46 motivations

[Reekee]

What is your motivation? A recent post slammed people who have chosen to do the 46, The person reduce our motivation to the pursuit of a "silly patch". I honestly have never met a 46er who climbed for that reason. When I see the patch it means so many things to me. For one it is symbolic of alot of misery, joy, and adventure. My reason for pusuing the 46 is that it encouaged me to go on many different adventures. Perhap many one would never think of otherwise. Such as climbing Nye or Choochie. What is your motivation?

 

[Neil]

What is your motivation?

The patch, what else?

JK

Many things but two come quickly to mind. Here are but two.
A great intro to the ADK park. (Now I'm working on the Hundred Highest and slides).
A great way to keep my kid's interest level up. Now we're going for the 46-W.

 

[Mike P.]

Okay, I've got the NH & NE equivalent working on the 115, When I see one on a pack it symolizes they are better sewers than I am, mine are on my dressers where I see them when I clean the clothes off of it.

Why, because you get to experience more than just the one peak, a view from another angle, a chance on a "viewless" peak to look at the trail for more than just a path, to focus on what is in the foreground instead of out in the distance. Because how many people have stood on top of Marcy, Whiteface or Washington & how many have stood on top of Cabot, Seymour, Isolation or Allen?

Because pursuing the patch or the list 1X a month or more beats mowing the lawn or raking one more time & the listening to the game on the way home on AM radio reminds me of growing up listening to the game when there was only AM radio. (okay well FM was in it's infancy)

 

[mavs00]

Ummmm, cause the when I wear the patch, the chicks dig me more................. They say it makes me look like some movie star .

Oh yeah, there is other reasons too, but they are all syrupy and full of romantic visions of the spiritual realm of my inner being. In other words........... BORING to all but me.

Speaking of that, I wonder wear I put those patches anyway

 

[timmus]

Being at home with pre-school kids, doing the 46 is how I get some me-time.

It force myself to take a day off from the family twice a month, for a real full day (5AM to 11PM) without anybody depending on me.

I would not have the same motivation if I would just go hiking on any mountain, without a list. And because I don't get a pay check for the work I do at home, this 46r's patch will be the only kind of recognition that I am going to get since years.

So it does mean a lot to me.

(I will probably start over again with my daughters when they will be old enough to climb 4k's.)

Oh, and of course, I love mountains. I think that's enough to be a motivation.

 

[spaddock]

Well, it definitely wasn't for a patch. Wouldn't a patch just add extra weight to your pack.

It's definitely not for the fame. Looking at the roster there are almost 6000 people who have accomplished it and I don't see their faces on the cover of People, although I'd pick up a copy of "World's Sexiest Hiker".

It's not for the riches, I don't see myself getting a book deal anytime soon.

To be perfectly honest, I don't know what motivated me. I guess I've always been a person who liked to check things off. I loved the planning aspect of it. The logistics of linking peaks together to form a route. Spending hours and hours looking over the maps was fun. I'm goal oriented too. It was great to be able to daydream about it during slow times at work. Most of all I just love being in the mountains.

Whatever the reason. Enjoy being alive.


-Shayne

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

I've found that having some sort of list to work on gives me the incentive, and an excuse, to drive 6+ hours and up to 400 miles to the trail head every month. Although I don't really think I'll ever finish the ADK100 Highest, it did give me a good reason to spend the time and money to drive to Wilmington last weekend to do the easy hike & BW up to Morgan (see Trail Conditions report). -ALG

 

[slamdog]

We get a patch?

I finished my 46 in October. Going to take a while to do the paperwork, and I won't officially be in until 2007, which is fine. I started climbing to free my mind up. I continued climbing for hundreds of other reasons, none of which relate to the patch. And I don't know what I will climb next, but when I find out why, I'll let you know. Some of the other reasons I have climbed include the view, the quiet, the exercise, the physical and mental fatigue (good to push past your limits once in a while), the wildlife, the dynamic weather changes, the people you meet....... the list is absolutley endless.

