BRUCE REICHERT: One hundred and twenty-three.

That's how many Idaho mountains reach 11,000 feet or higher.

Nine of those peaks rise above 12,000 feet.

These granddaddies are known as "Idaho's 12ers," and they exert a powerful pull on the imagination.

RACHEL WOLFE, CLIMBER: We thought, oh, we'll climb one, maybe two, but the boys kept wanting to go.

So we were able to climb all of them.

[CONVERSATION] STACY HUMAN, CLIMBER: She made her mind up she was going to do it.

And here we are, the ninth summit.

Yes.

REICHERT: The 12ers draw natives and newcomers, old and young, and the young at heart.

Some find in these mountains the ultimate test of physical or mental endurance.

And some must face their fears.

ANNE GARSKE, CLIMBER: I just got pretty spooked, just the exposure and the winds and my fatigue level.

And I just thought, you know, I'm not having fun anymore.

CHEIKH HAIDARA, CLIMBER: So if a refugee who has no experience with mountain stuff, they can go to other mountains.

But not this one, man.

REICHERT: Others go up these mountains for the thrill of racing, or skiing, or believe it or not, flying down.

ANDREW DUNNING, SPEED WING PILOT: A speed wing is basically your own personal roller coaster.

You're high in the air and your adrenaline's going and it just seems so unreal that you're flying your body through the air, it just doesn't seem like you should be able to do it.

REICHERT: 214 people are known to have climbed the nine 12ers.

KEN BURGESS, CLIMBER: That's a fairly short list of people who've accomplished that.

And I decided I wanted to be one of those people.

Windy.

REICHERT: Expert or novice, each climber still has to put one foot in front of the other, hour after hour, mile after mile, mountain after mountain.

APRIL WATTS, CLIMBER: You feel like you're literally on top of the world, on top of a mountain.

It's really spiritual and powerful.

Yeah, I feel very alive when I do it.

And I think that's probably the common thread with everybody that does this.

Presentation of Outdoor Idaho is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho; by the James and Barbara Cimino Foundation, dedicated to supporting projects and organizations that preserve the spirit of Idaho; by the Friends of Idaho Public Television; by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

REICHERT: Most Idahoans know about Borah Peak, which at 12,662 feet is Idaho's tallest mountain.

On a busy August weekend a hundred people might have a go at its infamous Chickenout Ridge.

But Aside from Borah, Idaho's nine 12,000 foot peaks have not seen a lot of climbers.

But that's quickly changing.

Hi, I'm Bruce Reichert, and welcome to Outdoor Idaho.

you know via social media people are posting photos, listing accomplishments, who's the fastest, who's the youngest, who's the most daring.

So we decided to ask an expert: what motivates these people?

WATTS: Do these people have a death wish?

Do I have a death wish?

I absolutely don't.

I want to live my life more fully.

And when I'm out here, I just, I feel very alive.

For better or for worse, sometimes it's painfully alive.

REICHERT: April Watts has a Ph.D. in psychology and is a licensed counselor.

She grew up in Idaho, and finished the 12ers in 2019.

Now she's working on climbing the 11,000-foot peaks, including Cobb with our Outdoor Idaho crew.

WATTS: I think as humans we're always looking to challenge ourselves and kind of test ourselves and accomplish things.

I can't get enough of it, which I think makes me come back for more, you know, that and the dopamine release.

I think there's a little bit of chemistry going on that makes you want to go back.

But for me, I think I really love knowing that I can do hard things.

REICHERT: April applies what she has learned about herself on Idaho mountains to her work with her clients, including victims of trauma.

WATTS: I think climbing mountains can be a really good metaphor for life because in life you need to keep going sometimes.

It's OK to take in the view, refuel yourself, take a break, rest, recharge.

But we have to keep going.

Mental toughness is going to get you through not only mountain climbing, but a lot of the challenges that we have that we can't escape as humans.

