and organizations like American Alpine Club, British Mountaineering Council, UIAA, and regional clubs such as Sierra Club and Appalachian Mountain Club. Users coordinate objectives that intersect with trail systems including the John Muir Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and challenges like the 50 State High Points and Long Distance Hiking Association activities. The site’s community interacts with broader media coverage from outlets such as Outside (magazine), Climbing (magazine), National Geographic, and news organizations reporting on high-profile expeditions to Mount Everest, K2, Nanga Parbat, and Kangchenjunga.

Records and Notable Achievements

Peakbagger’s databases record logged ascents, first ascents, repeat summits, and speed records associated with peaks like Mount Everest, Denali, Aconcagua, Matterhorn, and numerous county, state, and national high points. Climbers documented on the site have attempted milestones connected to the Seven Summits and prominence lists such as the Ultras, while individual achievements reference notable alpinists and adventurers chronicled in external sources including Reinhold Messner, Ed Viesturs, Krzysztof Wielicki, Lynn Hill, and Anatoli Boukreev. The repository also helps verify attempts relevant to awards and events like the Piolet d'Or, American Alpine Journal entries, and Guinness World Records related to fastest known times on routes in ranges such as the Dolomites, Olympic Mountains, and Toubkal massif.

Category:Mountaineering websites