Adirondack Peeks Winter 2024

of interested hikers. They asked me and another intermediate to join. I was eleven and hiking with fifteen- and sixteen-year-old kids. That was a real turning point for me. I thought if I could do this, I could do anything. I climbed another eight peaks in my second year at camp, so I had 16 and was well on my way. SR: What memories do you have of the Super Marcy hike? PC: One memory that sticks out is getting a boat ride from Whiteface Landing across Lake Placid to the vil lage. This required us to walk from the boat launch to the Fish and Game Club where we camped the second night. Here we are covered in dirt and smelly and walking down Main Street with all the tourists and our clanking pots and pans strapped to our back packs. The tourists just stared and gave us a wide berth. SR: Did you know about the 46er or ganization? Were you writing to Grace Hudowalski? PC: No. I didn’t know about the orga nization early on. What you have to understand is I was the first camper at Pok-O-Moonshine to become a 46er. My finisher group was the first to finish the forty-six in 1962. And again, we're guys—writing letters wasn’t our thing. However, you were considered an as piring 46er when you reached thirty peaks, so at that point, I wrote a letter

to Grace and she began looking for my name in the canisters and in the books, and when I finished, I sent my application in. My boys never wrote to Grace either—only at their finish. She mentioned to me how disappointed she was that they didn’t write. You know, in one breath she complained about how many letters she had to an swer, and in the next, she'd berate you because you weren't writing enough. SR: Congratulations on becoming the first 46er at Pok-O-Moonshine. At the time there were only 224 46ers. How did you celebrate your finish on Pan ther Mountain? ther. I had a hiking hat, a blue base ball cap with a turned-up rim that had been up every forty-six, and I buried it in the cairn. I wouldn't repeat that to day because environmentally it's bad, and can you imagine if everyone did that? SR: No! You wrote a chapter about the changing role of the Adirondack 46ers based on the growth of out door recreationists and the changes in values related to mountains and to wilderness preservation in the book Of the Summits, of the Forests (1991). You begin by detailing long-held hik ing practices that ultimately became extinct such as burying camp trash, PC: It's funny, but we're sixteen years old and we made a flag and left it on top of Pan

cutting balsam boughs to fluff up the lean-to’s mattress, leaving extra canned goods, and cutting firewood in preparation for the next hikers com ing through. Summit canisters, which were up for fifty-one years, also be came a thing of the past and were re moved from all peaks in 2001. What is your memory of the canisters? PC: Just for the record, there was noth ing better than sleeping on a cushion of balsam boughs and dead needles. You could scoot your hips into them and make a hip hole or a shoulder hole and the smell was great. Now it's the Therm-a-Rest mattress on the hard wooden floor. The canisters were a huge part of the hiking experience not only because it was proof you climbed but also because everyone was able to keep tabs on each other’s running battles: who was going to get to 46 rounds first and who’s bragging be cause they’ve got 32 peaks, while someone else writes they’ve got 17 and they are on their fourth round—so there! Or a new name starts popping up in the books and all the sudden you bump into that person on the trail and it’s, “Hey, I know you!” For ex ample, Pin Pin always signed in green ink. People would watch to see where others had been in Winter so that they could “vulture” the broken-out trails. The climb that took you ten hours the day before on snowshoes was a two hour walk up the next day with micro spikes on a hardened path. Winter climbing was like a fraternity, all shar ing a common goal and experience. SR: It sounds like Facebook in a canis ter. I’ve never heard the term “vulture” used this way before. There’s a lot of vulturing happening on social media, that’s for sure! How did your parents relate to all this hiking? PC: The only way my father related was through his experience in the Na

Camp became my grounding point, my rock, the consistency I needed in my life . . .

Phil Sharing a Word with Grace

WINTER 2024 | 7