The other day, during a workout at the gym, I got to chatting with a casual friend who I hadn’t seen in a few years. He asked if I was still climbing?” Well, not really climbing,” I responded. “But I still regularly hike to mountain tops.” No, Bill, not the Tetons, but rather the more obscure, seldom-visited summits mostly. In defense of these less-than-technical objectives, I suggested that success often depends on common sense.
To drive home the point, I used the personal example of doing 1,983 different Idaho peaks to date without serious mishap. Without hesitation, he replied “That doesn’t sound like common sense.” Ha! He got me there. Thankfully, I didn’t dig the hole any deeper by telling him about the really nonsensical repeat stuff, like 1,237 ascents of Kelly Mountain or the 800 times to the top of North Menan Butte (now 809).
Nor did I mention my little pet project called the ‘Senior Citizen Standard’ where the goal for those age 65 & up is to reach 100 summits (including repeats) per year. 2024 was my 14th consecutive year for 100+ peaks. By the way, my best year was 408 summits at age 66 in 2012. All to say that there is hope for the gray-head baldies among us. Again, I didn’t mention these additional peregrinations for fear of creating the impression that peakbagging isn’t a common-sense pursuit.
Maybe I should have just told Bill “I love to get outdoors to explore and get immersed in the natural world. The counting business just helps with motivation.” It’s a lifetime hobby I hope to be doing to age 80 and beyond.” Now that makes sense.
Rick Baugher has been actively climbing Idaho mountains since 1980. He is a major contributor both to this website and the book. He counts about 35 earliest known ascents of Idaho 11ers and a similar number of EKA’s of Idaho 10ers.
He has ascended ~2,500 peaks in the combined states of Idaho-Montana-Wyoming. Rick and his wife Linda live in Idaho Falls. They recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and have two daughters and two grandsons.
But who’s counting when you’re having fun?
Rick Baugher on the summit of Fishpole Peak (10,500 feet) in the Pioneer Mountains.
This view looks southeast along the ridge crest to Pion Peak and Err Peak. My route of ascent came up the snow gully on the left (Left Fork Iron Bog Creek). Selfie from 10/23/2000. Rick Baugher Photo
Bluebird sky shot of Chuck Ferguson (left) and Rick Baugher (right) on the summit of Silver Peak (11,112 feet), Boulder Mountains on 9/28/1996. David Ferguson Photo.