Introducing Reach the Peak

[+zpc]

Please, I was sick most of the October and I haven't managed to get the Elbrus peak. Any chances to get it somehow? Or it is eternaly bye-bye??

[+thebruce0]

No one likes to hear it, but no, not legitimately.  ...

The souvenir represents finding geocaches during its period.  Would it have the same value if we knew (for whatever reason) we didn't actually do what it represents? 

That said, again - if you didn't log geocaches dated within the date period for earning it, then it can't be earned legitimately. ...

[+Max and 99]

The Reach the Peak leaderboard resets on December 6

 

November is coming to a close and many geocachers have reached the peak of Kilimanjaro by finding geocaches and Adventures. For all who are still making the climb, you have until the first Monday of the month, December 6, 2021 at noon UTC to earn both souvenirs for Kilimanjaro. On Monday, December 6 noon UTC the Reach the Peak leaderboard will reset and we’ll head to Alaska to summit North America’s tallest peak, Denali.

At 6,190 meters tall, the snowy slopes of Denali soar up to the skies, while the mountain’s peak peers down to the park and nature preserve on the ground below. Visitors from around the world make the trip to Alaska to climb the mountain’s icy heights and see breathtaking natural scenery. The mountain and surrounding park are also well known for the wildlife that call the area home. If a visitor is lucky, they might get to see a caribou, moose, or grizzly bear from a distance.

Cachers must collect 350 points to earn the Denali Basecamp souvenir and 6,190 points to earn the Denali Summit souvenir.

Each month of Reach the Peak has different point values for finding geocaches and Adventures. Here are the point values for our climb up Denali:

Found a Multi-Cache	750
Found a cache with 10+ Favorite points	700
Found an EarthCache	600
Found a Mystery Cache	550
Found a Letterbox Hybrid	500
Found an Adventure Location	425
Found it*	350

*Log a Found it on any other non-Event cache type, excluding Webcam Caches.
 

The maximum number of points you can earn for any cache log is 750 points. Read our Reach the Peak announcement blog post for FAQs and more information about the challenge.

[+Max and 99]

I'm a little surprised they haven't used one of these months to promote Geotours, with extra points for geocaches with the Geotour attribute. 

[+barefootjeff]

3 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

I'm a little surprised they haven't used one of these months to promote Geotours, with extra points for geocaches with the Geotour attribute. 

 

Maybe it's because there are many parts of the world where Geotours are hard to come by. This is the result I got when searching for caches in New South Wales with the Geotour attribute:

 

[+Lynx Humble]

37 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

 

Maybe it's because there are many parts of the world where Geotours are hard to come by. This is the result I got when searching for caches in New South Wales with the Geotour attribute:

 

I agree the only geotour in Nova Scotia is shared with New Brunswick and Maine... Almost impossible to complete.

 

4 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

The Reach the Peak leaderboard resets on December 6

 

November is coming to a close and many geocachers have reached the peak of Kilimanjaro by finding geocaches and Adventures. For all who are still making the climb, you have until the first Monday of the month, December 6, 2021 at noon UTC to earn both souvenirs for Kilimanjaro. On Monday, December 6 noon UTC the Reach the Peak leaderboard will reset and we’ll head to Alaska to summit North America’s tallest peak, Denali.

At 6,190 meters tall, the snowy slopes of Denali soar up to the skies, while the mountain’s peak peers down to the park and nature preserve on the ground below. Visitors from around the world make the trip to Alaska to climb the mountain’s icy heights and see breathtaking natural scenery. The mountain and surrounding park are also well known for the wildlife that call the area home. If a visitor is lucky, they might get to see a caribou, moose, or grizzly bear from a distance.

Cachers must collect 350 points to earn the Denali Basecamp souvenir and 6,190 points to earn the Denali Summit souvenir.

Each month of Reach the Peak has different point values for finding geocaches and Adventures. Here are the point values for our climb up Denali:

Found a Multi-Cache	750
Found a cache with 10+ Favorite points	700
Found an EarthCache	600
Found a Mystery Cache	550
Found a Letterbox Hybrid	500
Found an Adventure Location	425
Found it*	350

*Log a Found it on any other non-Event cache type, excluding Webcam Caches.
 

