Homeless
On the Range
Last November, I began telling my friends that if I couldn't find a girlfriend by the end of May, I would quit my job, move out of my apartment, and spend the entire summer hiking in the mountains. Well, time ran out, so I went ahead and did it. Surfer Girl isn't in the city, so I went to look for her in the mountains. (obscure reference to a line from Gerry Roach's mountaineering guidebooks) I quit my job, vacated my apartment, put most of my possessions in a storage unit, and headed for the hills with my car and backpack loaded with gear. My car is now my home.
The Homeless On the Range Expedition will hopefully end on September 24th when I plan to hike Unnamed 13,374 with some friends. After that, I aspire to make a third attempt on Peak Fifteen, a challenging mountaining that I failed to climb twice in early September. Then, I'll have to discover what life holds in store for me after nearly four months of mountaineering.
I am
participating in a long-term asthma research study with National Jewish
Hospital that provides me with free medicine, but the study requires me to
visit the hospital in Denver once every two to four weeks. This has required me to establish particular rest periods when I interrupted my peakbagging efforts to return to Denver, check email, and visit friends. Since I have been living out of my car and backpack, my friend and former employer Leif Hojem is my contact person to accept mail and telephone messages for me: His work number is (303) 628-5432. Mail for me should be addressed to: Gary Swing, C/O Colorado Promotional Distributors, 1616 17th Street, #479, Denver, CO 80202 or email homelessontherange (at) yahoo (dot) com
At the beginning of my expedition, I tried to create an itinerary of where I would be when, but it quickly fell apart, so subsequently, my agenda was largely spontaneous and I was on my own, going wherever I wanted to when I wanted to. except for arranging to meet friends for a few specific climbs. Usually,
My general
goal was to average at least 2 new thirteeners per day. For some of the hardest summits, I only did one new thirteener that day. The greatest number of ranked thirteeners that I climbed in a single day was seven.
The list of "peaks that I haven't climbed yet" on this website has not been revised since I started my expedition.