When I think of someone who has made good use of his time here in Montana Cedron Jones comes to mind. Cedron moved west in the 70’s after dropping out of grad school. He got hooked on mountain climbing in 1980 and hasn’t stopped in 30 years. Cedron is addicted to peakbagging, and he has quite an impressive resume. He has climbed just over 1200 peaks in Montana, including the 340 over 10,000 feet. He’s still working on the peaks with 3,000 feet of prominence (three more to go) and the mountain range highpoints (four more to go).
In “Peakbagging Montana,” Jones sheds light on what has kept him off the couch and why he keeps up to five pairs of hiking boots in his closet at one time. The book, which covers more than 30 years of research, includes maps and directions on how you too can become a peakbagger.
Peakbagging, for those in the dark, is “essentially climbing mountains, but with a few critical differences,” Jones writes in the introduction to the book.
“The first is the nature of the motivation,” he continues. “Mountain climbers plan their trips based on the allure of a certain peak — its beauty, its reputation, the quality of its rock or snow or ice. Peakbaggers choose a peak based on its inclusion in one or more lists. Climbing all the peaks on the list is the real goal, more so than attaining any particular summit.”
Cedron also works as a volunteer GIS mapper for the Montana Wilderness Association. He moved to Helena in 1985 and started his involvement with MWA at that time, continuing on now to the third decade of volunteerism and using his superb mapping skills to further MWA’s mission.
Come see Cedron’s slideshow at the November Rocky Mountaineers meeting Wednesday 11/9 at 7:00 p.m. at The Trail Head downtown.