Adirondack Peeks Summer 2023

One Man’s Fifty-Four Year Journey to Becoming an Adirondack Forty-Sixer

Bob Hartheimer, #14140

M y 46er journey started on August 6, 1968, when I was 11 years old and my parents sent me to an Adirondack summer camp on Up per Chateaugay Lake named Tanager Lodge. This was an age when parents willingly sent their children

I recruited a college roommate, Mike; a former Tanager Lodge camper/counselor named Matteo; and Bruce, an amazing hiker from DC, to hike with me. Mike and I climbed three together: Tabletop, Dial, and Nipple top. Matteo and I climbed the Santanoni Range and

the Seward Range and camped two nights at the Ward lean to. We loved that it was in the western part of the Adirondacks and we could have an open fire. I planned four hiking days with rest days in between for my re maining nine high peaks with Bruce. He’s an accomplished hiker, having hiked the Appala chian Trail, the Continental Di vide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail, and while he hiked a cou ple of high peaks when he was back in college, he remembers only Marcy. The first hike was up Rocky Peak Ridge. We added Gi ant for Bruce’s benefit as he was now an aspiring 46er. After a rest day, we tackled Allen, which ev eryone knows is long and steep. Our fourth hiking day was up the Dix Range. The plan was to do all five in one day and be back at the trailhead, Elk Lake, at 6 p.m. We set off at 6 a.m. and summited Dix, our fifth, at 4 p.m., which left me crawling back

away for seven weeks both to mature a bit and to give themselves a well-de served break. A three-mile motorboat ride brought campers from a dock site in Merrill across the lake to secluded Indian Point near Rocky Brook, home to Tanager Lodge. The camp was unique among summer camps. There was no elec tricity or running water and we slept in tents, ate family style on open porches, and swam in the clear lake in a wilderness setting. Being at camp was like a big fam ily gathering consisting of fifty campers and twenty five counselors. Over my four summers at Tanager, I learned many life skills, like how to hike, camp, canoe, and, most importantly, how to respect the outdoors and feel comfortable in it.

From Indian Point we had great views of the surrounding mountains, and we climbed most of them, including Lyon Mountain (3830’) with its fire tower and Averill Peak (3803’), only a bushwack away. Parsons Knob, Norton Peak, W Mountain, Ragged Lake Mountain, Birch Hill, Cobble Hill, and Panther Hill were others that surrounded us and made up parts of the northern Adirondacks that we explored. It was during these summer adventures that I got hooked on climbing the high peaks. Tana ger Lodge kept a record of the mountains each camper climbed, including the date and the names of the camper’s climbing partners. By the time I was fourteen, I had climbed twenty-five high peaks. What’s more amazing is that my mother kept this list of climbs and gave it to me a few years ago. At the age of 64 in 2021, I decided that it was time to finish my 46er quest as my knees had start ed talking to me and I knew time was not on my side. When I discussed hiking 19 peaks with my wife and adult sons—I had climbed two more at the age of thirty bringing the grand total to 27—they were encouraging but told me that I could not hike alone. Furthermore, none of them volunteered to hike with me. Fortunately,

to the car at 9 p.m., fifteen hours later with little day light left. I guess my time calculations were a little off. My rest day before climbing my last two, Es ter and Whiteface, was spent desperately looking for a massage therapist in Keene Valley, Lake Placid, and Saranac Lake to no avail. I was advised by a friend and former professional soccer player to get into an ice bath, so, for the first time in 65 years, I filled up the bathtub and plunged into icy water for thirty minutes. Adrenaline and excitement got me up Esther and Whiteface on July 21, 2022. Esther was complet ed first that final day. Compared to the Dix Range, the Seward Range, and Allen, it was a piece of cake. A quarter mile from the summit of Whiteface I received a notification on my watch of “severe thunderstorm warning.” When it started pouring rain, Bruce suited up in full rain gear. Up until now, every peak I had sum mited had been in beautiful weather full of sunshine and views. “My rain gear is in my golf bag,” I confessed. We arrived at the summit of Whiteface in se vere wind and rain, blanketed in a dark cloud and freez ing. Due to the weather, the summit had been closed to cars. The building was under renovation and was also

SUMMER 2023 | 27