Man climbing Oregon's 100 tallest peaks

MEDFORD, Ore. -- To avoid the crowds and find a decent place to camp, Cory Crebbin saw nowhere to go but up.

A goal of scaling Oregon's 100 highest peaks has kept Crebbin, 49, busy for nearly the past decade. With 43 done, Crebbin has viewed Oregon vistas from the state's southeastern corner to Mount Hood.

The director of the city of Medford's public works department isn't eager to finish the list, assembled by climbing enthusiast Jeff Howbert. Each mountain promises something new, and Crebbin is taking them one at a time.

"Before I die, I'd like to have all of 'em, but I don't have a deadline for it."

Emulating co-workers at an East Coast outdoors store in the mid-1980s, Crebbin decided to give mountaineering a try, choosing California's 14,104-foot Mount Shasta while visiting family in southern Oregon.

During a monthlong National Outdoor Leadership School course in the north Cascades, Crebbin learned more about mountaineering, crossing glaciers and dangling from a rope into crevasses.

Crebbin scaled Washington's highest peak, 14,411-foot Mount Rainier, and the 10,871-foot Mount Baker before setting out to tackle all the peaks in the state's Olympic Mountains.

When he moved to Oregon in 1999, Crebbin discovered that while Washington's five tallest peaks dwarf Oregon's top five, Oregon boasts more than 30 mountains with elevations above 9,000 feet, more than double the number in Washington.

"People don't realize how many mountains there are in Oregon," Crebbin said, adding that 89 of the state's highest peaks are 8,000 feet high or taller.

Most are in Eastern Oregon, which makes it more time-consuming if you live on the western side.

And although Crebbin likes his solitude, he considers it foolhardy to climb alone in remote areas.

"You really get the sense of 'the middle of nowhere' out there," he said. "I always GPS the car."

Global-positioning systems have simplified things, Crebbin said. Some of Oregon's highest peaks lack official names or marked or maintained access roads. His GPS system keeps him on the right track.

"It used to be a real struggle," he said of climbing before the advent of GPS. "It almost feels unfair."

His most difficult climb to date was Twin Peaks in northeastern Oregon's Wallowa Mountains and No. 11 on Howbert's list. Crebbin's 43-year-old brother, Pat Crebbin of Klamath Falls, told him it was the steepest climb he'd ever made carrying a backpack. That was just en route to the campsite.

Yet Pat Crebbin left behind their rope, an essential piece of equipment considering Twin Peaks' oddly shaped 60-foot pinnacle, which left Cory Crebbin scratching his head 15 feet from the top.

Crebbin knew he wouldn't be able to find his footing, so he asked his brother to wedge his foot in the right spot.

When the guide book stated only the "most experienced and daring" attempt Twin Peaks without a rope, Pat Crebbin responded that he thought his older brother was "experienced and daring."

Fellow climber and co-worker Doug Townsend chalks Cory Crebbin's fervor up to a different trait.

"I think it's typical that overachievers are also risk-takers," Townsend said. "And Cory's definitely an overachiever."

Crebbin has climbed seven of Oregon's 10 highest mountains, including the tallest, Mount Hood.