Long Covid List

***This page is a description of this peakbagging project, including both an explanation of the list itself as well as a bit of the story behind how it went and some nice photos!!! If you want to see an enumeration of all of the peaks done as part of this project, check out this page here!!!***

After working a summer at a mountain lodge in New Hampshire and getting burned out, I wasn't able to finish the 131 in my original timeframe, which was frustrating but ultimately not too big of an issue, as I have every intention of returning to the east one of these days to finish up loose ends there and in the Southern Appalachians. I had a clear plan of what I wanted to do next: I wanted to spend a few months in New Mexico and Texas climbing as many P2ks as I could, and then using any extra time I had to knock out ultras in Arizona, Nevada, and California. I was primed: I had spent nearly a year working and saving up money to do this as part of a larger move out west where I planned to put down roots in the PNW. It was with this excitement that I started my roadtrip out west, which saw me climbing eight state high points along with numerous other state prominence and isolation points. Finally, I got to Santa Fe and was stoked to get the list started

However, fate had another plan for me. Right before I started the roadtrip I came down with a sickness that forced me to hang around Vermont for longer than I had originally anticipated. Some of my symptoms got better roadtripping, others worse, and by the time I got to Santa Fe, I knew I needed to give myself at least a few days of rest before starting up any major peaks. However, that's exactly when my symptoms took a turn for the worse. I didn't know it at the time, but I had gotten a back-to-back pair of Covid infections which had left me with an undiagnosed and untreated asthma that was giving me near-daily asthma attacks - along with other more mellow long covid symptoms. Somehow I found myself at my sickest not only at the time that I wanted to push myself the hardest, but at the time where I had the least capacity to rest and recover, as being in a van in New Mexico in August is no way to relax. I was heartbroken that I couldn't climb the peaks I had originally intended to. And the worst part? I couldn't even cry about it because my throat would close up any time I tried to shed tears. I couldn't even cry about it

However, it should be obvious even through a cursory glance at my website that I'm not one to back down from a challenge, and that I'm willing to push myself hard even when my body isn't at one-hundred percent. Hiking in the southwest was simply too hot for me with where my body was, and my partner was moving to Northern Idaho for the fall, so I decided to roadtrip up towards there and climb whatever peaks I could along the way. It started with driving/biking up a few peaks in the southwest before pushing myself up the tallest mountain I had ever climbed: Delano in Utah. Somehow, I managed to slog up the steep trail, stopping every 20 feet to cough my guts out. I made it up, and then made it down. Curiously, my cough didn't get any better or worse the more I hiked, but the chronic fatigue and the wanting to be close to a road in case my health went south limited me to shorter hikes - but I *could* still hike. I tried to climb a few peaks in the Great Basin, but some unexpected logistical issues with my van made the going-into-super-remote-areas-in-the-desert thing not the best idea. So I ended up in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, where I was able to bike and hike up another four P2ks. Similarly, I was able to knock out another four on the drive up toward Moscow Idaho, where I was able to meet up with my partner toward the end of the month

After resting in Moscow for a few days, I started back up again, climbing another five P2ks and five P1ks in about two weeks. I was optimistic about my chances to ramp up further and hike more peaks farther in the Panhandle, but my asthma took a turn for the worse and I spent about a week unable to get out of bed. Luckily, my partner recognized what it was and I was able to get myself a pair of inhalers that turned my life around. For the next two weeks, I walked seven to ten miles a day to rebuild my shape, and then hiked Blacktail in one of the highlights of my year! Unfortunately, between my van acting up and my bike still unrepaired with winter weather arriving and only a few days before having to move out to Oregon, there just wasn't a way to anything else in Idaho

Luckily, once I got to Oregon my prospects shifted rapidly, and I was able to knock out a quartet of peaks on the coast followed by several peaks in the Greater Bend Area, culminating in a beautiful hike up Grays Butte. However, this is when the ski season started up, and between working as a liftie and getting myself into skiing shape, I just didn't have the time to dedicate hiking for a few months. As I'm writing this in February, I suddenly have a lot more time on my hands after quitting my job to help my body further recover, and have plans to start backcountry skiing more peaks in the near future. As for the future of the list, my best estimate is that the Oregon peaks will be butchered into a list I'm gonna pursue over th next year and a half before moving my center of gravity somewhere else. Possibly I'll include the Idaho and Washington peaks along with that, but we shall see. As for the peaks before hand, I expect the Southwest peaks to go the same way, and for the roadtrip peaks to be included in some bigger "continental" list or something thereabouts This page and it's associated pages will remain though, to serve as a demonstration of what I'm capable of. Because let's be honest: I was physically disabled to the point that I couldn't even walk for fifteen minutes without collapsing due to untreated asthma attacks. The fact that I was able to climb *any* mountains during this time, including ones that are non-trivial hikes, is a genuine accomplishment and something I'll boast about for the rest of my life whenever I get the chance - I earned that right!