Finishing the 46

[lumberzac]

I’m wondering if this happen to any of you that have finished? I seem to have been getting side tracked. Last year was a big year for me in the hiking department. I climbed 35 High Peaks as well as some peaks in the Catskills and Maine. Of those 35 High Peaks, 16 were new to me. I’m looking at hikes I want to do this year and so far of the 28 mountains I want to hike only 1 will be a new peak. At this rate it will be a long time before I finish. I seem to be more interested in the approaches than the mountains themselves. Is this some what normal or am I the only one like this?

[Silverback]

By defintion, hikers are not "normal".

Actually I have the same feeling you do as I get closer. In fact, one of the reasons, I'm so hell-bent to finish my remaining four is so I can feel free to revisit some and to explore new areas without feeling like I'm "cheating" on my quest. How "normal" is that?

Of course, the other reason that I am in so much of a hurry is Father Time is breathing down my neck :)

[Mavs00]

No, I would view it a perfectly in-line with the spiritual transition many of us take along the way to becoming a 46er (in spirit and deed). It became much more than hiking Mountain A - B & C long before I finished.

For everyone it manifests differently, but these mountains will impact everyone that spends any time there. We personally chose to fight through it and finish the 46 before the kids got too old. But spiritually, we became 46er long before Whiteface (at least I felt that way) and would have been content climbing bumps, notches and redos for ahile.

The mountains don't care if you ever climb them all, just that when you choose to climb a given one, that you enjoy it, respect it and treat it with dignity it deserves.

[Neil]

I feel just like you 'Zac. I'll let you decide if that makes you normal or confirms you as some sort of weirdo psych job. :)

I'll finish this summer (only 3 to go) and the only hurry I feel is for a similar reason as Mavs'. I have a 16 yr. old doing it with me and at that age he could lose interest any time.

Embarking on the 46 has opened my eyes wide as to the indredible outdoors potential that is packed into such a small area. ( I know, its a big park but I'm from Canada. :) ) Had it not been for the 46er goal would I have gotten so interested in the region? Hard to say. It was a catalyst anyway. Now that it has done its job on me I don't feel in any particular hurry to finish, other than to finish with Dominic. And well, that champagne on Seward tasted pretty damn good!

[Dick]

We went in spurts, did many of them multiple times, and lots of other hikes as well. We set no particular goal, other than finishing them (Joanne's idea, really) and we knew we would. We did experience the "fever" as we grew closer, shunning many hikes because they weren't over 4,000 ft., or saying we "already did that one" (thinking back, that was kind of silly, if you ask me!). As some of you know, now that we've finished we've declared "no more lists."

[AlpineSummit]

Doesn't seem unusual to me at all zac.
You may already be realizing that there's somewhat of a letdown once you finish. Lotsa people feel the same way, I sure did and then felt it again last year when wifey finished. Of course, there were probably lots of people who were relieved to see the 'Mrs Alpine climbs whatever for #44' trip sagas end !! Even those were fun to write and a bummer to be done with.

I'd say it's only natural and the best advice I can offer is this: Climb whatever appeals to you on a given day. If you finally decide it's time to finish, then you'll catch fire and knock 'em down in short order.

You don't have to be a 46'er to be head-over-heels in love with the mountains - I think you know that already.

Tim, excellent post there amigo, right on the nose. I will vouch for the fact that the Dubois clan were all 46'ers waaaay before they climbed Whiteface. It's more of a state of heart and mind than one of climbing mountains.

[Hikerdad]

We kept pretty much to the list as we finished...I think mostly because it has just gotten so hard to get the kids and my schedules together (as they've gotten older and have part time jobs and real activities things just got complicated) that I didn't want to "waste" a trip....believe me I know you can't really "waste" a trip to the Daks!! I had really gotten to love the adventure and challenge of trying new peaks and trails/paths that I really got hooked on finishing. I suppose everyone reacts differently to getting close to completing a long sought goal.... I wonder if less chance to hike in the ADKs drives a more "obsessive" approach (at least that's my rationale for my "obsession".....)

[pete_hickey]

I had been hiking 20 years before I really started on the 46. I was doing them with my two oldest sons. "We" wanted to get teh list finished. I mentally made up a list of peaks I wanted to do again, sometimes via a different route. But then, my youngest son wanted to finish, so we stuck to the list. After tha, I just went on climbing this and that when I wanted to.

In my first and second round, it was rainy on a number of peaks, and I wanted to go back and see what it was like on a clear day. I don't think I did Santanoni on a nice day until my fifth time.

I think I'm one peak short of my fifth round, and 4 peaks short of my fifth round. It'll be years before I get them, probably. Some peaks, like Dix, Street, Nye, and Marcy, I've climbed close to 20 times. Marcy, because it is a safe easy hike, the others because of trailwork.

Youngest son is kind of like me, with a few peaks he likes, and climbs a lot... Now that he's finished, and old enough to climb alone. I thnik he climbed Marcy 6 times last summer when he was libing near the lojj

[ADKatie]

I wonder if less chance to hike in the ADKs drives a more "obsessive" approach

Very well stated, Hikerdad! I'd say that that statement is quite true for our family!

We've always felt compelled to make the most of our trips up there, not that we wouldn't anyway, but I'd definitely say our distance from the ADKs drives our obsession!

[masshysteria]

Silver, if you're wondering if the way you feel is 'normal', fear not, you are not alone. So knock the last few off, and then make a list of the places that looked neat from a distance, but you couldn't go there because of the 46 fever. Maybe you want to return to a peak, but via a different route, or every time you looked at Point Balk from the Phelps Trail, your mouth watered. I now have to get my son finished with his 46, and I have my grandson who I will have to initiate down the road, so my plate is full.

Ditto on the Father Time thing, that SOB can really sneak up on you and play some nasty tricks!