The maximum number of points you can earn for any cache log is 750 points. Read our Reach the Peak announcement blog post for FAQs and more information about the challenge.

Hum I hope they code correctly this time and multi with over 10FP will give 750 points and not 700.

[+Max and 99]

Fair points. Until a few months ago we didn't even have one in our state. 

[+Chrysalides]

I've been collecting the points awarded for different cache categories in a spreadsheet, to see how it changes over the months. There's still 2 more months of data to collect, but for now, I have two metrics: Minimum number of caches required to reach peak, and "average number required to reach peak".

 

The second one needs some explanation. It's the points needed to reach peak, divided by the average for all cache categories with points. I'm not sure how useful it is.

 

Minimum number of caches needed to reach peak has been fairly constant at 9, except for October when it dipped to 8.

 

Average number of caches needed has been hovering around 11, with a small dip in October and a spike in November. They are 10.98, 10.97, 10.46, 11.89, 11.18.

 

Since we only get the points a week before the month's challenge starts, it's not particularly useful. But it was interesting to me and maybe some others will find it interesting as well.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Chrysalides

[+dprovan]

21 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

Maybe it's because there are many parts of the world where Geotours are hard to come by.

"Many"? I'd say "most". I live in a very active geocaching area and have geocached in many others. I've run into a single geotour in all my years of caching.

 

Having said that, I think it's a reasonable suggestion to have geotours provide a big bonus. It wouldn't help me any, but it might get people to look around and see the geotours they've haven't noticed in their areas. There's usually at least one type of bonus I don't use in any given challenge, so I have no problem with them having one for something very few people would be able to take advantage of. I'm guessing GS wants more bang for the buck, and I have no problem with them sticking to that position, either.

[+Lynx Humble]

1 hour ago, Chrysalides said:

I've been collecting the points awarded for different cache categories in a spreadsheet, to see how it changes over the months. There's still 2 more months of data to collect, but for now, I have two metrics: Minimum number of caches required to reach peak, and "average number required to reach peak".

 

The second one needs some explanation. It's the points needed to reach peak, divided by the average for all cache categories with points. I'm not sure how useful it is.

 

Minimum number of caches needed to reach peak has been fairly constant at 9, except for October when it dipped to 8.

 

Average number of caches needed has been hovering around 11, with a small dip in October and a spike in November. They are 10.98, 10.97, 10.46, 11.89, 11.18.

 

Since we only get the points a week before the month's challenge starts, it's not particularly useful. But it was interesting to me and maybe some others will find it interesting as well.

Do you also happen to have the stats for the maximum number of cache required? Next month it will be 18.

[+Chrysalides]

2 hours ago, Lynx Humble said:

Do you also happen to have the stats for the maximum number of cache required? Next month it will be 18.

 

LOL I should do that. Hang on ...

 

16, 16, 18, 19, 18

 

I don't know why November was a tougher month by all metrics. Maybe I should look into number of days for period as well.

 

Edit: November's peak have 5 weeks for us to complete. August had 5 weeks too. The others had 4 weeks. January will have 5 weeks as well.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Chrysalides

[Darwin473]

1 hour ago, Chrysalides said:

But it was interesting to me and maybe some others will find it interesting as well.

 

Actually, I was about to try and crunch those numbers myself! You've saved me from my math homework, thanks for sharing with the class. 

 

I did think that the variations in numbers meant there was a "set" number of caches to find each month rather than just being arbitrary. It looks like "the plan" is for cachers to log around ten or eleven caches each month to qualify.

[+Chrysalides]

8 minutes ago, Unit473L said:

 

Actually, I was about to try and crunch those numbers myself! You've saved me from my math homework, thanks for sharing with the class. 

 

I did think that the variations in numbers meant there was a "set" number of caches to find each month rather than just being arbitrary. It looks like "the plan" is for cachers to log around ten or eleven caches each month to qualify.

