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In mountaineering, the four-thousand footers (or "4ks") refers to a group of mountains in northern New Hampshire, of interest in the sport of "peak-bagging". Each peak is at least four thousand feet above sea level, and also meets technical criteria intended to accomplish the clear definition by excluding the peaks most likely to be considered local peaks of some larger peak, rather than "independent" peaks. This list of peaks may be referred to as the "Four-thousand footers of New Hampshire," or "The Four-thousand Footers of the White Mountains", the only difference being the geographic area referenced; the list is currently the same.
Besides location and elevation, another current criterion is that each peak rise at least 200 feet above the lowest point along any stretch of ridge that connects it with higher peaks. Earlier lists required 300 foot vertical or quarter-mile separation to be counted separately.
The group has changed, as surveying became more accurate or the selection criteria were adjusted, growing from 46 peaks in the 1950s to 48 (unchanged since 1982). The 48 lie in White Mountain National Forest and within the three northernmost counties of New Hampshire, namely Coos, Carroll, and Grafton counties. All peaks except those of Mount Washington and Mount Moosilauke are on land owned by the Forest Service, and even these two are completely surrounded by it.
A committee of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) served as a focus for settling on the criteria and collecting the information that verifies the peaks as meeting them; it also maintains a list of the Four Thousand Footer Club's "members": those who request recognition for having climbed all of the 48, in each case travelling by foot, at least between leaving a point on a car- or truck-accessible road and returning to that or another such point. The first of these recognitions was listed in 1958.
Some climbers undertake (usually after having completed the 48) to climb them within more stringent conditions. The club maintains a second list of those who climb each peak in winter (defined as summiting between the time and date of the winter solstice and those of the spring equinox.
Other variations on climbing the 48, not officially recorded, include:
- reaching the summits in a specific order (e.g., alphabetically or by elevation),
- reaching each summit on a moonlit night,
- reaching each summit from all four cardinal compass points,
- reaching each summit in the same winter,
- reaching each summit twelve times, once in each of the twelve months (but not necessarily twelve consecutive months) (As of 2004, four climbers claim this.), and
- meeting various combinations of the above restrictions in the same climbs.
List of Official Summits
The following is the current list of Four Thousand Footers of the White Mountains, along with their respective elevations (in feet), in descending order. Note that some of these names do not appear on maps, and some alternative names are indicated below.
- Washington: 6288 ft
- Adams: 5774 ft
- Jefferson: 5712 ft
- Monroe: 5384 ft
- Madison: 5367 ft
- Lafayette: 5260 ft
- Lincoln: 5089 ft
- South Twin: 4902 ft
- Carter Dome: 4832 ft
- Moosilauke: 4802 ft
- Eisenhower: 4780 ft
- North Twin: 4761 ft
- Carrigain: 4700 ft
- Bond: 4698 ft
- Middle Carter: 4610 ft
- West Bond: 4540 ft
- Garfield: 4500 ft
- Liberty: 4459 ft
- South Carter: 4430 ft
- Wildcat: 4422 ft
- Hancock: 4420 ft
- South Kinsman: 4358 ft ("South Peak")
- Field: 4340 ft
- Osceola: 4340 ft
- Flume: 4328 ft
- South Hancock: 4319 ft
- Pierce: 4310 ft
- North Kinsman: 4293 ft ("North Peak")
- Willey: 4285 ft
- Bondcliff: 4265 ft ("The Cliffs")
- Zealand: 4260 ft ("Zealand Ridge")
- North Tripyramid: 4180 ft ("North Peak")
- Cabot: 4170 ft
- East Osceola: 4156 ft ("East Peak")
- Middle Tripyramid: 4140 ft
- Cannon: 4100 ft
- Wildcat D: 4070 ft ("Wildcat Ridge')
- Hale: 4054 ft
- Jackson: 4052 ft
- Tom: 4051 ft
- Moriah: 4049 ft
- Passaconaway: 4043 ft
- Owl's Head: 4025 ft
- Galehead: 4024 ft
- Whiteface: 4020 ft
- Waumbek: 4006 ft
- Isolation: 4004 ft
- Tecumseh: 4003 ft
Peaks NOT On List
This is a partial list of other summits in the area, above 4000-feet, that do not meet all of the current official criteria.
- Mount Sam Adams: 5584 ft
- Mount Clay: 5532 ft
- Boott Spur: 5492 ft
- Mount Quincy Adams: 5394 ft
- Adams Four: 5348 ft
- Adams Five: 5266 ft
- Mount Franklin: 5004 ft
- Little Haystack Mtn: 4800 ft
- Gulf Peak: 4692
- Mount Hight: 4675
- North Carter: 4589 ft
- Mount Blue: 4529 ft
- Mount Guyot: 4508 ft
- Bartlett Haystack: 4400 ft
- Mount Jim: 4172 ft
- South Tripyramid: 4090 ft
See also
- New England 4000-footers
- Northeast 111 4000-footers
- New England Hundred Highest
- Adirondack Forty-sixers
External links
References
- Smith, Stephen; Dickerman, Mike (2001). The 4,000 Footers of the White Mountains. Littleton: Bondcliff Books. ISBN 1-931271-01-1.
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