The 46 Peaks are the 46 tallest mountains of New York State; each of them standing around or over 4,000 feet tall. They are located in the High Peaks region of the Adirondack Park. For nearly decades now, the Hamilton Outing Club (HOC) has tackled the challenge of attempting to climb these 46 high peaks in one weekend. This past weekend marked the continuation of this tradition after last year’s trips had to be cancelled due to COVID restrictions.
Two of the HOC organizers, Zach Weller ’23 and Charlie Guterman ’22, spoke about the administrative side of organizing, preparing and eventually leading the trips.
This year, 21 trips set out to reach the high peaks of the Adirondacks. While this number is less than past years, HOC officer Weller told
the Spectator
that “although we only summited 21 peaks this year, 46 Peaks Weekend for us is about getting people hiking in the Adirondacks and we were able to do just that.” While Weller was unable to actually go on a trip himself, he had a massive role in planning, coordinating and checking in with the various trips that went out over the weekend.
Guterman spoke more specifically about the chaotic administrative side of organizing the weekend. Speaking to the difficulty of planning the transportation and individual trips, Guterman shared that on Monday, Sept. 27, over “one hundred people came to the Glen House back porch to sign up for hikes — it was a pretty hectic event, lots of coordinating schedules and answering questions.” Amidst this excited environment, Guterman, Weller and the other HOC officers were able to coordinate and successfully dispatch all 21 different trips across the Adirondacks. Guterman and other trip leaders, Jack Nelson ’23 and Dylan Forest Staack Morse ’22, spoke about their own specific experiences leading these trips.
Guterman led a trip to Mt. Phelps, the 32nd highest peak in New York State. Speaking about the details of the trip, she explained that “it was a pretty mild trip, about nine miles in total. We got lucky with the weather, it was a little misty.” Guterman also spoke about the great connections the trip fostered, saying “it was great to meet new people, especially underclassmen, because with Covid there wasn’t a lot of cross-year connection in the past semesters.”
Morse led a trip to Algonquin Mountain in North Elba, New York. He spoke about the organizational side of leading the trip, explaining, “we had an itinerary and plan made up for it. All that was left for us was to gather our group as well as our safety gear, clothing, and food for the trip and to ensure everyone packed rain gear as well as other warm gear for the peak.” He stated that “the hike out is super simple […] It’s five miles out five miles back, but the trail conditions sucked (lots of rain). But other than that the hike went well!”
Nelson set out to lead a trip on Giant Mountain, one of the harder hikes amongst the 46 peaks. He told the Spectator that he was looking for a challenging hike to lead his friends on and that Giant Mountain seemed perfect for the occasion.
“Honestly, I had no idea I was going to have to do so much preparation work. We had to come up with a time we planned on leaving, make sure everyone had adequate gear, and make sure everyone had a solid expectation as to what the hike would be like,” Nelson said. Nelson was able to conquer this stressful and extensive preparation and had a great hike. The fog impaired the views this peak usually offers, Nelson reported, but it also enhanced the climbing experience. “There was definitely a tradeoff. Overall we all came away feeling like we’d want to do more hikes in the future.”
Two participants on Nelson’s trip, Carter Myers-Brown ’24 and Brooks Bradford ’23 echoed the same sentiments of a rewarding challenge that Nelson spoke of. Myers-Brown stated, “it was wet and foggy and the trail started off pretty gradual for about a mile and a half, then it got pretty steep, certainly a good, sweat inducing climb.” Bradford echoed this, reporting that “despite some capricious weather and near-constant cloud cover, we had a few moments where the trees parted, the skies cleared, and the entire valley opened up in a fall blanket of crimson and gold as far as the eye could see. Such moments make an early wake-up and long drive endlessly repeatable.”
