adkclimber
New member
Dear All,
Perhaps you too have snap shots of your life in your mind. Snapshots like, where you were when JFK was killed in Dallas, where you were when you found out the space shuttle exploded.
I learned of Grace’s passing from my wife. She called me on my cell. I couldn’t believe it was ringing, because I had just gotten back to the Cascade Mountain trailhead. We had just celebrated the Case boy’s finishing their “dubya”. When I told the others the news we recalled the summit had been extremely windy and how strange it was to have seen a bird fly by in the wind.
I have included a letter we wrote recently .. please enjoy and remember Grace.
Dear Fellow Mountain Climbers,
You may have heard about us. We are the Adirondack 46ers, men and women who climb the high peaks. Like you and your neighbors we consider ourselves a family. In many ways we are a small community, except we don’t live next to each other. What we share is a love of the outdoors and especially our Adirondack Mountains. We have been taught to “give back” to the mountains. The 46ers are a one hundred percent volunteer organization and we donate thousands of hours of trail work in the high peaks. We also lead programs to educate people about the “out-of-doors” and we send children to summer camp. Indeed, for more than fifty years, the 46ers are a one hundred percent volunteer organization and we donate hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of trail work each year.
We are asking you to help us honor two true blue Adirondackers. We hope you will join us in tribute of two people who embodied the 46er tradition of “Giving Something Back”. It is a tradition started by our founding members, Ed Hudowalski , Grace Hudowalski and their pastor Ernest Ryder way back in the 30’s. We hope to do this by giving two mountains their permanent names.
First, let us provide a little history. Back in 1837, Ebenezer Emmons named a prominent peak Dix Mountain. His intent was to honor John Adams Dix, New York’s Secretary of State of the time. Almost a century later, two shorter unnamed peaks nearby began to be referred to as East Dix and South Dix. But these names were simply placeholders. As Russell Carson stated in his book Peaks and People of the Adirondacks “The most interesting fact about these two mountains is that their names are not important enough to be retained and that they can be given distinctive titles, when the right occasion comes without violation of old established names.”
We propose to give the name “Grace Peak” as the permanent name for the summit now referred to as East Dix. We also propose to give the name “Carson Peak” as the permanent name for South Dix. Of course, there will be no change to the name of Dix Mountain itself.
Why Grace Peak? Let me tell you about Grace Hudowalski. She was probably the most remarkable mountain woman in Adirondack history.
Grace was born in neighboring Ticonderoga and grew up in the Town of Minerva. When she was sixteen years old she decided to climb Mount Marcy. Her father had told her, “It’s not important whether you make the summit. It is important how you make the climb.”
That first climb was a life changing experience for her and she devoted the rest of her life to our Adirondack Mountains. Grace became the 9th person to climb all 46 of the high peaks, but more importantly she was the 1st woman to do so.
Grace met her husband, Ed, at church and he must have known she was a special lady because he asked her to marry him on their first date. He too became “enthused”, as we call it, and they climbed faithfully together.
They formed a church youth group called the 46ers of Troy and it was their pastor Ernest Ryder who first coined the term 46ers. Members of the 46ers of Troy only had to climb one mountain a year and write a story about the adventure. The emphasis was on the adventure.
Grace wrote magazine articles about hiking the high peaks and encouraged others to discover the beauty and excitement that comes from climbing our mountains. She would correspond with hikers and began to assign numbers to each hiker as they finished the 46. For over 60 years (well into her 90's) Grace received thousands of letters from aspiring 46ers. And Grace wrote back nearly every time! Her letters were encouraging, inspirational, and cautionary. She urged us to give back to the mountains and to our communities. She saved those letters and in the 70’s created an archive in the N.Y. State Library to keep them for posterity. It takes twenty volunteer correspondents to continue this tradition today. Those letters have become a wonderful historical record and for us hikers they are an opportunity to reflect on our wilderness experience.
One thing is certain, Grace Hudowalski was very much like you. She was raised in Minerva and owned a home on the east shore of Schroon Lake (all her life). She lived 98 years in your community and spent most of that time promoting the proper recreational use of the Adirondacks. Much of that time she was a supervisor for the New York State Department of Commerce. In 1986 the New York State Legislature honored her for her work, her passion.
And that’s not all. When she died, Grace donated her life savings to the Adirondack 46er Conservation Trust. She created that trust to continue her dreams. The Trust is helping to support several Adirondack causes in the quiet way that Grace taught. Annually, the trust supports the Summit Steward Program which, led by the ADK, plays a great role in educating the general hiking public about the sensitive Alpine vegetation on the summits and how we can preserve our great summit treasures. The trust has also revived the Hudowalski Essay contest. If you were a Schroon Lake high school student back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s you probably wrote a Hudowlaksi historical / lore essay . Today, we are asking the children of Schroon Lake and North Hudson go to the elderly and listen to their stories of lore. Those stories are the towns culture and should be recorded as part of the Adirondack history. We would like children across the Adirondacks to enter writing contests, win scholarships and summer camp adventures. There has been discussion with the 46er Conservation Trust to expand its influence to the Blue Line.
