ADK 46er Annual Spring Meeting

On May 27, right after finishing the Buffalo marathon, I drove to Lake Placid for the ADK 46er Annual Spring Meeting. I had never been to one before, so I had no idea what to expect. It was located at the Crowne Plaza Hotel just up the hill from the Olympic Training Center. Once inside I checked in and received a 46er button with my name on it. Not knowing anyone, I found an empty table at the far side of the room. The meeting room was awesome. The walls were lined with amazing ADK panorama photographs. I picked up an order form for the official 46er merchandise I wanted to get and began filling it out. As I was doing so, Debra and her family and friends sat down at the table. 

We quickly became friends sharing stories and experiences we had in completing the 46 high peaks. As it turns out, she finished her last peak two days before I did becoming 46er #7084 and me at #7086. So one person finished in between us. I then got in line to purchase some of the official 46er merchandise. I talked to a guy whose brother finished the peaks and him 30 something before moving away. Then about 30 years later he came back to NY with his buddies to finish them. 


The 46er stuff I got included a t-shirt, picture poster, patch, hat pin, and sticker. I am glad I purchased it there because I did not have to pay tax or shipping unlike ordering it. 

During supper I talked to two other girls (my age) that sat down at the table. Come to find out, about 8-10 years ago they both worked at Eagle Island Camp and came and visited Camp Cherokee! Small world. 

After supper we then went into the meeting. They mentioned the old and new officers and a brief info on the correspondents (all were there except Debra's). One guy talked about the trail work opportunities and gave awards for # of hours worked. A lot of the member dues ($8 per person) goes into trail work. There are 2 peaks in the process of being renamed: South Dix to Carson and East Dix to Grace. Then another person told all the interesting stats of the new 46ers from the past year. There were 369 new 46ers and 346 were attending that night (other 46ers were there too). Someone in the group finished in 47 days. The youngest person was 12 years old. A person also finished climbing all 46 high peaks 46 times! We then were told to get up and go outside the room to get organized by last name. Then we went in like a graduation to receive our certificates.  

With my last name, I was 3rd from the end. That was fine with me since it gave me time to share experiences with other people. The girl behind me had a similar experience losing the trail on Marshal and also taking an extra day to get her last peak. All in all, it was a really great evening. Got to meet a lot of great people and hear interesting stories, which Alex Trecartin missed out on. I hope to make it to the meeting next year.