Adirondack Peeks Winter 2025

Carson convinced George and Bob to add four peaks to their list of 42 peaks: Gray, Cliff, Blake, and Cold River Mountain, which we now call Couchsachraga. Happy to have some additional adventures, the trio climbed those four. In 1923 Russ Carson encouraged the New York State Committee on Geographic Names to rename the Adirondack peak known as North Seward after Alfred Donaldson, author of a comprehensive history of the Adirondacks. When the renaming was approved in 1924, Carson asked George and Herb if they would take him and his friend Charlie West to the summits of Seward and the newly named Mount Donaldson. Of course, they agreed. Their climb on August 11, 1924, resulted in an unexpected discovery. In a letter to Bob, George explained: …We reached the summit of Seward at 11:50 a.m. Russ soon asked me which one was Mt. Donaldson. I pointed out the one we had called North Seward. Russ questioned if this was the correct mountain as it did not … seem right to him on the map. …I got out my maps and compass and studied the matter. I was convinced that Russ was right …. What we had called South Seward was really North Seward (Mt. Donaldson), so in 1921 we were never on South Seward (which was renamed Emmons) … . From Seward’s summit the group “cut directly to the true summit of Mt. Donaldson” navigating through a considerable amount of that pesky cripplebrush, which made traveling very slow. George concluded his letter to Bob, saying: “We will have to find some chance to climb South Seward (Emmons) in the near future…” George, Bob, and Herb cleared their schedules for a trip on June 10, 1925, to complete their climbs of the 46. George described their trip in a letter to Russ Carson: On Wednesday we took a car up the Old State Road with our packs [which was the only time they rode in an automobile to a trailhead] … we foolishly took a yellow taxi, and it got stuck less than a mile beyond Axton. … Having learned a lesson, we took up our packs and walked beyond Blueberry Pond where the tote road crosses and goes up the mountains. Having left our packs there, and taking out our haversack, canteen and some lunch, we climbed Mt. Donaldson, taking almost the same route we did on the way back last summer. … We did not remain on Donaldson very long, but worked our way over to the highest and farthest peak of South Seward (Emmons). We arrived there at 2:30, having left Donaldson at 1:50.

Another one of Herb’s ditties touted the virtues of sleeping on the ground: Oh for a mountain bed, a good old mountain bed! With rocks for a pillow, and a mattress of stones, And a bunch of sharp sticks poking into your bones. Oh for a mountain bed, a good old mountain bed! Bob, George and Herb climbed most of the 42 peaks they had identified during the summers of 1920, 1921, and 1922. Bob wrote a summary of their climbs. He gave the manuscript, which was titled The High Peaks of the Adirondacks , to the newly formed Adirondack Mountain Club. The Club published it in 1922, the year of its founding. Bob’s book caught the attention of Russell Carson, owner of an insurance agency in Glens Falls and also an Adirondack historian. In a letter to Bob he wrote “no book large or small, ever quite thrilled me as did yours. It … obsessed me with the Adirondacks.” Carson began researching the Adirondack High Peaks and in 1927 published a book called Peaks and People of the Adirondacks that presented the history of how each peak was named and who made the initial ascent. Both George and Bob were instrumental in providing Carson with research assistance as he was writing his book. Ned Fletcher #13644, Jonathan Zaharek #11171W - Photo credit - Gabe Dickens

Suzanne Lance #1802WV, Photo credit - Gabe Dickens

8 | ADIRONDACK PEEKS