And I think that's why I love mountain climbing so much is, I know I can do this so I can take that back home and use that mental toughness when I'm not on a mountain, too.

[CONVERSATION] HUMAN: We made it!

Last one.

REICHERT: Mentally tough.

That describes three amazing Idaho kids.

[CONVERSATION] In August 2019, 9-year-old Sydney Human of Kimberly summited Leatherman Peak, surpassing Garrett Hale as the youngest person to climb all nine 12ers.

HUMAN: How was that?

REICHERT: Sydney's mom, Stacy, climbed the 12ers the summer before.

HUMAN: She was looking at pictures and then she got kind of interested and was wondering if there was some kids that did it.

And I told her I didn't really see very many kids.

HUMAN: High five kiddo.

HUMAN: And she wanted to know what the youngest was.

And then when she found out that Garrett was in the newspaper, she decided she wanted to be in the newspaper as well.

REICHERT: Stacy and Sydney kept the climbs fun with rituals like mountaintop tea parties, handstands and even toenail polish.

Sydney hunted summit register boxes for Jolly Rancher candies left by other climbers.

HUMAN: She's a competitive gymnast and she trains a lot.

I think she knows a lot about perseverance.

REICHERT: A couple weeks after Sydney's ninth 12er, brothers Cody and Thijs Lloyd summited Lost River Mountain, their last 12er.

WOLFE: Good job, boys.

REICHERT: They were, get this, 6 and 8 years old.

WOLFE: I'm proud of you.

We were just backpacking and hiking and we ended up on the top of a mountain.

And Cody said, oh, this must be the tallest mountain in Idaho.

And my husband said, no, but the tallest mountain is Borah, over 12,000 feet.

And there's nine peaks total.

So Cody said he wanted to climb them.

And our adventure began and we thought, oh, we'll climb one, maybe two.

But the boys kept wanting to go.

DAVID LLOYD, CLIMBER: We squeezed all these in between Saturday afternoon and Sundays, eight weekends in a row.

So it was pretty intense.

And they were up for every one.

They were excited about every one.

WOLFE: They push each other, definitely, sometimes there's some fighting at the top of the mountain who gets to be up there first or who is who is leading the trail.

And so we have to remind them that we take turns.

[BOYS TALKING] WOLFE: I don't think it would be possible for them to do it if they didn't have each other.

REICHERT: The boys learned one immutable truth about summiting a mountain.

CODY LLOYD, YOUNGEST 12ER CLIMBER: You still have to hike down.

It's not really fun climbing it, but it's fun before and after.

REICHERT: Cody's advice for kid climbers is sage, and simple: CODY LLOYD: Don't look down at the bottom.

If you look down, you would be scared, too scared to go even farther.

DAVID LLOYD: Parents mostly get in the way with sports like this.

We do a good job of ruining an activity like this for the rest of a child's life if we don't make it be their thing to do.

If you're dragging your kid up, you kid's not going to want to do it ever.

REICHERT: Cody Lind got his start hiking and climbing with his family.

Growing up in Challis, Borah Peak was a frequent destination.

Today he's professional mountain trail runner, competing around the world.

His Idaho claim to fame?

Climbing the nine 12ers faster than anyone.

CODY LIND, FASTEST FINISHER: Twenty hours, and 23 minutes, 26 seconds.

[CHEERING] REICHERT: Let that sink in.

Nine different mountains in three different mountain ranges.

50 or more miles of foot travel, and a lot of driving.

LIND: I started at Hyndman and then I went and connected all seven of the 12,000-foot peaks in the Lost River Range.

I want that to all be daylight.

And I don't want to do that in the dark.

Then the sun was just coming up when I hit Borah and just kind of set me up perfect for the whole day.

REICHERT: His girlfriend and his father, a Challis track coach, ferried him between the ranges and resupplied him with food and Red Bull.

[SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT] LIND: I remember being on top of Diamond and seeing the sunset.