Why Carson Peak? Russell Carson was instrumental in preserving the early history of the mountains and of the people who lived, explored, and worked in them.
Carson thought it important for us and future generations to understand the history of the mountains and of the people and guides who first explored them. His book, “Peaks and People of the Adirondacks”, identified the 46 high peaks we know today and preserved their early history. The book was based on extensive research which Russ carried out as a hobby. The early 46ers of Troy adopted his book, “Peaks and People”, as their bible. Grace and the early 46ers combined the physical challenge of climbing mountains with the historical record written by Russ Carson. That reflection upon adventure and lore is what makes people care about the wilderness, the high peaks and your mountain community. This combination is the legacy that Grace and Carson gave to us. Grace often said, “It is just as important to know how a mountain got it’s name as it was to reach it’s summit.”
Russ Carson was born and raised in Glens Falls. He spent his entire life donating his time to community causes. He wrote numerous articles about the mountains and participated actively in several Adirondack organizations. The New York State Board of Education honored him for his dedication to the youth of the Adirondacks.
Ok, so some of you may say, “If they did so much for the Adirondacks, why haven’t we heard of them?”
Well, first Russ Carson passed away in 1961. Most of us were kids then. Grace died a couple of years ago having lived 98 years. She outlived the people that knew her in her prime. We 46ers honor her as our mentor and historian but for others her memory becomes more distant.
You may not have heard of these people because they were humble. Grace wrote over 10,000 letters to climbers, always as a volunteer, and never sought recognition for this effort. Russ Carson was the same way. Our committee looked and looked for pictures of Russ. We found only a few. Oh, there were lots of pictures that Russ took. Apparently, he was always willing to take the photo. He was always finding ways to gather the group, step back, and give the credit away….from behind the lens. Russ also gave away his book by donating it and all future proceeds to the Adirondack Mountain Club.
Our organization believes that our project is important. Today there are over six thousand 46ers because of the legacy left by these two individuals. We are a diverse group. Some are construction workers and some are doctors. Some are hunters and others are naturalists. Some are children (the youngest were 5 when they finished) and one of us became a 46er at age 82. Some live in small towns and some live in big cities. Some of us split wood for winter heat and others ride a train to work. We almost never totally agree on anything. One thing we do agree on is the lasting impact that these two individuals have had on us.
Looking back at what these two wonderful people gave to the Adirondacks, we want to recognize them for their humble contributions. They were Titians, and we aspire to be like them. There is no more fitting way to honor them, we believe, than to give the permanent names Grace Peak and Carson Peak to the summits among the mountains they cherished.
As Grace would have signed all her letters,
Good Climbing
Douglas R. Arnold #4693W
Chair Grace Peak Committee
46er Director
Perhaps you too have snap shots of your life in your mind. Snapshots like, where you were when JFK was killed in Dallas, where you were when you found out the space shuttle exploded.
I learned of Grace’s passing from my wife. She called me on my cell. I couldn’t believe it was ringing, because I had just gotten back to the Cascade Mountain trailhead. We had just celebrated the Case boy’s finishing their “dubya”. When I told the others the news we recalled the summit had been extremely windy and how strange it was to have seen a bird fly by in the wind.
I have included a letter we wrote recently .. please enjoy and remember Grace.
Dear Fellow Mountain Climbers,
You may have heard about us. We are the Adirondack 46ers, men and women who climb the high peaks. Like you and your neighbors we consider ourselves a family. In many ways we are a small community, except we don’t live next to each other. What we share is a love of the outdoors and especially our Adirondack Mountains. We have been taught to “give back” to the mountains. The 46ers are a one hundred percent volunteer organization and we donate thousands of hours of trail work in the high peaks. We also lead programs to educate people about the “out-of-doors” and we send children to summer camp. Indeed, for more than fifty years, the 46ers are a one hundred percent volunteer organization and we donate hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of trail work each year.
We are asking you to help us honor two true blue Adirondackers. We hope you will join us in tribute of two people who embodied the 46er tradition of “Giving Something Back”. It is a tradition started by our founding members, Ed Hudowalski , Grace Hudowalski and their pastor Ernest Ryder way back in the 30’s. We hope to do this by giving two mountains their permanent names.
