Annals of Obsession: Mt. Sanitas

"Path to Mt. Sanitas," by Cheryl Whitehall (Sugarloaf.net/~cwhitehall/)

North Boulder resident Dave Goldstein has crushed his personal best for climbing Mt. Sanitas: 316 ascents in 2009, versus 269 in 2006. At 6,843 feet, Sanitas is no K2. It’s dwarfed even by Green Mountain, just to the south in the Boulder skyline. But 316 climbs of any peak in a single year is a lot. Sanitas rises about 1,400 feet above Goldstein’s home, and he made the trek an average of six times a week, throughout the year. In fact, the count during many weeks was higher, because Goldstein travels frequently.

In late summer, Goldstein decided to count every mountain he climbed in 2009, and his final total was well over a peak a day. “It ended up about 380,” he said. “I stopped counting every worthless little summit.”

As impressive as it was, Goldstein’s effort was eclipsed by a couple of members of the Lists of John website: Brian Kalet and Steve Knapp, who reached 408 and 406 summits, respectively, in 2009; Knapp’s count included 388 different peaks, each with at least 300 feet of prominence. ¡Ay, caramba!

[Click here for an interview with Lists of John webmaster John Kirk.]