[pct-l] PCT Origins / Completion Statistics

[dsaufley at sprynet.com (dsaufley@sprynet.com)]

This is an interesting thread.  Some thoughts:

Mountaineers are a breed unto themselves.  Mountaineering is not as accessible (or cheap) as hiking.  It seems illogical to compare the two at all. 

Why is the Everest number comparison being made to the PCT only?  Many have said that the AT is more strenuous than the PCT and would therefore take just as much commitment.  I think it's more a function of the age of the venue.  I think that the older and more well-known the venue, the more people are on it.  This is the case with the AT versus the PCT, and the PCT versus the CDT.   Nine-tenths of the non-hiking people I mention the PCT to here in California have never heard of it, whereas everyone back east seems to know about the AT.  

Following that concept, Everest has been around longer than the PCT . . . given time, I'll venture that the number of PCT thru-hike completions will surpass the number of Everest summiters, and I suspect that the number of starters versus finishers will proportionally be greater on the PCT than Everest.  

I believe that Krakauer stated in "Into Thin Air" that it cost in excess of $60,000 per person to buy your way into an Everest summit attempt (and that was a few years ago).  That sum alone will eventually tip the scales of how many finish the PCT in one season as compared to the number of Everest summiters.  

I would also propose that while long-distance hiking seems to be pervasive throughout the history of mankind, the fact that so many people have the leisure and freedom of choice to live an alternative lifestyle that supports such a time consuming activity has much to do with where our society and economy is today.  To look at it another way, while it's very international, we don't see ANY representatives in the PCT hiking community from "third world" countries, only from industrialized and well-educated nations.  

I believe that having the luxury of time to do a long-distance thru-hike is related to the wealth, security, and attitudes of the society from which the individual comes.  These are very good times for many of us.  We don't have to look very far back in our own families to see that our parents and our parents' parents did not have the same luxury of time, nor were prevailing attitudes of their generations supportive of taking time to do something "alternative".  In our post 911 world, "taking time out" is not only okay, it's admired and envied. 

Anyway, just some more fodder. 

-=Donna Saufley=-

-----Original Message-----
From: Brett <blisterfree@isp01.net>
Sent: Dec 8, 2004 9:32 PM
To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] PCT Origins / Completion Statistics

A thru-hike requires more time and arguably more commitment 
than a guided Everest attempt. Nor does it strike most as a 
goal worth committing to; the PCT isn't recognizable like an 
8000 meter peak in the Himalaya. The experience is 
intangible to those outside looking in. (Whew)

- bf


> I found a website which shows that 2200 people have 
> summitted
> Everest.  I'd imagine that the number of PCT completions 
> is
> lower than the Everest summits.
>


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