Brad, now that you have broken 900, well not quite but this is a given. You kind of have to go for 1,000. It is only 100 routes and 5 or so of those will happen quickly. You can take your time, but you kind of have to do this.
In January, 2015 I did my 900th route at Pinnacles (the first ascent of "Nine Hundred for the Lead"). It was a nice route, a great day, and a fantastic crowd of people.
Around the time of that ascent, Clink posted on this thread:
"We will let you catch up again at 1,000.
Fantastic gems in the rough, raw form. Right under our noses.
Good work by everybody, JC is a prize stance stallion, if only we could betting revenue$$$."
To say the least I was skeptical about ever reaching a lifetime total of 1,000 routes at Pinnacles (done in good style). I posted:
"I don't think 1,000 is ever going to happen. I'm too old and tired."
There were only slightly more than 1,000 routes at Pinnacles at that point in time. It had taken five years to get from 800 to 900 routes. And I couldn't imagine the amount of effort (and time!) it would take to add another 100 routes to my total.
Still, speculation can be fun. Dennis commented (in the quote box above):
"Brad, now that you have broken 900, well not quite but this is a given. You kind of have to go for 1,000. It is only 100 routes and 5 or so of those will happen quickly. You can take your time, but you kind of have to do this."
Munge and others agreed. It seemed funny to even talk about the subject. But I also saw no reason to stop climbing at Pinnacles (I just didn't think there's be enough routes and enough time to reach that "magic" number).
Man was I wrong. New routes continue to go up (and old, unreported lines are still being found).
Last Sunday I put in a long day of climbing with Squiddo (and others). I reached a lifetime total of 999 Pinnacles routes. I'm ready to do route number 1,000 (it'll be another first ascent - the intended name is "A Grand Adventure").
This coming Friday (February 24th) several of us are going to start the route. We'll start one or two other first ascents nearby too. All of these intended routes should be pretty easy (my guess is three new 65 foot high routes in the 5.4 to 5.6 range).
We're hoping to finish A Grand Adventure (and other routes) on Saturday (February 25th). The idea is to do another mass ascent (the first ascent list for Nine Hundred for the Lead included 23 people).
Everyone is welcome. The intended routes are out past the reservoir, about a 45 minute hike from East Side parking. There are large, grassy flat areas and a beautiful creek very near the base of the formation.
We'll try to gather in the East Side parking lot at 8:30, and hike in from there. Bring a rope or some gear and food and water. Bring a rain shell too - the current prediction is for showers in the afternoon (if that changes for the worse we won't climb Saturday and will change to either the next day - Sunday, February 26th - or to the next dry weekend day after that).
Here's hoping that I can stay healthy until then and that the weather gives us the break we need.
