Adirondack Peeks Winter 2025

T here’s one nice thing about getting on in years even for 46ers. You learn that you’re never too old to get a new friend. Such was my good fortune in May 2022 when Dave Pawlick organized a get-together for some of us older 46ers, meeting at Adirondak Loj. Everyone was a stranger to me there as I have been living in the Pacific Northwest for the past 53 years. While most of the group at Heart Lake that day had hiked far more than I in the Adirondacks, there was one man there, Tom Kensler, #265, who was similar to me — a native New Yorker like me, who ironically was also living in western Washington State where he had served humanity for many years as a medical research scientist. Little did I realize I had a fellow 46er living so close to me. Had Dave not organized this event, Tom would still have been a stranger. But stranger no more! Tom and I developed a close bond from that point on, meeting for occasional lunches and enjoying hikes together at Mount Rainier National Park, where I had been a long-time ranger. What we enjoyed most, however, was talking about our many, many hikes and climbs in the High Peaks in the “old days,” the late 1950s and early 1960s. How different it was then with far fewer hikers and perhaps with a greater sense of true adventure. A SHORT-TIME, LONG-TIME FRIEND John Wilcox, #250

Adventure includes the element of the unknown. In those days all we had for guiding us off-trail was a topo map and a compass. Our gear was rather primitive with high-top hunting boots for hiking and war surplus U.S. Army ponchos, metal canteens with belt pouches, and rucksacks as packs. And … no GPS to tell us where we were and no YouTube videos with instructions on how to proceed. Our adventures included a lot of trial and error, repeated attempts, and a bit of suffering from lack of good equipment and knowledge. But… we loved talking about it all. Over and over! Soon, I discovered my new friend of just a few years was more like an old friend of many decades. We had so much in common. By 2025 we had become close friends and hiking partners. Just last year we met at a predetermined spot in the backcountry of Mount Rainier and upon spotting me, he joked, “Is this the trail to Mount Marcy?” You can imagine, then, how shocked and saddened I felt to learn Tom had died from a fall while hiking in Europe on the Tour du Mont Blanc trail in July 2025. His family has lost its leader and mentor, the 46ers have lost an exceptional member, and I have lost my short-time, long-time buddy. I suppose it is passé to say that he passed away while doing what he enjoyed, but when one considers the alternatives, I’d say Tom went out in style! I shall always remember him and miss his good humor.

Tom Kensler, #265 and John Wilcox, #250 in Spray Park in the subalpine backcountry of Mount Rainier National Park

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