 

If you want to play around with the data, and you trust Google Sheets, feel free to play around with this. I even have a small calculator where you can enter the number of caches of various types to see if you will reach your goal for the month.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14vz8LZSXnpwTMTLeXNCB5VKD6SMgJffDrwptCVNVXq0/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Darwin473]

23 hours ago, Chrysalides said:

feel free to play around with this.

 

Cheers, I downloaded a copy to play with (I'm about to head off to work). Where did you get the sum of all cache types? Those numbers are low for world wide, so I assume they are for your area?

[+ranger170]

On 8/15/2021 at 10:07 AM, Geo-Jeddak said:

With COVID-rules becomming less strict in the Netherlands, I will host an event to make people aware of this new souvenir challenge. But apparently, events don't count. A CITO I attended earlier this month didn't earn me any points either. Is it because of COVID that events don't count for these souvenirs?

I noticed that too!  An event gives you a Smiley so why isn't it included??

 

[+CCFwasG]

Don't know if this is the right place to ask but why have they taken the link to this whole thing off the front/main page? Got a souvenir today and no clue where the link has gone to look at my points. Guess I won't bother?
 

Edit to add: there is a link OP's latest info post for this thread... but OOPS it doesn't help, just goes to the main page. Like a scary loop you can't get out of.

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by CCFwasG

[+CCFwasG]

On 12/5/2021 at 7:10 AM, ranger170 said:

I noticed that too!  An event gives you a Smiley so why isn't it included??

 

+1 huge agreement... a cache is a cache.

 

edit: I swear there is a forum troll who marks everything funny... I will refrain from adding what I want to say to them...

Edited December 8, 2021 by CCFwasG
calling out trolling

[+Max and 99]

5 minutes ago, CCFwasG said:

Don't know if this is the right place to ask but why have they taken the link to this whole thing off the front/main page? Got a souvenir today and no clue where the link has gone to look at my points. Guess I won't bother?
 

Edit to add: there is a link in the OP for this thread... but OOPS it doesn't help, just goes to the main page. Like a scary loop you can't get out of.

I personally find the easiest way to get the information is on the app. 

[+CCFwasG]

1 minute ago, Max and 99 said:

I personally find the easiest way to get the information is on the app. 

Unless you don't use it because you've had too much trouble and had to use a different one.

[+Max and 99]

23 minutes ago, CCFwasG said:

Don't know if this is the right place to ask but why have they taken the link to this whole thing off the front/main page? Got a souvenir today and no clue where the link has gone to look at my points. Guess I won't bother?
 

Edit to add: there is a link OP's latest info post for this thread... but OOPS it doesn't help, just goes to the main page. Like a scary loop you can't get out of.

 

No clue why it's not on the main page but you can also access it from your leaderboard/friends on your profile.

And since it's not on the main page the link on the blog takes you nowhere.

That's not my fault. I can't fix that for them. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Max and 99

[+CCFwasG]

3 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

No clue why it's not on the main page but you can also access it from your leaderboard on your profile. 

Nothing there but I suspect because it is telling me to "go to your new dashboard" and I'm a Luddite so slow to adopt new stuff...???

[+Max and 99]

7 minutes ago, CCFwasG said:

Nothing there but I suspect because it is telling me to "go to your new dashboard" and I'm a Luddite so slow to adopt new stuff...???

But have you accessed the leaderboard from your profile? On your friends at the upper right there's a click to the leaderboard that shows you all the current points and how to get more points for the current month. 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Max and 99

[+CCFwasG]

21 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

But have you accessed the leaderboard from your profile? On your friends at the upper right there's a click to the leaderboard that shows you all the current points and how to get more points for the current month. 

 

 

 

Thanks! Got it... admittedly very un-intuitive place to look IMHO :-)

[+CCFwasG]

As long as you are so kind as to answer everything @Max and 99 (thank you) I might as well ask:
If I forgot to look at the last leaderboard yesterday, is that it? I'll never know what happened or how many points I managed? (Guessing not but it seems like you will know if anyone will!)

[+Max and 99]

20 minutes ago, CCFwasG said:

As long as you are so kind as to answer everything @Max and 99 (thank you) I might as well ask:
If I forgot to look at the last leaderboard yesterday, is that it? I'll never know what happened or how many points I managed? (Guessing not but it seems like you will know if anyone will!)