And I said, OK, now it's time to go as fast as I can down so I don't have to use a headlamp.

And I remember finishing in the light and it was just this special, special moment of, probably one of the greatest feelings I've ever had.

Just because how much it meant to me and being from Idaho and my whole life and the amount of work and dedication it took to get there.

REICHERT: We talk about climbing the 12ers, but climbing is a misnomer.

None of the 12ers require ropes or technical gear, unless on snow.

They are long, tough hikes that often require bushwhacking and hand-over-hand scrambling.

Aside from Borah and Hyndman, none of the 12ers have official trails.

And certainly no restrooms or parking lots.

Even locating the right roads is an exercise in route-finding - and torturing tire treads and shock absorbers.

REICHERT: The 12ers include Hyndman Peak, the highest in the Pioneers, and the closest 12er to a city, barely a dozen air miles from Ketchum.

Diamond Peak, northeast of Arco, the highest peak in the Lemhi range.

Seven of the nine 12ers lie in the rugged Lost River Range, the 75-mile fault block of crumbling rock that parallels U.S. 93 between Challis and Mackay.

The 12ers' names recognize politicians and pioneers.

William Borah and Frank Church were U.S.

Senators.

Charles Donaldson, an Idaho Supreme Court justice.

Jake Breitenbach was a Teton guide lost in 1963 on Mount Everest.

Henry Leatherman, a hunter and trapper, is buried near his namesake.

William Hyndman, a Civil War major and a miner.

[SOUNDS OF CONVERSATION] When you listen to veteran climbers discuss their failures or favorites - Breitenbach and Bell, Castle and Cobb - you can hear a kind of music.

For climber Matt Durrant, music in the mountains is no metaphor.

Matt grew up in Preston, exploring and scouting and playing music.

Today he's an adjunct music professor at the University of Utah who composes pieces based on his Idaho adventures and photographs.

MATTHEW DURRANT: The first movement was about my experience on Borah and that view over the Lost River Range.

It had that big massive feel to it.

And so that first movement has a lot of fourths.

It's got a lot of disjunct lines in it.

It goes all over the place.

It's crazy.

So I tried to portray that in the music.

One was based on a sunrise at Toxaway Lake in the Sawtooths.

And that one's very gentle, it's like a lullaby.

The third one was titled "Fire and Ice," and it's a picture I took at Craters of the Moon.

The last movement's actually based on the City of Rocks.

I imagined the pioneers having a dance at the rock and signing their names on it.

REICHERT: Sydni Day also has found a way to express her love of the mountains through her art.

Day is a middle school math teacher in Idaho Falls.

Her Instagram account - @DrawnOutside - has bonded her to lovers of the outdoors in Idaho, the U.S. and the world.

DAY: I began to connect with people that weren't just my friends or people that I knew, but instead people who've actually climbed the Idaho 12ers and wanted something in their house or in their office that they were passionate about.

REICHERT: Day is part of the exploding virtual collective of Idaho outdoors men and women who share stories, pictures and information on websites and Facebook.

DAY: Social media has been my main outlet to reaching people who are interested in what I do.

It's just been a great community to get to know people in Idaho mostly that I wouldn't have otherwise.

REICHERT: Other artisans are tapping into the market for art or mementoes of the 12ers.

[CONVERSATION] REICHERT: Art is part of what draws Erin Gatfield into the mountains.

Gatfield, who teaches high school English in Meridian, grew up in Challis, taking photos for the school yearbook and the newspaper, the Challis Messenger.

ERIN GATFIELD, PHOTOGRAPHER: But it's always been about the outdoors.

I've really been on this quest to get great wildlife shots.

So I have a particular fondness for finding and photographing owls.

And recently discovered a long-tailed weasel.

REICHERT: Climbing Mount Church and Donaldson offered Gatfield a photographic bonus: a group of four-legged climbers.

GATFIELD: And there is a group of rams and they'll do this thing where they play and practice kind of headbutting each other.

