New Record Established For Climbing Idaho’s 12,000’ Peaks

Hailey residents Dave Bingham and Rob Landis recently climbed all nine of Idaho’s 12,000’ peaks in 38 hours and 50 minutes, besting the old record of 83 hours and 16 minutes, held by Nick Stover of Boise, by 44 hours and 26 minutes.

The pair began their quest at 9pm.on Saturday July 23rd by climbing Diamond Peak (12,197 feet) in Eastern Idaho’s Lemhi range. They then drove to the Borah Peak trailhead in the Lost River Range for a pre-dawn start to climb Mt Borah, Idaho’s highest peak. The Lost River Range is Idaho’s highest and arguably most rugged range, containing seven of Idaho’s nine 12,000-foot peaks, and the key to any attempt to climb all of Idaho’s 12,000-foot peaks in the fastest possible time. In one long 18 hour day (Sunday, July 24th) Dave and Rob enchained all seven of the 12,000-foot peaks in the Lost River Range--quite possibly the first time this has been accomplished. The peaks in the Lost River Crest include Mt Borah (12,655 feet) Leatherman Peak (12,230 feet), Mt Church (12,200 feet), Mount Brietenbach (12,140 feet) Lost Rivers Mountain (12,078 feet), Mount Idaho (12,065 feet) and Donaldson Peak (12,023 feet). In addition, the pair climbed Mt Sacajawea (11,936 feet) in the process.

After completing the Lost River Crest the climbers drove to the Wood River Valley and slept for four hours before ascending Hyndman Peak (12009 feet) in the Pioneer Range. The pair began just after dawn completing the climb of Hyndman Peak at 11:50 am. , July 25th for a new Idaho 12' ers record.

Kevin Lupton, also of Hailey, drove, provided trailhead support for the climbers and kept a climbing log. Dave and Rob radioed in from each summit to apprise Kevin of their progress as well as signing all of the summit registers. Kevin climbed with the pair on Diamond and Hyndman peaks. The weather was perfect with clear days and a moon just past full. One small section of the route was impassable due to late snow requiring a short but difficult detour.

Dave and Rob are both 48 and have been teaming together on adventures for many years. Dave works in the construction business while Rob is a teacher at The Community School in Sun Valley. Both men are coaches for the Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski team. In addition, Dave is well known as a climber and author of a climber’s guide to the City of Rocks.