Adirondack Peeks Winter 2023

46er for Life

at Lake Colden with me and my older brother in one tent while my younger brother and my father in another. My father warned about pitching a tent in a low spot and we learned the hard way that it is difficult to relocate a tent in the middle of the night during a deluge. My father slept peacefully through our misery, knowing his warning should have been enough. On August 29, 1993, we finished our 46 on Table Top Mountain. I was 15 years old at the time. On Our Own My mountain adventures hardly stopped with completion of one round of the 46. After initially repeating some of our favorite hikes with my father, my brothers and I soon began to venture out on our own. This was a time of great adventure, freedom, and limited responsibility. The most memorable trip from this time period was a day hike up Mount Colden’s trap dike in the summer of 1998 with my brothers and a friend. Our original plan was a leisurely stroll up Marcy followed by a long rest on the summit. So leisurely was our plan that my younger brother strapped a folding lawn chair to his backpack. My father is known for never taking breaks on a hike and only briefly pausing on summits, so this was our chance to cash in on hours of unused break time. Our easy day on the trail was quickly revised after overhearing some “old guys” talking about climbing the trap dike on Colden. This is a route that had long been on my radar, and hearing this discussion was all we needed to make a change in plans. We had no trouble following the route from the end of Avalanche Lake to the base of the dike, up the class 3 sections, and exiting out to the slabs at just the right place. For me, it was an exhilarating ascent. Unfortunately, I learned that not everyone has the same experience when it comes to exposure, especially class 3 climbing with a lawn chair strapped to one’s back.

Brian D’Amour, #3292

M ountains have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember—a journey that began as a child hiking in the Adirondacks in the 1980s continues today as a father in California’s Sierra Nevada. Woven into the highs and lows of each trip has been a thread of life lessons and a story of growing up.

Early Years My first high peak was Phelps Mountain on August 23, 1986, at the age of 8. My father (#3293), older brother Mike (#3295), and younger brother Jeff (#3294) were on the trail as they would be for every hike on the way to fin ishing the 46. In less than a year, we completed 24 of the high peaks. With three boys not more than ten years old, my father carried the weight of responsibility for these trips in addition to most of the physical weight. Highlights from these first two years include an icy October day and late finish on Colden, getting lost between Street and Nye, and exhaustion after running out of water on the climb up Skylight. These initial hikes brought wisdom that remains with me to this day. I learned it is best not to rely on others for water, it gets dark early in the woods, and the weather on the trail and on the summit will not be the same as at the trailhead. Our adventures were paused for four years as my father’s job situation required that he work more nights and weekends to make ends meet. Once we resumed, I took on an increased level of responsibility by trip plan ning, reviewing guidebooks, studying maps, and reading anything I could find about hiking in the Adirondacks. Tak ing on the extra responsibility during this time occurred gradually. In contrast, there were some lessons learned on the trail that came more abruptly. On our hike of the Santanoni Range, I became sick while on the trail. This ex perience taught me how to persevere through adversity as we made it to each summit that day. Our penultimate hike of Marshall, Redfield, and Cliff in August 1993 was an overnight trip. We made camp

However, our day was not yet half over. While on top of Colden, the view of Marcy reminded us of our origi nal goal for the day. So, after a short break, we took a herd path down to the southeast slide on Colden. It turns out bushwhacking and down climbing on slides are not com patible with lawn chairs, so this section of the hike was

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