ARCO, Idaho — The Idaho 12ers consist of nine peaks above 12,000 feet with seven of them being in the Lost River Range. 378 climbers have summited all of them, but those numbers have been exponentially increasing since 2019.
"The peaks themselves are physically exhausting, there is route finding and loose rock," Dan Robbins. "They are challenging so there is a lot of respect in the mountaineering community when you’ve accomplished all nine of them."
WATCH: Check out the video to see video and pictures of Mount Borah and some of the other peaks over 12,000 feet
Dan Robbins finished this quest in 2003, that same year Dan started keeping records of all the people that summited all nine and the majority of them are Idahoans. However, Robbins witnessed a big change in 2019.
"In 2019, basically the 12ers went viral," said Robbins. "I don’t know exactly what was behind that, I started getting 30 to 40 people finishing every year instead of four or five."
Robbins believes social media helped drive this trend and he called it a positive one. Jennifer Peine of Rexburg has also experienced that with a Facebook group that has helped her find climbing partners, get the current weather conditions and when she lost her phone on Lost Peak Mountain a climber from Washington state found it and mailed it back to her.
"Having the climbing community is not something I really expected, I just enjoyed hiking," said Peine. "But, the more got into it I found the people for the most part are just really kind."
Peine recently finished her final 12er climbing Leatherman Peak a couple of weeks ago in the snow with a pair of women she met online. Peine enters elite company, and when she submits her accomplishment to Robbins, she will be the 378th to climb all the 12ers.
"It is pretty amazing, I have to say I’m really grateful to be part of this relatively small group of people," said Peine. "There is something really satisfying about knowing my body can do this and then being able to go out and accomplish that."
Peine climbed some of the peaks by herself. She enjoyed the physical challenge, but also the mental challenge of route finding her way to the top in some of Idaho's most remote landscapes.
Both Peine and Robbins said Mount Idaho was their favorite. Although Robbins has moved to Colorado, the 12ers in Idaho still hold a special place in his heart.
"Other states like Colorado has 50-plus for the 12ers and you are not going to do that over a span of a couple of years, so Idaho is kind of cool in that aspect," said Robbins, who enjoys seeing more people climb these mountains. "I think it's great I started my website to help people out because when I first started there was one guide book."
Robbins' page highlights that the youngest person to climb all nine peaks was six-years-old. He also keeps speed records, which was set in 2018 when Cody Lind of Challis climbed all nine peaks in 20 hours and 23 minutes.