And that was so thrilling.

I had never seen that in person before.

That was such a wonderful sort of grand finale to the day, to have been outside and do this awesome climb, but then to see the wildlife too.

That really capped it off for me.

REICHERT: The route to Mount Church and Donaldson is among the most demanding of the 12ers.

Climbers ascend a steep headwall with chutes of scree, and then traverse a narrow ridge.

ANNE GARSKE, CLIMBER: I could see out onto that ridge and knew that that was going to be a challenge for me, that was really going to push my comfort level.

And being nervous about coming back down, I just went, you know, it's just time for me to be done.

For me, it's really about having fun in the moment and just being there.

And so that was my summit for the day and that felt really good.

REICHERT: At high elevations, death and injury are ever-present risks.

At least 13 climbers have died on Idaho mountains since the 1940s, seven of those on the 12ers.

Most climbing accidents are not fatal.

But they can be life-changing nonetheless.

BRADY FULLER, CLIMBER: I broke my tibia and my fibula.

It was actually just about two years to today that it happened.

So redeeming myself today.

REICHERT: Brady Fuller was descending Borah Peak in August 2018 below Chickenout Ridge when he fell on loose rock.

When Fuller joined friends Tecle Gebremicheal and Cheikh Haidara to climb Hyndman Peak, that Borah accident was on his mind.

FULLER: I often had to tell myself that today, and tell Chiekh and Tecla, "Hey, you've got to be careful, you know."

It's just that loose gravel that at any point could give out.

REICHERT: Climbing his first mountain, Cheikh ascended to about 11,000 feet, where he decided to wait.

All of those rocks are moving.

So I was not really confident on it, because of my mental.

So next time, maybe, if I have to do it again, I have this confidence that it's not that dangerous as it looks like.

REICHERT: Cheikh's family left the Ivory Coast and waited 10 years in Mali before coming to Idaho.

He graduated from Boise State with a degree in political science, and wants to be a diplomat.

HAIDARA: So if a refugee who has no experience with mountain stuff, they can go to other mountains, but not this one, man.

I wouldn't want this on my worst enemies.

[CONVERSATION] GEBREMICHAEL: I think we need to find out a way to do this with more of the refugee community.

One, they need to be in the outdoors.

And second, it's a way really just to make them feel that Idaho is their home.

This is their place.

We're part of the community.

[CONVERSATION] REICHERT: Tecle lost his parents to war in his native Ethiopia and spent eight years in a refugee camp.

Since coming to Idaho in 2012, he's graduated from college, served in the Army Reserves, bought a home and gotten married.

Idaho reminds him of his family's farm back home.

Getting to explore the outdoors is part of why he feels he was destined to find a home in Idaho.

GEBREMICHAEL: Before that plane was landing at the Boise Airport, I looked through the small windows and I saw the hills and the river.

That was really the instant connection.

FULLER: Nice job!

GEBREMICHAEL: I would never ask for any other place.

It's been really a perfect place.

REICHERT: When the thrill of the summit is past, coming down from these peaks can be punishing and tricky.

But going down isn't always torture.

REICHERT: For Andrew Dunning, coming down quick and fun is the whole point.

DUNNING: A speed wing is basically your own personal roller coaster.

The thrills and sensations and loops and getting pushed into the bottom of your seat and getting the G forces and having your stomach drop out from under you as you drop off something big.

Those are all the feelings that you're going to get when you're speed flying.

That's the thing that we're looking for.

REICHERT: A speed wing is built small and nimble, not to catch air for sailing, but for riding light winds as pilots descend fast and close to the terrain.

DUNNING: That's why we need those light conditions, to actually fly in some of those gaps and gullies and cracks.

I would say it's a little bit crazy.

The science and the physics behind the wing are totally rock solid.

The dangerous part of the sport is the human element and making decisions.

REICHERT: Dunning has been flying for seven years, most often on the mountains around Ketchum.

