Starting the 2021 calendar year, my ability to complete 1,000 Te Mata Peak climbs within 12 consecutive calendar months looked challenging, especially as I was away in Omarama for gliding for the first half of January and did not complete my first peak climb of the year until 15th January. By late January, the numbers started to look plausible so a target was set of at least 1,000 full Te Mata Peak climbs in the year ending 31 March 2021.
Completing three peak climbs on 05th February saw me achieve the milestone of my 3,000th recorded full Te Mata Peak climb since August 1998.
The total climbs completed accumulated nicely with 1,000 climbs in 365 consecutive days completed on 07th March as this “rolling year” included the 2020 COVID19 lockdown periods. The target to 31 March was then stretched to a minimum of 1,052 full climbs.
Despite a couple of days of wet weather with no climbs, I hit a total of 1,042 climbs since 01 April 2020 on 28 March. This then left three days to maximise my total for the year. The weather forecast was initially for rain each of the last three days of the period. This turned out to be correct for the 29th morning but despite the forecast, the weather cleared in the afternoon long enough for me to complete three further climbs. Up pre-dawn on the 30th, seven climbs were completed in the dry. The last day of the year dawned with heavy overcast and forecast showers and rain. Given that it was dry early, I set out and completed four climbs without getting a spot of rain. This completed 133 climbs for the month, 271 since 01 January 2021 and 1,056 for the year ended 31 March 2021. Stretch target surpassed!
Total recorded climbing of all riding for the year ending 31 March 2021 was 521,471m or 10,000m per seven days.
Looking at the numbers for the year ended 31 March 2021:
a. Total days Te Mata Peak climbed during the year: 276 out of 365 (75.6%)
b. 1,056
total peak climbs completed being:
48 days @ 1 climb
61 days @ 2 climbs (Double Peaks)
36 days @ 3 climbs (Triple Peaks)
49 days @ 4 climbs (Quadrapeaks)
18 days @ 5 climbs (Pentapeaks or COVIDs)
24 days @ 6 climbs (Hexapeaks)
15 days @ 7 climbs (Septapeaks or ANZAC Specials or Half Valentines or Quarter Jason’s)
14 days @ 8 climbs (Octapeaks or Double Quadrapeaks)
4 days @ 9 climbs (Hors catégorie (HC))
4 days @ 10 climbs (Hors catégorie (HC))
1 day @ 11 climbs (Mount Cooks)
1 day @ 16 climbs (Hors catégorie (HC))
1 day @ 28 climbs (Everest 10,000m+)
c. Average climbs per day Te Mata Peak climbed: 3.8
d. Least number of consecutive days to complete 1,000 peak climbs: 355 days
e. Least number of non-consecutive peak riding days to complete 1,000 peak climbs: 224 days @ 4.46 climbs per day
f. Most number of consecutive days with no peak climbs: 22 days
g. Most consecutive days of Te Mata Peak climbing: 62 (actually 31 March 2020 – 31 May 2020 inclusive)
h. Most peak climbs in 90 days: 347 (actually 02 March 2020 – 30 May 2020 inclusive)
