Climbing Mt. Rainier 5 flights at a time

My boys are motivated pretty easily– stars on a chart, reading lists we can cross off as we go, and last but not least, prizes.  I have recently learned that while these tools come in handy with my kids, maybe some of us never outgrow these types of incentives. In that spirit, Zillow now has the Stairclimbers Challenge Chart to motivate the desk-bound Zillowites to take the stairs instead of the beckoning elevator. Since we are split between the 41st and 46th floors, we can force our bodies to work @ work by taking the stairs.

The chart at the top uses the elevation gain between the two floors to show the number of trips it would take to climb Mt. Rainier, Mt. Everest and other noteworthy elevations in between (Eiffel Tower, some smaller mountains around here). So, now, if you take the stairs, you can mark off your progress towards those peaks when you get to the top.

Tommy Unger is winning but he cheats (ok, it’s not really cheating, but he’s doing it a 3 whole buildings at a time for a workout as Tommy’s training for a real Rainier summit this summer). I think he summitted our virtual Rainier (14,410 ft) a couple of weeks ago. I made it to the top of Tiger Mountain (3,004 ft elevation) last week. I’m climbing towards on Mt. Si now. There are about 40 of us on the chart now. I must admit it makes me strangely happy to meet more and more Zillowites on the stairs, maybe it’s just because now I know I am not alone in being motivated by gold stars, despite my advanced age.

(Note: for the real mountain climbers out there, we are committing a bit of a foul, as the elevation gains are measured from sea level, not the point of each peak where you really could start climbing. It was just easier to calculate that way, plus you’re getting credit for previous peaks on your way up.)