International prominence-based hill bagging
Many RHSoc members combine British Hill bagging with international ascents. There is a longstanding and active worldwide bagging community focussed on mapping, listing and climbing hills defined by hill or peak prominence. This community regularly shares data with each other and occasionally meets to combine resources to achieve summits (eg on the picture above on the Jan Mayen Arctic Ultra Beerenberg which included American, Greg Slayden (see below), four RHSoc members and Norwegian and Finnish mountaineers).
International trips need not be expensive or complicated (though they can be) – follow this link to an account of a trip to Spain bagging P1000m peaks which was cheaper than an island bagging trip to Scotland. Our Relative Chatters (online talks) programme sometimes features international trips, most recently by member (and Marilynist) Pete Ellis, who shared an account of his trip to Carstenz Pyramid, about one of his ascents of all the ‘Seven Summits’.
The most common lists pursued internationally are as follows:
- Ultras - over 1500m of prominence
- Ribus - over 1000m of prominence
- Majors - with over 600m of prominence
In addition, lists of ascents of P500m, P300m, P 100m and P2000 m are also collated.
RHSoc publishes Halls of Fame of number of ascents in relation to its members for Ultras, Ribus and Majors each year.
Useful websites for international prominence-based lists
- Peakbagger - Used by many international mountaineers (especially European and American) to log international ascents and trip reports. Run by Greg Slayden. The software then creates ‘front runner lists’ in which climbers can compare progress against each other. Many of the lists included are prominence-based. There is an excellent associated app for use in mountains. It is an invaluable source of information.
- Bagging without Borders (BWB) - An international community of baggers who aim to share information to promote international prominence-based lists. Run by Mark Trengove, a RHSoc Member. BWB publishes annual halls of fame and progress registers highlighting relative achievement in various international ascent lists. It runs an international peak-listing project aiming to improve the quality of prominence-based international lists in less well mapped/ climbed areas and there is also a google chat group through which members share information. To join, contact Mark via the link at the bottom of this page.
- Mountain Views - All you could possibly want to know about hill-bagging in Ireland. There is a post-Covid plan for joint trips with Irish mountaineers.
- Front Runners list - Shows progress on important Prominence lists, both worldwide and by country. The lists are kept regularly updated. Run by Andy Martin. This is a text / HTML file - you will need to open it after clicking on the link to left. May be easier to access on a PC than a phone.
- World Top 50 by Prominence - Another fascinating list. Regularly updated by James Stone, RHSoc member
- Peaklist - This website gives an insight into the work that has gone on to map the world and identify prominence, using what was then rapidly-advancing computing. It has been the source of much of the data on other international mountaineering websites.