[Gandalf]

I seem to be more interested in the approaches than the mountains themselves. Is this some what normal or am I the only one like this?

I think that is very natural after one has been climbing for a while. After all, how much time do we spend sitting around on summits as opposed to ascending them (or descending from them)?

When I began, getting to the top was my priority; nowadays I really feel that the hike is the thing. As great as the view from Nippletop is for example, I'm much more excited about finding and climbing the slide than I am about simply reaching that summit again. The same idea goes for many other peaks...I'm much happier if at least part of a planned route involves terrain I've never travelled before. Whether working through a list (any list) or not, I'm sure many others sooner or later feel the same way.

[AlpineSummit]

Not the DREADED Shorey Short Cut!!!
Oh NOoooooooooo
(actually, one of the cooler trails around)

[mike1889]

Another idea (in case you all didn't think I was crazy enough after my first post) is red lining trails. This is basically hiking all the trails on a given map. That way hiking the Shorey Shortcut this winter for the first time is just as cool as getting a peak! :roll:

I used to have a map of the High Peaks like this, my line was blue I think. I was trying to hike every trail on the map. I am close to the goal but still haven't hiked the trail from Upper Ausable Lake to Sawteeth, for example. Someday.

[lumberzac]

Another idea (in case you all didn't think I was crazy enough after my first post) is red lining trails. This is basically hiking all the trails on a given map. That way hiking the Shorey Shortcut this winter for the first time is just as cool as getting a peak! :roll:

So I'm not the only sicko that does that. So far I've got most of the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness covered and a good chunk of the High Peaks Wilderness.

I guess I'm "normal" as far as the hiking community goes. Thanks for the input everyone.

[Silverback]

Not the DREADED Shorey Short Cut!!!
Oh NOoooooooooo
(actually, one of the cooler trails around)

Amen, my brother!

[Dick]

I guess I can't post them here, but we got a couple of nice shots of Basin from near the top of the Shorey trail. We hope to have a new URL for pics soon.

Dick

[pete_hickey]

I set that as a goal for me as well... To hike every trail on the ADK high peaks map. I probably have 98% of them done now, but I kind of lost interest. I'll probably get them all one day, but not by really trying.

[spaddock]

As I'm getting close to finishing (5 more) my excitement about it has waned a little too.

I think a big reason is I don't really have any more planning to do. Early on I'd have so many left to do, I'd look at the map for hours linking peaks together, planning routes, camping spots, etc. Now I know the routes I want to do and just need the time to get out there and do it.

I know it will be pretty special when I get to the top of the last one (and back to my car to make it official). Right now it feels like being in the front of the line at the bank, you've waited so long to get there you want to let people pass you by to savour the moment just a little bit longer.

I haven't repeated any peaks except two, Algonquin so I could get Iroquois and Phelps to get it in the Winter and go with a buddy to get it his first time. I definitely want to do a few repeats after, like Trap Dike to Colden (was raining when we did Colden the first time), or go up some different slides. I'll want to try them all in the Winter too since I fell in love with that season last year.

Doing multiple rounds doesn't really interest me too much, too many other things on planet earth to go explore.

The main reason I have to keep coming back is I haven't found all the great places to eat yet in the area.... Was only at Noonmark Diner for the first time last week! :D

-Shayne

[Antlerpeak]

This is an interesting thread revealing there is a common bond between hikers and we do think quite alike. The questions asking should I finish is easily answered. Yes you should and if my initial reaction to earlier posts is correct and we hikers do think alike be prepared for mixed emotions. When I finished I did know it at the time but "finished" turns out is not the right word because it was only the begining. I wrote in my hiking journal at the time what I experienced when that final summit was underfoot.

"Two friends stood with me on Skylight offering congratulations but I was alone within myself. It was a private moment at the end of my three year quest. Elation alternated with depression, at one moment I was filled with satisfaction in another I believed I cheated myself the game ended and nothing to look forward to. Victory is mine but what is left? I survived, I won and stood on all the peaks. It dawned on me the mountains won not I as their pull would draw me back again and again."

I quickly discovered finishing the 46 only scratched the surface. There was the N-P trail, four hundred or so hours of 46R trail work and more mountains. So when you do number 46 you are just begining.

[Neil]

In my first year of chiropractic college the heavy duty ball breaker course was anatomy. 5 hours of lecture a week plus the dissection labs. The piling up of new material was relentless. I ate breakfast with my atlas in front of me...sounds disgusting I know. At the end of the year our prof said that now what we really needed was to do the course all over again so that we would really know our anatomy. After 5 years and then again after 10 years in practice I did two major revisions using various textbooks and atlases and a skeleton. Now that its been twenty years in practice I really do know my way around the neuro-musculo-skeletal system.

So, after doing the 44 of the 46 (many 2 and 3 times, a couple as many as 6) plus a smattering of "lesser" peaks I feel like with human anatomy I'm starting to get to know the area below the surface.

I really don't know what I'll feel when I do my 46th peak but I'm sure it will be something. I wonder, in my head, will I consider it to be #46 or #60?

[spaddock]

I think for most competitive people it's all about the challenge. Finishing is a culmination of all your hard work. You celebrate for a little while and then immediately start thinking about the next challenge, because when it comes right down to it, you crave challenge.

When I watch interviews of professional athletes right after they've won the championship, they thank their coaches, teammates, parents, etc. Then they almost always start talking about repeating next year. Why, because I believe they need another goal. Here they are just winning and they are immediately talking about winning again. They need that certain something to strive for.


-Shayne

[Mavs00]

When I watch interviews of professional athletes right after they've won the championship, they thank their coaches, teammates, parents, etc. Then they almost always start talking about repeating next year...............

And in the case of my beloved New England Patriots, they generally do it :D :D