That's an excellent question. On Sunday night before the new mountain starts I take a screenshot just in case. So in other words I do not know a way to see previous points. Unless one of your friends took a screenshot and your points happened to be shown. Not likely, I know. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Max and 99

[+Max and 99]

21 minutes ago, CCFwasG said:

Thanks! Got it... admittedly very un-intuitive place to look IMHO :-)

I totally agree!! As has been discussed on this forum before it doesn't even look like leaderboard is clickable on your friends list. 

[+MartyBartfast]

 

1 hour ago, HHL said:

Have a look to the left row. right below "View Profile".

The problem is that they're still using the old profile dashboard.

 

 

8 hours ago, CCFwasG said:

Nothing there but I suspect because it is telling me to "go to your new dashboard" and I'm a Luddite so slow to adopt new stuff...???

I think this would be a good time to make the switch, it's not too bad once you get used to it, and you'll only see this problem getting worse if you stay with the old view.

 

[+Max and 99]

I am so lost with this conversation. What am I misunderstanding?

It doesn't matter if you use the old dashboard or the new dashboard there is still no reach the peak information on the main page. The link from the blog and therefore my post still goes to the main page with no reach the peak information. 

13 hours ago, CCFwasG said:

why have they taken the link to this whole thing off the front/main page?

 

6 hours ago, HHL said:

They have not:

 

[+Max and 99]

5 minutes ago, HHL said:

Just open your eyes.

Which part of "Reach the Peak" do you not understand?

Where it is on the main page. That's the profile page.

[+MartyBartfast]

5 minutes ago, HHL said:

Just open your eyes.

While it is somewhat ambiguous, I think people referring to "The main page" mean this : https://www.geocaching.com/

[+Max and 99]

1 minute ago, MartyBartfast said:

While it is somewhat ambiguous, I think people referring to "The main page" mean this : https://www.geocaching.com/

When you click on reach the peak in the blog post it often takes you to the main page of geocaching.com for info. This month it's missing. That's the issue here. There's nothing on the main page that tells you about reach the peak despite the link that they include in the blog. 

Yes there are other ways to access the information but we're talking about it now missing from the main page.

 

[+Max and 99]

13 minutes ago, HHL said:

No. That's the Dashboard.

But it's not the main page. Which is what we're talking about. If you go to the blog that tells you the reach the peak resets, there's a link that takes you right to the main page of geocaching.com. but there's nothing on Reach the Peak there. That's what started this conversation the link takes you to nothing relevant.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Max and 99

[+CCFwasG]

On 12/8/2021 at 7:44 AM, Max and 99 said:

But it's not the main page. Which is what we're talking about. If you go to the blog that tells you the reach the peak resets, there's a link that takes you right to the main page of geocaching.com. but there's nothing on Reach the Peak there. That's what started this conversation the link takes you to nothing relevant.

Sorry I'm late back to this but you are correct... the other poster seems to have misunderstood you (and me perhaps). The main issue I had was Groundspeak removing it from the main caching page. I will never understand why they cannot link the leaderboard from their little souvenir explanation page either. 

Also, note to the other poster: I'll switch to the new dashboard when I feel ready - I can be a slow adopter for good reason... I often squeeze caching in when I have time, I like to write good full logs whenever possible, and have not felt I had time to deal with the learning curve. Personal choice.

[+CCFwasG]

On 12/7/2021 at 6:35 PM, Max and 99 said:

That's an excellent question. On Sunday night before the new mountain starts I take a screenshot just in case. So in other words I do not know a way to see previous points. Unless one of your friends took a screenshot and your points happened to be shown. Not likely, I know. 

And I just looked at my stats page and am even more sad about missing the November totals: "Best Month - 181 caches in November of 2021" ... so 

[+tyke]

I don't know if you two have jinxed the leaderboard: it hasn't worked for me since Wednesday. BTW there's also a link to it on the 'Your Friend's page.

[+Max and 99]

On 12/7/2021 at 8:36 PM, Max and 99 said:

I totally agree!! As has been discussed on this forum before it doesn't even look like leaderboard is clickable on your friends list. 

