What is Summit Bag?
Summit Bag is a peak-bagging tool that automatically identifies the peaks and cols you've reached from your Strava activities. Connect your Strava account and Summit Bag checks your rides and runs against a database of over 500,000 geographical features, building a personalized collection of every summit and pass you've crossed. No manual logging.
The concept of "peak bagging" dates back to the 1890s when Sir Hugh Munro created his famous list of Scottish peaks. Summit Bag brings this tradition into the digital age, eliminating the need for notebooks and paper maps by automatically cataloging every summit you reach.
Key Features
Automatic Peak Detection
Summit Bag checks whether your activity's route passes within 70 metres of a known peak or col, so summits get detected with no manual logging. In the UK and Ireland it draws on the Database of British and Irish Hills plus OpenStreetMap; everywhere else it uses named, height-tagged peaks from OpenStreetMap. The data is refreshed quarterly.
Col Recognition
Beyond peaks, Summit Bag also tracks cols. A col (from the French word for "neck") is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks, essentially a mountain pass. These are iconic features in cycling, with famous examples like Col du Tourmalet and Col de la Madeleine from the Tour de France.
Interactive Map & List Views
View your conquered summits on an interactive map or sortable list. See your lifetime of mountain achievements at a glance, or zoom in to explore specific regions.
Activity Comments Integration
Summit Bag can automatically add the peaks you've bagged to your Strava activity comments, letting your followers know which summits you conquered on your ride or run.
Shareable Summit Images
Generate shareable images of your peak-bagging accomplishments for social media. Show off your climbing achievements on Instagram, Twitter, or in your running/cycling group chats.
Who It's For
Summit Bag is perfect for:
- Trail runners who want to track the summits they've reached during mountain runs
- Cyclists who climb mountain passes and want to collect their conquered cols
- Hikers and mountaineers building a catalog of their summit achievements
- Peak bagging enthusiasts working through lists like the Munros, Colorado 14ers, or regional peak challenges
- Data-driven athletes who love seeing their achievements visualized on a map
What is Peak Bagging?
Peak bagging (or hill bagging) is the outdoor recreation activity of ascending to the summits of mountains on a defined list. The tradition began in the late 19th century during the Silver Age of Alpinism, when most major peaks had been climbed and mountaineers started creating lists as personal challenges.
Famous peak bagging lists include:
- The Munros: 282 Scottish peaks over 3,000 feet, compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in the 1890s
- Colorado 14ers: 53 peaks in Colorado exceeding 14,000 feet elevation
- Adirondack 46ers: The 46 highest peaks in New York's Adirondack Mountains
- Seven Summits: The highest peak on each continent
Peak bagging provides motivation to explore new areas, gives structure to your outdoor adventures, and offers a sense of achievement as you work toward completing a list.
How Summit Bag Compares
Unlike standalone peak-bagging apps like Peakbagger (which has its own database and requires manual logging), Summit Bag focuses on Strava integration and automatic detection. That makes it a good fit for athletes who already track on Strava and want summit tracking added to their existing workflow. It's an independent project, first launched in 2021 and maintained by a solo developer.
