‘Cause In The End It’s All OK

DAY 0: Rochester to Somewhere on I-91 "And everything you thought was so important doesn't matter, All you need to understand is, everything you know is wrong! (Weird Al Yankovic, "Everything You Know Is Wrong") I'd never felt this way in the days before an Adirondack climb. This used to be my favorite time of year, I'd count down the days starting in February, even January, look to the maps for inspiration, read everything I could about the trails (and forget it all), obsess over gear with the inevitable conclusion I didn't need whatever it was anyway even if I…

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Because It’s There

I've always had a bit of an attachment to Pinnacle Hill. It's not much of a mountain... just enough to notice you're getting up there, before the top appears. Then another 300 feet if you feel like climbing a TV tower. Which I've only done once, back in freshman year. But between that climb, and the mushroom summer last year, not to mention the inkling I had ever since 2007 that I'd live within sight of the blinking towers when I could; it's a place to go when I feel like I'm fucking everything up and I just want to…

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The Mountain Wins Again

I woke up the next morning to Jake shaking my tent, reminding me that we had a lot of climbing to do. Everything about the day was odd, from the unsettling rain coming back over the pond, to the sudden gravity of what was about to happen (after I'd already given up on it once just two weeks ago, I was actually on my way to #46?!), to an uneasy feeling of confused, incompetent leadership. I'm not one to value experience much when it comes to exploring, but the facts were there, I'd climbed more peaks than the entire rest…

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Apart From the Ledge, I’m Doing Fine

After last time, it seemed easy enough - I was only five peaks away from finishing my Adirondack 46, and only a few hours of it would be alone this time.  The train ride to Burlington was long, uneventful, and finally beautiful along Lake Champlain, seeing the Adirondack peaks in the distance. If only I'd remembered I brought a camera, I would have taken some pictures... i guess there might still be a next time. It turned out I was the only one going to Placid, so once I got off the ferry, the shuttle driver just asked me where…

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Forest For The Trees

I'd never planned or intended to go on a solo climb, let alone one of this length. My plans just evolved a little bit at a time, from trying to get one or two peaks closer to my 46, to getting a crew together to finish the whole thing, to what I thought I would do by the time I left Albany last Thursday afternoon: spend about a day going all-out as fast as I could to bag a few on my own then meeting up with the rest of my group. My troubles started even just getting to Albany,…

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Mines of Moria

The best and weirdest ideas begin with beer, specifically the consumption of it in the outdoors. (like this:) Not that any of you didn't know that I'm not normal, but with some liquid inspiration and the right friends, even something as strange as a weekend bike trip to Niagara Falls makes perfect sense, and less than 24 hours later we were off riding into the night, basically in search of the unknown, to go sleep in a cave. After 55 miles or so, we found the cave entrance, and in the morning it was time to explore. From all we…

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