 

1 hour ago, tyke said:

I don't know if you two have jinxed the leaderboard: it hasn't worked for me since Wednesday. BTW there's also a link to it on the 'Your Friend's page.

Yes, that's what I was mentioning in my post. As has been discussed in the forums some people don't notice that it's a link. 

Lots of things haven't worked since Wednesday and maybe this discussion will shed a light on it for you:

https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/368283-personal-dashboard-broken/

Edited December 11, 2021 by Max and 99

[+tyke]

Thanks. I didn't associate the title of that discussion as addressing the same issue.

[+CCFwasG]

On 12/11/2021 at 8:36 AM, Max and 99 said:

 

Yes, that's what I was mentioning in my post. As has been discussed in the forums some people don't notice that it's a link. 

Lots of things haven't worked since Wednesday and maybe this discussion will shed a light on it for you:

https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/368283-personal-dashboard-broken/

 

I didn't come here to complain but I have had a ton of issues with the website in the past few days. For a while I couldn't get a blank log to load on any browser, at least now things are working ok via Firefox but on Chrome it has been dire. Hope it improves, whatever they are playing around with...

[+Chrysalides]

On 12/2/2021 at 12:23 PM, Unit473L said:

 

Cheers, I downloaded a copy to play with (I'm about to head off to work). Where did you get the sum of all cache types? Those numbers are low for world wide, so I assume they are for your area?

 

Oops, sorry for slow reply. It's the sum of the score, not the number of finds. Only Groundspeak would have info on finds.

[+Max and 99]

The Reach the Peak leaderboard resets on January 3

 

As December wraps up, geocachers around the world are finishing their ascent of Denali and heading south to Argentina and the tallest peak in South America, Aconcagua. For all who are still making their way up Denali, you have until the first Monday of the month, January 3, 2022 at noon UTC to earn both souvenirs for Denali. Then the Reach the Peak leaderboard will reset and we’ll head to Argentina to summit Aconcagua.

At a towering height of 6,960 meters, Aconcagua takes the top spot in many lists. It is the tallest mountain in: Argentina, the Andes mountain range, South America, and the tallest outside of Asia. In addition to lists of mountains, the experience of summiting Aconcagua tops the bucket lists of mountaineers around the world.

Climbers flock to Argentina to try and make their way from the yellow-green hills and valleys at the mountain’s base to its snow-capped peak. Making the climb requires dedicated training and preparation, and even then a successful summit is far from guaranteed. More than 50% of climbers end up turning around before arriving at the top.

Cachers must collect 350 points to earn the Aconcagua Basecamp souvenir and 6,960 points to earn the Aconcagua Summit souvenir.

Each month of Reach the Peak has different point values for finding geocaches and Adventures. Here are the point values for our climb up Aconcagua:

Found a Multi-Cache	775
Found a Mystery Cache	750
Found a cache with 15+ Favorite points	725
Found an EarthCache	700
Found a Letterbox Hybrid	550
Found an Adventure Location	450
Found it*	350

*Log a Found it on any other non-Event cache type, excluding Webcam Caches.
 

The maximum number of points you can earn for any cache log is 775 points.

Read our Reach the Peak announcement blog post for FAQs and more information about the challenge.

[+desert georangers]

I just got this on Aconcagua and read through it. Looks like we don’t earn points for events or web cams?  Or am I missing something?

[+Max and 99]

52 minutes ago, desert georangers said:

I just got this on Aconcagua and read through it. Looks like we don’t earn points for events or web cams?  Or am I missing something?

That's how I'm reading the blog post.

 

*Log a Found it on any other non-Event cache type, excluding Webcam Caches.

[+barefootjeff]

2 hours ago, desert georangers said:

I just got this on Aconcagua and read through it. Looks like we don’t earn points for events or web cams?  Or am I missing something?

 

I'm pretty sure that's been the case for all the peaks in the Reach the Peak promotion.

[+Max and 99]

I may have missed a mention in the blog for the first mountain, but here's what it says for the points:

 

How can I earn points?

