Craig Dixon is working on a project to climb Washington’s 100 highest summits over the next three years. These Cascade peaks range from the highest, Mt. Rainier at 14,410 ft. to the lowest, Apex Mountain at 8,297 ft. All of the peaks require at least a six mile round trip walk into rough back country to start the climb, totaling over 1750+ miles of wilderness travel – not including the actual climb. As you can imagine, elevation gain and loss are substantial with the gain totaling over 430,000 ft. Most of the climbs have some technical aspect to them including exposed scrambling, vertical rock, glacier crossings, steep snow and ice, so mountaineering skills and endurance are necessary, which has precluded all but about 40 people from completing “the list.”
Why is this project different? With over 30 years of climbing experience and over 50 years old, this will prove to be a substancial feat. I am affectionately referred to by my son and his friends as “grey one,” putting me in a professional and age demographic that should appeal to many fellow outdoor enthusiasts and allow me to provide credibility to the gear choices that are made. You just don’t normally see a guy my age trying to pull this type of thing off very often and the accomplishment will be significant.
To support this project I have launched a blog that will discuss gear, fitness, food and the trips both successes and failures as we travel through the journey. We are climbing just about every weekend that is available to accomplish our goal and will have an abundance of interesting photographs and information to share. The underlying message is a “different” kind of alpinism, one of doing it for yourself and that you don’t have to climb the fiercest line to enjoy climbing – serious, but fun.
Feel free to post a comment or offer information.
Thanks,
Craig