Adirondack Peeks Winter 2025

group took the train from Saranac Lake to Lake Placid, walked to the lake and took a motorboat to Whiteface Landing. Fourteen-year-old George wrote a brief description of the trip in his diary: …we climbed the mountain and ate our lunch at the top. We got a fine view. There were three other parties and the ranger on the mountain besides us. We walked and ran down the mountain, and near the lake we took a trail which led to Connery Pond to the State road. Bob, who was 17 at the time, wrote a rather harsh summary of the Whiteface climb. His comments about the trail conditions more than 100 years ago sound very familiar. We had a very good time, but we did not have as much fun as we expected in climbing the most advertised peak in the State. … The trail is both long and steep, and exceedingly rough. It is very wet, for not only do numerous unbridged brooks cross it low down, but there are also several swamps and mudholes which it crosses, while high up springs kept the rocks constantly wet and slippery. … With all the people who climb Whiteface annually, it is remarkable that the trail is kept in such poor condition. The view from the top was beautiful … . But we were somewhat disappointed, for it was not all it was cracked up to be by any means.

At the end of August 1918, Bob, George, Herb, and Carl climbed Marcy, McIntyre (the mountain we call Algonquin), and Herbert (which we know as Iroquois). George and Bob had a hard time deciding which mountain provided the most impressive views. After climbing the Upper Range plus Skylight in 1920, Bob and George scrutinized their Adirondack maps to determine what other peaks might be worth climbing. They set an arbitrary standard for what they would consider to be a distinct peak. They decided a summit must rise “at least 300 feet on all sides or be at the end of a long ridge three quarters of a mile from the nearest peaks, and the elevation must be 4,000 feet and higher.” Based on those criteria they identified 42 peaks, of which only 14 had marked trails. They set out to climb them all. Herb proved to be the perfect companion for Bob and George. Bob wrote that he “was more than just a nameless guide. He is just about the most distinctive and individual person I have ever known and also just about the grandest human being I have ever met.” George described Herb as “the last of the great Adirondack mountain guides” who had “a genuine love of the woods and high summits, and … a most unusual sense of humor.” That cheerful spirit and watchful eye sustained the boys on their often arduous journeys. Herb invented silly poems and jingles to entertain the boys. He penned an ode to “cripplebrush,” a term he invented for the thick, nearly impenetrable mass of scrub balsam: Don’t let the golden moments go, Like sunbeams passing by. You’ll never miss the cripplebrush ‘Til ten years after you die. Centennial Committee Members - Mandy Applin # 9142, Jeff Klein # 13752, Mark Simpson #6038V (Chair), Ally Ryan #14000 and Ron Konowitz #487V SKI

Phil Corell #224WV, Dave Pawlick #12803, Ron Konowitz #487V SKI, Suzanne Lance #1802WV, NY Senator Dan Stec # 7348 – Photo Credit – Nancie Battaglia

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