There are some mountaineering projects that are difficult, such as a long list of peaks that need to be climbed. Of course, this is the stuff that peakbaggers thrive on, but at what cost? I’ll give you a list to think about, one that has now been completed six times but will never be done again. If that seems unlikely, I’ll prove it to you.

The state of Arizona, in the desert southwest of the United States, boasts a total of 193 mountain ranges. Eleven of those ranges have their very highest points outside of the state. In other words, those ranges straddle Arizona’s border and happen to have their very highest point somewhere else. For example, the Virgin Mountains – they are tucked into the extreme northwestern corner of the state. The highest point in the range, in Arizona, at 8,012 feet, is Mt. Bangs. However, just across the state line in Nevada sits Virgin Peak, with an elevation of 8,088 feet. Because it is higher than the Arizona point, the rules for this project state that you need to climb both the Nevada peak as well as the Arizona one. So, completing this list involves climbing one peak in Nevada, one in Utah, four in New Mexico and five in old Mexico, as well as the 193 in Arizona. The ones in the other states are fine, but the ones south of the border – ah, therein lies the rub.

Those five are nowadays fraught with danger. Drug-runners, drug lookouts, masked men with guns, police on the payrolls of the cartels – those are the types you can easily run into these days on the five down in Sonora. Many others are near the border in what often seems like a lawless land.

A permit is required to legally access many of them. Quite a few are on military installations, and for some of those, access is never granted. Some are on private land. Others are just plain difficult, involving technical rock climbs or insanely-long death marches to get anywhere near them.

The list was compiled by the Desert Mountaineer back in the 1980s, and first climbed by him before that decade was out.

It then sat relatively un-noticed for a long time, until a group of California peakbaggers took notice and started climbing the hell out of it. Their dedication was phenomenal. You can imagine the time and effort involved in coming all the way from coastal California and climbing 204 different peaks in very small batches. Dave Jurasevich from Los Angeles was the second person to complete the list, on March 15, 1998. I and several of his other friends accompanied him to the summit of Mt. Devine in the North Comobabi Mountains. The date was March 15, 1998. It was exciting for me to accompany him and share in his accomplishment.

A few days later, Bob Packard of Flagstaff, Arizona completed the list, and that made three. Fast-forward several months. On December 5, 1998, my friend and fellow peakbagger, Mark Adrian from San Diego, completed the list with a group of close friends. This happened on Dome Mountain, the highest point of the Goldfield Mountains in central Arizona. Mark, like Dave, had put in endless hours driving out from California. Then there were four.

I was 42 years of age when I finished the project; Dave was 47 when he completed; Bob was 61, Mark was 41. And then along came Andy Bates. He was a skilled and impassioned young climber who, once he got hooked on the list, really took off. He did most of the climbs solo, like Bob and myself. Andy was a Tucsonan, and his list finish was the nearby high point of the Tortilla Mountains, namely Antelope Peak. A few friends and family accompanied him on his big day, March 15, 2000. He was only 21 – what an accomplishment for such a young peakbagger! He really broke the mold.

After Andy, things really quieted down. Several other climbers had almost finished the list, but not quite. They had their reasons. Some didn’t want to go into Mexico for those five climbs – I can’t say I blame them. The drug cartels had a pretty tight lock on those border regions, and it was risky to travel there. There were a few technical climbs needed to complete the list, a number of death marches and some pretty serious stealths. Some of the near-finishers got to within ten or twenty peaks of being done, then stopped.

Another decade passed, then out of nowhere came John Klein. At first hesitant to dive in due to time constraints, he finally relented and then became hooked – there was no stopping him. I had the pleasure of climbing with him a few times during his quest, and I saw that he was determined. As John’s big day, his list finish, approached, he invited some friends to accompany him. April 12, 2014 arrived. John picked me up at 3:00 a.m. and we drove through the night. After a brief stop in Phoenix to pick up Andy Bates, we drove on to Wickenburg. There, at the McDonald’s restaurant, our friends started to arrive. Within half an hour, we were all ready to go.

John led the way in his vehicle and the others followed him out of town on Constellation Road. Twenty miles later, we ground to a halt at the end of a dirt road not far over the line into Yavapai County. John had chosen as his list finish a peak that was, compared to many on the list, fairly tame. I think he wanted one that most anyone could climb, so he could invite a variety of friends to share the experience with him. It was still fairly cool when we started out, but we warmed up in a hurry as we bushwhacked up the first steep slope. There were six small intervening bumps, plus one larger one, that we negotiated en route to the summit.

Peak 4500 was the high point of the Wickenburg Mountains, and we finally got there around mid-day. Ten of us walked John the last few feet to the summit.

What a group of peakbaggers were gathered on that mountaintop! Check out this photo. From left to right can be seen:

Scott Surgent; Scott Peavy; Andy Bates; Mark Nichols; Bob Moore; Richard Joseph; John Klein; Nick Scouras; Andy Martin; Rick Hartman. The Desert Mountaineer was taking the photo.

On the summit, we ate our lunch and swapped stories of past and upcoming climbing exploits. This group of eleven has climbed a lot of peaks, to wit, a total of over 15,700 and counting – it felt like peakbagging royalty! John’s quest was over. I know it felt good for him to be done, but I remember when I finished, I think I was kind of depressed for a while. It wasn’t reaching the goal, but making the journey that was the best part, at least for me.

After a while, we started down, with a brief stop at an old mineral showing. Several of us gathered up large chunks of chrysocolla, a beautiful hydrated copper cyclosilicate, and hauled them down the mountain as souvenirs.

Once back at the trucks, there was one final bit of business to take care of – a certificate for John, just to make it official and just for fun.

That done, all of us then convoyed over to another peak a few miles away, Morgan Butte, which used to be the range high point. Back in 1998, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names gave us an opinion on the boundaries of the Wickenburg Mountains, eliminating Morgan Butte as the high point in the process. We went and did it anyway, for old times’ sake. That done, we scattered to go our separate ways and climb more peaks.

Heartiest congratulations, John, for a job well done – the end of an era. You have closed this chapter of Arizona mountaineering.

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