11ers
Between 2014 and 2021 I climbed every Idaho peak over 11,000’—a total of 114 ’11ers’ and 9 ’12ers’.
When I first moved to Idaho I immediately started visiting summits of all sizes near my new home. I would hike up local hills simply because I could see them, and handpick larger objectives that seemed interesting for one reason or another. I didn’t log my ascents and certainly didn’t think I’d ever take on a ‘list’. Unlike most Idaho peakbaggers, I wasn’t even intending to climb the 12ers. A few years down the road I was researching and designing a checklist map of the ID 11ers and the list started to intrigue me. Not a single one of these peaks has a trail to the top. Only 4 people had ever climbed them all (I’m now the 10th). I also happened to live quite close to every 11er. Once the seed was planted I couldn’t resist so I set the intention of finishing the 11ers. At the time I had already completed 19. I also had a 1-year-old and was pretty much a stay-at-home dad (and still am). I figured I could do it in 10 years at 10 per year. Then I got obsessed…and finished the next 100 in 3 years. I strategically planned efficient routes, hustled days off from dad duty, and worked my butt off climbing mountains. Thanks to my convenient location and determination to move quickly, nearly every climbing day ended with me having dinner back at home with my family (and I never started my hikes in the dark).
Since I put so much into this project, I decided to piece together this site to share my collection of summit photos as well as some stories and nerdy details.
