[pct-l] PCT Origins / Completion Statistics

[blisterfree at isp01.net (Brett)]

Donna, when do we get to read the story of your life among 
the PCT community?

Looking forward to the day.

- Brett


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dsaufley@sprynet.com>
To: "Brett" <blisterfree@isp01.net>; 
<pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 11:59 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] PCT Origins / Completion Statistics


> 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.
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> pct-l mailing list
> pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> unsubscribe or change options:
> http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
>
>