The Challenge
The purpose of the challenge is to climb as many peaks as possible over 4 days within the challenge area. Since it such a large geographical region, every year the challenge area will focus on a different region of the Great Basin. The challenge area will be set by specific boundary lines. The summits have to be located within these lines.
Each day there will be an objective peak that has to be climbed. Think of it as a buy-in. Once that is climbed, you can chase other official summits from the PeakBagger database. The peak must be ranked to count towards your score, meaning it has 300 feet of prominence. Provisional summits and LOJ only summits are not allowed. The day will start at 5 am and end at 10 pm. The objective peaks are chosen as a hike that can be done in a few hours so you can get after the scored peaks.
The scoring will be the sum of each peak’s elevation and prominence that you climb after the objective peak. So, if you climb a summit that is 7,900 feet with a prominence of 500 feet, you will score 8,400 points. So, as the days move forward, you will strategically need to figure out how many points you need to score and this would play into which peaks you choose to climb.
The reason for this type of scoring is that Nevada has so many peaks and many have zero ascents in PeakBagger. This gives climbers incentive to see new places and not just the P2K peaks that get the lion’s share of peak baggers in the state. You will see some seldom traveled country and have to plan your routes using what little beta you can find. It’s a true challenge!
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No drive ups allowed. You have to earn the peak even if you have a vehicle that can drive to the top. The minimum miles to hike is 2 miles RT. While the objective peaks will mostly be accessible to all cars, the scored peaks may need a burlier vehicle to get closer. Since a huge part of being a Great Basin Peak Bagger is driving bad roads, this allows this aspect to be part of the challenge for those that want it.
Don’t want to score points and win the challenge? No worries at all. Just come along and climb the objective peak each day and then relax at camp or find another activity like fishing, shooting, rock hounding, hot springs soaking, off roading and so on. Camping out under the infinite sky full of stars is one of the best parts of being in the Great Basin and would be worth this trip alone.​​