 

[MattC]

When I was a kid, my dad took me to the Adirondacks, sometimes w/ the family, sometimes just the two of us. My first high peak was Algonquin when I was about 10 or 11. My dad told me about the 46ers. I thought it sounded like fun, so I told him "I'm gonna do that some day." I think he said something like "Okay, that's great, you've got one under your belt." I later climbed Giant w/ him as well, but no other High Peaks for over two decades.

Fast forward twenty something years. I finally become a "frequent" hiker. I find out that they do the list thing in other places besides the Adirondacks. I decide to pursue the Catskill list, I complete it and finally start the Adirondack list. I'm not sure why I thought it was such an appealing idea as a kid, and why I still do. Probably some of the reasons others mention-it's a good excuse to hike all the time, it's a good intro to an area. I hike w/ other peakbaggers, and I hike w/ friends that just couldn't care less about lists. Nobody seems to be having more or less fun than anybody else.

Matt

 

[mavs00]

All kidding aside

For me, the true motivations are fluid and ever-evolving, just as I am. When I started, it was litteraly, the VFTT. As in sitting on one mountain and saying "gee, I wonder what the view looks like from over there". I certainly went through that "I'll be soo cool sporting one of those patches ". But those times are long distant.

During the journey, it became so much more. The patch neither matters nor is that consequential to my current hikinhg life. To me, it (the patch) stands as a symbol of stewardship and responsibilty now, and I look at it these days it reminds me of things I'm not doing actually, or at least what more could I be doing.

Nowadays, reclimbing peaks feels like going home and the feelings I get are those of comfort and renewal. New ones I climb give me hope to what I may find next.

As for the patch or the club, sure..... I;m proud I belong, but they mean nothing compaired to the places I had to go in order to wear it.

It's really hard to express in such a short space.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I had been hiking/climbing for 20 years before even thinking about he 46. I started taking my kids on hikes. I took them on a bunch of hikes that I had done when I was younger. Then we got a guidebook, to gie us some ideas for more hikes/climbs. In the back, was a mention of 'the 46ers"

ADVENTURE filled our heads. The thoughts of going to 'far-away" peaks. The thought of climbing untrailed peaks. The FUN!

we knew nothing about the patch or the climbing numbers until we were 3/4 the way through. We ust thought of FUN and ADVENTURE!

But that was because of the kids. I'm older, and don'T think like that.

 

[Skyclimber]

My motivation in the beginning was "coaching" from my previous husband to climb Poko with him, then he started the "coaching" to Marcy. I never even liked the woods and surely didn't want to hike in them. Then he started naming other High Peaks for us to climb. I didn't even know what a High Peak was. After climbing several of them, it became more of a sport to me, exercise, getting away from the house, work, stress release time, seeing beauty, the Mountaintops, etc. Then the challenges began, the self esteem, self confidence. Climbing helped with all of that. It was a way to prove that I could do something "worthy," of myself. Prove to others, who didn't believe, that I could do it, that I could.
I too, didn't know about the Forty Sixers or the patch then, so it surely wasn't for that reason.
As time went on the Mountains became more, adding Spiritual Meanings for me as well. Peace and relaxation. There were lasting friendships to be made, that were meaningful. Others that enjoyed the same interests, becoming acquaintances. Helping others with their goals. The Mountains were my home, away from home. They were my friends and a deep love for them. Climbing just became so much for me. I feel all of those same feelings and more, no matter which mountain or trail I am on. I don't need lists or goals to keep me climbing, because all of the other rewards received are so much more meaningful for me.

 

[Reekee]

People

One of the great benefits from climbing the 46 was all the people I met. Meo, Julie, Doug Arnold, Jean, Harry "The Gold Member" K, The Sisters, Peggy Mac, Aig, Chuck, Dave, Fred, and the many faces without names. And I got a patch to boot!