But he has flown Mount Corruption and the biggest of them all, Borah Peak.

DUNNING: I remember coming over Chickenout Ridge and just seeing hikers come up, and I was purposely trying to fly by and buzz the hikers, stoke 'em out for the morning.

Flew back to the parking lot.

I think the whole flight was like maybe three or four minutes.

Flew a 5,200-foot flight, right back to the van.

Gonna go home and get some breakfast, I guess.

[SOUNDS OF CLIMBING] PAM BOND, CLIMBER: You look at these mountains that are covered in snow and you don't think it's possible for you to be out there hiking and then get to the top.

You can be out there this time of year and make these kind of trips happen.

REICHERT: Veteran mountaineer Dave Paulus likes to break in snow climbers on Mount Breitenbach.

PAULUS: Snow is really starting to soften up.

Breitenbach's a great position because you can actually see all the other 12ers in Idaho from that spot.

You can see Diamond Peak in the Lemhi Range and Hyndman Peak in the Pioneers.

If you're gonna pick the easiest snow climb up the 12ers that would be Mount Breitenbach.

But that doesn't mean it's easy and there's definitely, there's risks.

We got higher up and there's cornices that are definitely overhanging the edges, which are definitely very hazardous.

PAULUS: We're going to try to angle towards the rock but we don't want to get above that rock because that could be overhanging, we just don't know.

BOND: Going with somebody who's more experienced and you kind of feed off of their knowledge, and their confidence.

And getting through that and being OK with it and not really feeling like that's too scary or I feel unsafe was also one of those moments were like, wow, I can do this.

[SOUNDS OF CELEBRATION] DAN NOAKES, SKIER, CLIMBER: Twenty, ah.

REICHERT: You Tube watchers in Idaho may recognize Dan Noakes.

NOAKES: So exhausting.

REICHERT: He climbed and then skied off all nine 12ers, capturing it all on a GoPro camera.

[SOUNDS OF SKIING] NOAKES: I'm always a little bit nervous when I strap on my skis.

When I start going, I feel more at home.

REICHERT: Dan Noakes decided to ski the 12ers after hiking the 900-mile Idaho Centennial Trail in 52 days in 2018.

He had not climbed a snow-free 12er until Church and Donaldson with the Outdoor Idaho crew.

[CONVERSATION] NOAKES: Getting up to the top, seeing the same sights, enjoying the people that you're with and then, you know, the only difference is coming down.

You can't ski down.

You have to walk down.

But it's the same joy, the same satisfaction, the health benefits, everything is just - it's an awesome experience.

REICHERT: Idaho climbers are a funny breed.

They are social and yet solitary.

They run from crowds, but make instant friends on the trail.

They endure misery and dirt and discomfort.

And then they do it all again and again.

NOAKES: They should go out and climb them all, and they should feel how special they are.

Idaho is a unique place and it has these things like the 12ers to express that uniqueness and let people partake of it.

It's something that people shouldn't miss.

[CONVERSATION] WATTS: There's something to be said for just really relying on yourself and knowing that you have everything that you need on your back and in your heart and in your head.

LIND: I'm very fortunate to get to travel to some amazing places around the world and see a lot of big mountains.

I don't know, the Idaho 12ers are still kind of the best, in my opinion.

It really is the heart of Idaho.

DAVID LLOYD: What we have here is pretty special.

We hear of all the people who travel to far-off lands to find their adventure, and that's just not the case.

There's so much here.

It's just incredible.

DURRANT: You see there's beautiful range after range after range up here.

And whatever ugly things are going on in the world, it kind of makes those go away for a bit.

And you realize that you really do live in a beautiful place.

[MUSIC] Presentation of Outdoor Idaho is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho; by the James and Barbara Cimino Foundation, dedicated to supporting projects and organizations that preserve the spirit of Idaho; by the Friends of Idaho Public Television; by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

To find more information about these shows visit us at idahoptv.org.