Each month will have different point values for different types of finds. We will share the new set of values on the last Tuesday of every month before the leaderboard refreshes and resets to zero on the first Monday of each month during the challenge.

For the first month of the challenge geocachers must collect 325 points to earn the Puncak Jaya Basecamp souvenir and 4,884 points to earn the Puncak Jaya summit souvenir.

Here are the point values for the first month of the challenge:

Found a Multi-Cache	600
Found a Mystery Cache	500
Found an EarthCache	450
Found an Adventure Location	350
Found it*	325

*Log a Found it on any other cache type

[+fizzymagic]

Was there some reason for the months to start on more or less random days?  Was moving to a new peak on the first too difficult to program or something?  As it is, the promotion is actually disincentivizing me from caching toward the end of each month.

[+barefootjeff]

29 minutes ago, fizzymagic said:

Was there some reason for the months to start on more or less random days?  Was moving to a new peak on the first too difficult to program or something?  As it is, the promotion is actually disincentivizing me from caching toward the end of each month.

 

I think it's because they're using the leaderboard framework which was created way back for the Mary Hyde promotion and that had one-week stages starting and finishing at noon UTC on Mondays.

[+SamLowrey]

1 hour ago, fizzymagic said:

Was there some reason for the months to start on more or less random days?  Was moving to a new peak on the first too difficult to program or something?  As it is, the promotion is actually disincentivizing me from caching toward the end of each month.

 

The post right above yours mentions how the point values change along the way.  I suppose it allows them to tweak things as it goes on.

[+Max and 99]

It’s less than a week before the leaderboard resets on the first Monday in February. Geocachers are finishing their ascent of Aconcagua and catching their breath before heading off to reach one last peak, the tallest peak in the world, the summit of Mt. Everest. You have until February 7, 2022 at noon UTC to earn both souvenirs for Aconcagua before the Reach the Peak leaderboard resets and the final climb begins. For this final month we’re adding a new action to the leaderboard. In addition to earning points for stages of an Adventure, this month cachers will also earn leaderboard points for completing entire Adventures.

Reaching the top of Everest at 8,849 meters in elevation is a crowning achievement in mountaineering. Since the first confirmed summit of the mountain by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, adventurers around the world have traveled to the Himalayas to push themselves to the limit and hopefully catch a glimpse of the top of the world. Climbers who take on the challenge of climbing Everest must train and prepare long in advance in order to be ready for the mountain’s high altitude and unpredictable weather.

 

Cachers must collect 425 points to earn the Everest Basecamp souvenir and 8,849 points to earn the Everest Summit souvenir. Cachers who earn all fourteen Basecamp and Summit souvenirs for Reach the Peak will also earn the Peak Performer souvenir.

 

Each month of Reach the Peak has different point values for finding geocaches and Adventures. Here are the point values for our climb up Everest:

 

Completed an Adventure 975

Found a Mystery Cache 900

Found a Multi-Cache 850

Found a cache with 15+ Favorite points 700

Found a Letterbox Hybrid 550

Found an EarthCache 650

Found it* 425

Found an Adventure Location 125

*Log a Found it on any other non-Event cache type, excluding Webcam Caches.

 

The maximum number of points you can earn for any cache log is 975 points.

Read our Reach the Peak announcement blog post for FAQs and more information about the challenge.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Max and 99

[+Max and 99]

If the adventure lab has 10 locations then I get 10 x 125 + 975?

I'm confused.

If the max is 975, am I better off doing nine stages and not completing the adventure lab?

Edited February 1, 2022 by Max and 99

[+Dr.MORO]

1 hour ago, Max and 99 said:

If the adventure lab has 10 locations then I get 10 x 125 + 975?

I'm confused.

If the max is 975, am I better off doing nine stages and not completing the adventure lab?

 

I have the same question. Yet, it says to Complete an AL...

If an AL has five (5) locations in total to complete, with first four (4) locations I get 125 x 4 = 500, and with the last location I get 975, resulting in 500 + 975 = 1,475 ???

Well, I probably can score an extra 900 for finding the associated AL Bonus Mystery Cache as well, to a total of 2,375.

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by Dr.MORO