The Mountain Opportunity List

I've not put a list down in writing before because lists get people killed in the mountains. The 14 8000 meter peaks have killed hundreds of people, and dozens of people with more than five 8000 meter summits. How can a person with five 8000 meter summits put himself or herself in a position to die? There are old climbers and bold climbers, and despite what people probably frequently think of me, I plan to be an old climber. On Saturday, hours after I stood at the base of the Bastile Crack in Eldorado Canyon, a free solo climber died falling off. So for my whole climbing career up until now I've resisted a list, because I don't want to die, or take such a high risk, to stand on top of another pile of rock and ice.

I'm putting the list out now so that when other people want to do one of the same things they can invite me along if they are looking for a partner, or push me to organize an expedition and take him or her along. I've gotten to the point where I have so many climbing partners around the world, I can't keep track of what everyone is doing, wants to do, or is qualified to do. Plus, as I get older, doing all of these things while I am still very able looks like it might not be possible and I'd just like to attempt as many as possible.

In Pakistan (the coolest, most interesting, mountains I'd like to attempt):

• Gasherbrum IV, any route, but the Southwest ridge first ascent would be super cool!
• K2 (without bottled oxygen of course)
• Trango Tower (Nameless Tower if there is any confusion)
• Gasherbrum I and II... in one push

In the USA:

• Mt. Rainier
• Liberty Ridge
• Willis Wall, any route
• Mt. Hood
• Mt. Baker
• All Colorado 14ers in the winter
• All Colorado 13ers (There are about 630 of them and I've done around 50)
• All the lower 48 14ers
• Lead the whole Casual Route on the Diamond (likely summer 2019)
• Sykes Sickle on Spearhead (likely summer 2019)
• Petit Grepon, any route (likely summer 2019)
• Tetons Grand Traverse
• Denali with a ski descent
• Epinefrine at Red Rocks near Las Vegas
• Nolan's 14 (attempting summer 2019)
• Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert loop via the ridge with Oklahoma and French Mountain
• John Muir Trail
• The Appalachian Trail
• The Nose on El Cap... in a day
• Wind River Range in Wyoming, any technical route

In Canada:

• Becky-Chiounard on South Howser Tower
• Northeast ridge of Bugaboo Spire
• Anything on Snowpatch Spire
• Anything in the Adamants
• Howse Peak, anything on the East Face

South America:

• Aconcagua
• Anything in Torres Del Paines national park

Europe:

• The Matterhorn
• The North Face of the Eiger
• The Dolomites, any long route

Islands in the Ocean:

• Ball's Pyramid
• Mt. Otemanu on Bora Bora
• Bicycle up Mauna Kea from the ocean
• Skellig Michael a first ascent
• Faroe Islands a first ascent

Antartica:

• Cross the continent, without motors, via the South Pole

Greenland: 

• Any route grade V or longer

Because "everything" I want to do seems super dangerous to most people, I have my limits and here are the mountains or routes I will not even attempt because they are simply too dangerous for my comfort level:

• Annapurna, all routes
• Lhotse the South Face
• NW Face of Devil's Thumb in Alaska

Finally as a disclaimer, there are lots of routes and mountains where I'm open to attempting them, but everything (route conditions, partners, political situation, etc.) would have to be nearly perfect. Nanga Parbat and a lot of ice climbing routes, like M16 on Howse Peak, fall into that category. As I recently showed on Pikes Peak May 4th, 2019, I'm not afraid to turn around even in good weather if it's not my day. This list is not definitive, there are other very interesting things out there to go up and down. It's simply a list of things, that given the opportunity, I'd like to try.