#175 | Fletcher Jordan - A Peakbagger of the North Cascades
Fletcher Jordan is an adventurer who is passionate about Peakbagging. Peakbagging is where you set out to reach the summit of mountains and there are a ton of lists that people have made that call people to accomplish them. Beyond lists, people are captivated by the challenge and exposure of aiming for a peak.
Years ago Fletcher had caught the bug and he was chomping at the bit by spending an increasing amount of time out in the wilderness gaining lofty heights on varied terrain. On his third year of cataloged peakbagging, he had a 288% increase in peaks attained which sustained for the next 7 years before jumping again another 256%!
When peakbagging, a lot of the time the route to the summit has no direct or defined trail. Along the way you have several obstacles that you have to figure out how to get around. To name a few you’ll have to navigate: raging or wimpy creeks, cliff bands, thick brush(slide alder is the prison bars of nature), glaciers, scree slopes(steep kitty-litter), ridgelines, gulleys, and snow fields. There are often GPS tracks from previous parties that can help navigate the terrain but that isn’t always reliable. It appears that a unique kind of fun and learning can be had when you try to navigate using your own judgment and while in the environment rather than relying on a predefined track to get you to your goal. There is a visual element to peak bagging precipitous peaks. When you’re ascending and descending your view of the ground and sky is dramatic. On the ascent all you see is ground, there is no horizon line. When descending you see almost entirely air. I believe that this is a profound yet subtle effect on our state of mind.
Fletcher has walked the path to specializing in a niche that he obviously loves dearly. In this episode, we dive into what that life is like and what draws him so intensely into these wild perches; atop the mountains. Fletcher has a youtube channel where he records his peakbagging adventures. I love that he uses subtle music, his transitions, and the fact that it’s mostly video.
