VE climbing Honours Roll

This will be the thread to discuss the potential of a VE climbing award/challenge/honours-list as proposed in the Godbold Award thread.

Some points to consider:
Structure - award, challenge, honours-roll or other?
Name?
Peaks or Routes?
Number of peaks/routes?
Classic routes or "big" routes?
How you get on the list? After completing all peaks or do you add your name to each peak as you complete it?

Hopefully all the berg climbers on the forum will add their input. Input from non-climbers is also welcome.

And discuss...............

I like the idea of a list of classic free-standers. Ideally the role for who has climbed all in the list should be fully back-dateable, and open to anyone who cares to be acknowledged on this forum. It may mean that the list is incomplete however, due to history, and I guess this is where a set back-date becomes more useful. The free-standers on the Godbold Award are all really good. I could nominate additional peaks like South Ifidi which is fun and popular to a degree, and peaks like Cathkin and Sterkhorn for their significance in the history of Berg climbing (Sterkhorn was supposedly the first technical peak to be summitted in the Berg).

I also like the idea of a list of pinnacle-like peaks which are a hard climb, like F3+. The "big three" would definitely be Tooth, Column and Western Trip. To that both the Mnweni Pinnacles should also belong since they are often overlooked, but they are hard, long and serious peaks. Definitely something I've aspired to in my personal goals. North Ifidi could also be part of such a list. There are others, but not as well known.

There are "lesser" options too like a "hairy list" to which the likes of Sentinel SE Arete , Monks Cowl Not So Auto, Western Trip from the escarpment and North Ifidi could be added. Also a list of good, classic routes which are fun and reasonable climbing in themselves (and which are not necessarily classic peaks), these could be Angus-Leppan, Eastern Buttress SE Arete, Mponjwane S Route, Rhino Eastern Arete, Giant's Castle Scholes route, Hoopers Route on the Bell etc. The issue with these is the very small number of people that would actually do them. I mention them just as possibilities.

I haven't really thought of what the award could be before, but off the top of my head it could be something like a piton, say the good old Lost Arrow type, which is engraved. This would be an ideal award for a harder list. The costs could be covered by the other climbers who acknowledge the one getting it.

These are some of my thoughts for now, though incomplete.

Those are some excellent points so far. Thanks!

I would like to see Andrew's suggestion as a separate idea, we could even use it to build the list in the "award".
It could start off as a normal thread and then once it has settled, we can compile a compact, complete list of all peaks climbed by VE members. I suppose this would lean more towards a wiki style page.

I don't see the need for a set back-date. Anyone who is on VE can be a part of it whether they climbed the peak yesterday or 30 years ago. (imho)
I also don't think we have to have an actual award or anything monetary based but I do like the piton idea. Not the golden piton but "the rusty piton"!

Perhaps a slightly longer list than the Godbold, maybe 15 peaks - focusing on the free-standers, with some of the harder peaks included. Then possibly a two-tiered recognition system like for example Gold for all peaks climbed and Silver for a certain percentage of the peaks.

Consider this a framework or draft in order to stimulate the project.



and for those not keen on clicking the attachment:



There are 15 free standers on this list separated into 3 roughly even categories based on the easiest grade of each peak.
I have added my thoughts for possible discussion.
It may be nice to get 5 peaks in each category and maybe some of the more experienced guys can comment on which peaks belong where based on something other than pure grade.