Burnt out on peak bagging?

[CreekRunner]

From the looks of it, peaks and troughs of a hobby are pretty natural for most people. Of course there will be people who never seem to get tired of mountains (Ueli and John/Alyson Kirk come to mind), but I'd conjecture that far more people bounce around their focus on hobbies. I'd say if you just don't feel like doing mountains, but don't want to give it up just yet, try to switch up how you do them, like with a partner or through taking more technical routes. I used to do a bunch of the peaks nearby me, but after going to Boulder and having a ton of fun on GM and the flatirons, doing frustrating bushwhacks dropped a bit on my priority list, yet from time to time I still get the urge to get a bunch of scratches and get lost in the bushes and trees.

If that doesn't work, follow the advice of the cliche, "If you love something set it free. If it comes back it’s yours. If not, it was never meant to be.”

[tjmartn1]

I've found myself on a couple of occasions turning back after just a mile or so on a hike after driving for hours in the pre-dawn darkness to get there. Some days you just don't feel it. I've also turned off the alarm at 3am a few times when I was packed and ready to go somewhere and decided just not to do it that day. I think that's healthier in the long run for your enjoyment of the activity. Ultimately nobody really cares if you added a check mark to one of your 14er boxes but you. It is not unreasonable for someone who loves doing something to not want to do that thing at every possible occasion. And for me, there's no point in going when it isn't fun at that moment.

[YonderMountain]

This is a hobby. Hobbies are supposed to be fun. If it's not fun at the time, then just don't do it. Simple as that. Like others have said, maybe later you'll get excited again.

Agreed. Moved to CO in 2001 and after about 2 years of peakbagging got burned out. In a very happy place now where I get out in the summer 2-3X and feel totally content. I also summitted several new peaks in May/April on skis so helps for me. Variety is the spice of life and will always want me coming back for more. For me, its about Quality over Quantity now.

[AnnaG22]

I started to get burnt out last year because I'd made a really strict schedule for myself. Normally I enjoy strategizing and figuring out what peaks will work best certain times of year/conditions and if the weather forecast is optimal, but I was doing it so much and leaving no room for anything else that it started to eat at me.

I ended up reflecting a lot on why I was doing it. If you get to the point where you feel like you "have to" go do a peak, like it's an obligation and you're forcing yourself...take a break. Remember that you're deciding whether or not to do it; nobody else is making you. Take some time to identify what you found so fun about it to begin with, and deliberately seek those things...occasionally. With the rest of the time, do other things you find fun and enlivening. Sometimes it just takes some time. I was lucky to several friends encourage me to seek balance (before I was burnt out) and a few others remind me the value in spontaneity.

[jfolwell1]

I took ten years off. Moved out of Co. to Idaho. Will be hooking up with my old climbing partner at the end of this month to finish my last two peaks. This trip has been planned now for three months and I'm so flippin excited I am loosing sleep.
Doing Culabra and then back to Chicago Basin for Eolus. The rush is back!!!! Been lurking on this site for some time now just drooling about some of the climbs you folks have been doing.

[Sglm14]

I just started doing 14ers 4 years ago and to date I have 44 completed but 90 summits total because of repeats and 13ers. The first summer when I started doing this- I did 14ers alternating with 13ers. I had a ton of fun doing class 3s and traverses. Once I started doing just 14ers in the Sawatch Range I got bored. I got bored of the long and steep hikes like Bel-Ox and Holy Cross. I hit a wall and didn't have the desire to continue. I think what helped me was doing other peaks outside of Sawatch that are challenging, fun, and scenic. Wildflowers are a huge bonus for me. I enjoyed SW ridge of Sneffels and Capitol because they're technical. I went back and finished Sawatch and boy am I glad I'm done with them! I'm not a fast hiker and will never be and I think that's one of the reasons why I hate just long and steep hikes. I don't mind long and steep if it's challenging like Long's.

[SurfNTurf]

I raced through the 14ers as quickly as possible. It consumed my life. For a significant chunk, it felt like an obligation. I regret it.

Do what's fun. If you enjoy going to brunch then sitting on your couch watching Netflix, do it. If you enjoy rock climbing, do it. If you enjoy hiking a 14er, do it. Too many people get caught up trying to form their identities around a 14,000 foot pile of talus. There's nothing wrong with being a more whole person. Life's too short to focus on anything but what brings fulfillment to yourself and those you love.

[spiderman]

With 600 peaks bagged in the last dozen years with my son, I rarely felt bored. Try mixing it up besides 14ers. Check out lists on peakbagger.com. State high points, and 5000 foot Prominence peaks adds some variety. Go for some of the seven summits or something bizzare like County Outhouse high points (CoOHP.

http://peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=6644

[jladderud]

Funny how timely this thread is for me. After hitting up 12 14ers and 3 13ers in four different ranges in the last 5 weekends and putting in thousands of miles in a car (taking advantage of work trips--I live in Tucson) I found myself questioning my motives whilst on a Sawatch slog up Missouri and Belford having spent the previous night "sleeping" in the front seat of a Nissan Altima at the TH. I'm at 43/58 and hoping to finish this year while work keeps paying to send me to Colorado. But this weekend I'm not going for any summits; but hope for a couple solid days of rock climbing, instead.

I'll echo what others have said: find good partners, and mix up your routes. I have a buddy (whom I met on Columbia) that's has about as many peaks to go as I do, so we're able to chase them together (and share driving duties). My most enjoyable summit days have been technical traverses with 2-3 friends. I did the Pettingell-Citadel traverse yesterday and boy was it a breath of fresh air. The Little Bear - Blanca traverse was a blast, too (even though it comes with the prerequisite suck-fest walking up the Lake Como road)! Culebra was my other favorite peak this past month. It was super beautiful, easy, I made new friends, and I got to sleep in until 5AM!

[EatinHardtack]

I got this last year, just burnt out on having to climb peaks just to be climbing. I took last summer off from climbing and focused on fishing. Of course my favorite time of year is Ski Mountaineering season from April-June. Even this year, after a very good skimo, I'm not itching to get up something right away. I've been climbing since 2006 and really hammered out some 14ers and 13ers, but last year I needed a break. It doesn't help either that my occupation is a work alcoholics dream as I put in from 60-80hrs a week in the summer. That job schedule doesn't equate to lots of summer hiking or peak bagging. When I was younger it didn't matter as much but I will say those hours are catching up with me. Burn out happens but focus on other things from time to time and you'll find yourself back at it, I do it every spring then fall off for fishing come summer.

[d_baker]

It doesn't help either that my occupation is a work alcoholics dream as I put in from 60-80hrs a week in the summer. That job schedule doesn't equate to lots of summer hiking or peak bagging.

Stupid golf.

[EatinHardtack]

It doesn't help either that my occupation is a work alcoholics dream as I put in from 60-80hrs a week in the summer. That job schedule doesn't equate to lots of summer hiking or peak bagging.

Stupid golf.

^this guy knows!!!! Yep, golf life=no summers.