I've now done the Sierra Challenge enough days that it maybe makes sense to have a page to summarize things and provide links for all of my trip reports. Sadly I haven't completed trip reports for every day, although there should be at least a mention for every day I did something.
You might ask "What is the Sierra Challenge?" It is probably best to just go to the source, Bob Burd's extensive web page. Link to the first challenge in 2001, and the first one I did in 2011, and the most recent one in 2024 (at least when I typed this up). If you are too lazy to follow any of the links but can still read - the Sierra Challenge is a 10 day event to climb a new challenge peak every day. Of course once you hike that far you are tempted to climb more peaks, and maybe jump in a lake, or even go fishing. It usually ends up being an exhausting event that gets me out where I probably wouldn't go otherwise with a number of like minded individuals, some of whom have become good friends and I even met Iris on the challenge so that alone makes it worthwhile. Suffering is better with company, but so is scrambling (as long as rock doesn't fall on people), miles on and off the trail, and wonderful views. Nominally it is a competition with virtual jerseys awarded similar to the Tour de France. The rules for some of these are explained on Bob's page. Mostly it is just about getting out and climbing some peaks with like minded people. The Sierra provides the challenge, but the other participants make it much much more manageable and fun.
Alternate view espoused when Laura described the Challenge to someone at a trailhead "Why would anyone ever want to walk that far?"
In any case I am still trying to figure that out and I have done all or part of the Challenge a number of years. Here is a summary of them:
| Dates | Number of days | Total Peaks | Ranking + comments Y=yellow jersey PD= polka Dot jersey G= green jersey A= aqua jersey |
Link to my page | Link to Bob's page |
| 2011/08/12-21 | 10 days | 29 peaks | Y=3rd, PD=1st | 2012 | 2011 |
| 2012/08/10-19 | 10 days | 17 peaks | Y=4th, PD=2nd | 2012 | 2012 |
| 2013/08/16-25 | 1 day | 2 peaks | I was mostly working on my house this summer, so only did one day | 2013 | 2013 |
| 2014/08/15-24 | 10 days | 16.5 peaks | Y=4th, PD=3rd (tie) | 2014 | 2014 |
| 2015/08/07-16 | 7 days | 14 peaks | Y=7th, PD=6, missed 2 days for OR show and 1 day to raft the Deschutes one stage win tie |
2015 | 2015 |
| 2016/08/05-14 | 0 days | 0 Peaks | I was off in Colorado climbing the 14ers | CO 14ers | 2016 |
| 2017/08/04-13 | 10 days | 19 peaks | Y= 1st, PD= 2nd, 2 stage win ties | 2017 | 2017 |
| 2018/08/03-12 | 10 days | 20 peaks | Y= 5th, PD= 5th(tie), G=1st, A= 3rd(tie) | 2018 | 2018 |
| 2019/08/02-11 | 10 days | 24 peaks | Y= 6th, PD= 4th, G=3rd, A= 1st | 2019 | 2019 |
| 2020/08/07-16 | 10 days (1 alt) | 14 peaks | Y= 5th, PD= 6th, G=3rd | 2020 | 2020 |
| 2021/08/06-15 | 10 days | 21 peaks | Y= 2nd, PD= 2nd, G=1st, A= 1st (maybe tie) | 2021 (incomplete) | 2021 |
| 2022/08/05-14 | 10 days | 28 peaks | Y= 3rd, PD= 3rd, G=1st, A= 2nd, Gravy= 1st(tie) | 2022 (incomplete) | 2022 |
| 2023/08/04-13 | 10 days | 18 peaks | Y= 3rd, PD= 4th, G=1st | 2023 | 2023 |
| 2024/08/09-18 | 10 days | 21 peaks | Y= 4th, PD= 6th(tie), G=1st | 2024 (incomplete) | 2024 |
| 2025/08/01-10 | 10 days | 23 peaks | Y= 3rd, PD= 3rd, G=1st, A probably 3rd | 2025 (incomplete) | 2025 |
As you can see I have done quite a number of years, when I wrote this up in 2024 I had done all 10 Challenge peaks 10 years, 10 challenge peaks (one alternate challenge peak) one year, and 2 incomplete years. I have successfully summited every challenge peak I have tried to go up although there were times where there were extra potential challenge peaks I was unable to climb - eg Piute Crags #s 1-5 in 2022. I have won or tied for every jersey I have been eligible for at least once (Polka Dot, Yellow, Green, Aqua, and Gravy). I have also placed 1st through 7th for the Yellow and 1st through 6th for the polka dot at least once. As of 2024 I have climbed a total of ~243 peaks on the challenges (actually more because sometimes you have to climb 2 peaks to get one point and some peaks don't count). I am not particularly fast - at least compared to the trail runners and fast people - so my yellow jersey ranking often reflects how many other people did all 10 of that year's challenge peaks and the year I won yellow I was the only one to do all 10. I can scramble and climb pretty hard though and when the going gets tough I slow down a lot less than some of the people that are very fast on the trail.
Mason made a list of all the Challenge peaks on Peakbagger (actually 2 lists since there is a limit to how many you can include in a list) 2001-2018 and 2019- and I think (as of 2024) I had climbed ~197 of them (out of 253 total) - there are a few problems with these lists I noticed - mostly where someone named a different peakbagger peak the same name as the Challenge peak, but it is close. This includes peaks climbed outside of the challenge. (2025 update: ~215 peaks climbed). I think I am a distant second behind Bob for total challenge peaks climbed although maybe Clement has passed me. To paraphrase Mason - "after that who cares?"
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