On May 30, 1948 the Adirondack Forty-Sixers Club was born. A 46er is a person who has climbed all 46 High Peaks within the Adirondack Park. Today there are 14,845 members and counting. High Peaks are classified by being 4,000 or more in elevation, with Mount Marcy, 5,343’ elevation, the tallest.
For hikers who have found hiking all 46 peaks, including during the winter months not challenging enough, a new challenge was born, sometime around the turn of the millennium. The AdK Grid is where a hiker climbs all 46 High Peaks in every month of the year. That’s an astonishing 552 mountain summits!
Kim Dumoulin and Mindy Burkhardt have made the Adirondack GRID their goal after both had become registered 46er’s, including Winter 46er’s, which means they climbed all the peaks in the winter (Dec 21- March 21). Kim is an MRI Technologist and Mindy is a Pre-K Teacher. Both of them also are certified fitness instructors.
The two of them have been working diligently to check off all the peaks they need, for every month, of the year. Quite often their days start in the wee hours of the morning, traveling 30-50 miles to the trailhead to begin their 10-14 hours of daily summits. The key is to be efficient, so if it requires a long hike into a region, you want to hit all the peaks in that vicinity that share the same trail to reach them.
Since nature is unpredictable and presents dangers, they enter the backcountry with essentials to be ready for the unexpected.
There are currently fewer than three dozen known completions of the GRID, so they feel that this will be the pinnacle of their career but could also lead to even greater challenges.
Debbie McElwaine set the woman’s FKT in September 2023 at six days, 19 hours, and 20 minutes. She also did it self-supported and more incredibly solo! Kudos to Debbie on hiking 173.3 miles with 74,249’ of elevation gain, alone!
The phrase ‘the whole is the sum of its parts’ is a good way of tackling the incomprehensible. Staying in the moment and not getting ahead of yourself with lofty expectations is a good approach. It can take a year or more to hone in on the mindset and physical adaptation to prepare for large feats as Kim and Mindy have chosen. Mental rehearsal is a virtue many athletes learn with time.
For some, hiking all forty-six High Peaks, as fast as you can, is the ultimate goal. The Adirondack Thru-Hike is climbing all forty-six high peaks without stopping and for some, unsupported. That means no shuttle rides and no outside support! The fastest known time was set by Mike Jaworski, Dan Fronhofer, and Paul Fronhofer in 6 days, 5 hours, and 40 minutes, on June 18th, 2020. Their route involved hiking 160 miles with an elevation gain of 67,412’. The trio carried all their supplies and food, taking only water from natural sources.
Advances in equipment, technology, and how information is shared, hikers are setting the bar higher and accomplishing amazing feats of endurance. But more importantly these athletes are expanding their ability to spend arduous hours outside of their comfort zone. Setting our moral compasses towards being better than we were the previous day will inspire future generations to do bigger and greater things.
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