First, let us provide a little history. Back in 1837, Ebenezer Emmons named a prominent peak Dix Mountain. His intent was to honor John Adams Dix, New York’s Secretary of State of the time. Almost a century later, two shorter unnamed peaks nearby began to be referred to as East Dix and South Dix. But these names were simply placeholders. As Russell Carson stated in his book Peaks and People of the Adirondacks “The most interesting fact about these two mountains is that their names are not important enough to be retained and that they can be given distinctive titles, when the right occasion comes without violation of old established names.”
We propose to give the name “Grace Peak” as the permanent name for the summit now referred to as East Dix. We also propose to give the name “Carson Peak” as the permanent name for South Dix. Of course, there will be no change to the name of Dix Mountain itself.
Why Grace Peak? Let me tell you about Grace Hudowalski. She was probably the most remarkable mountain woman in Adirondack history.
Grace was born in neighboring Ticonderoga and grew up in the Town of Minerva. When she was sixteen years old she decided to climb Mount Marcy. Her father had told her, “It’s not important whether you make the summit. It is important how you make the climb.”
That first climb was a life changing experience for her and she devoted the rest of her life to our Adirondack Mountains. Grace became the 9th person to climb all 46 of the high peaks, but more importantly she was the 1st woman to do so.
Grace met her husband, Ed, at church and he must have known she was a special lady because he asked her to marry him on their first date. He too became “enthused”, as we call it, and they climbed faithfully together.
They formed a church youth group called the 46ers of Troy and it was their pastor Ernest Ryder who first coined the term 46ers. Members of the 46ers of Troy only had to climb one mountain a year and write a story about the adventure. The emphasis was on the adventure.
Grace wrote magazine articles about hiking the high peaks and encouraged others to discover the beauty and excitement that comes from climbing our mountains. She would correspond with hikers and began to assign numbers to each hiker as they finished the 46. For over 60 years (well into her 90's) Grace received thousands of letters from aspiring 46ers. And Grace wrote back nearly every time! Her letters were encouraging, inspirational, and cautionary. She urged us to give back to the mountains and to our communities. She saved those letters and in the 70’s created an archive in the N.Y. State Library to keep them for posterity. It takes twenty volunteer correspondents to continue this tradition today. Those letters have become a wonderful historical record and for us hikers they are an opportunity to reflect on our wilderness experience.
One thing is certain, Grace Hudowalski was very much like you. She was raised in Minerva and owned a home on the east shore of Schroon Lake (all her life). She lived 98 years in your community and spent most of that time promoting the proper recreational use of the Adirondacks. Much of that time she was a supervisor for the New York State Department of Commerce. In 1986 the New York State Legislature honored her for her work, her passion.
And that’s not all. When she died, Grace donated her life savings to the Adirondack 46er Conservation Trust. She created that trust to continue her dreams. The Trust is helping to support several Adirondack causes in the quiet way that Grace taught. Annually, the trust supports the Summit Steward Program which, led by the ADK, plays a great role in educating the general hiking public about the sensitive Alpine vegetation on the summits and how we can preserve our great summit treasures. The trust has also revived the Hudowalski Essay contest. If you were a Schroon Lake high school student back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s you probably wrote a Hudowlaksi historical / lore essay . Today, we are asking the children of Schroon Lake and North Hudson go to the elderly and listen to their stories of lore. Those stories are the towns culture and should be recorded as part of the Adirondack history. We would like children across the Adirondacks to enter writing contests, win scholarships and summer camp adventures. There has been discussion with the 46er Conservation Trust to expand its influence to the Blue Line.
Why Carson Peak? Russell Carson was instrumental in preserving the early history of the mountains and of the people who lived, explored, and worked in them.
Carson thought it important for us and future generations to understand the history of the mountains and of the people and guides who first explored them. His book, “Peaks and People of the Adirondacks”, identified the 46 high peaks we know today and preserved their early history. The book was based on extensive research which Russ carried out as a hobby. The early 46ers of Troy adopted his book, “Peaks and People”, as their bible. Grace and the early 46ers combined the physical challenge of climbing mountains with the historical record written by Russ Carson. That reflection upon adventure and lore is what makes people care about the wilderness, the high peaks and your mountain community. This combination is the legacy that Grace and Carson gave to us. Grace often said, “It is just as important to know how a mountain got it’s name as it was to reach it’s summit.”
Russ Carson was born and raised in Glens Falls. He spent his entire life donating his time to community causes. He wrote numerous articles about the mountains and participated actively in several Adirondack organizations. The New York State Board of Education honored him for his dedication to the youth of the Adirondacks.
Ok, so some of you may say, “If they did so much for the Adirondacks, why haven’t we heard of them?”
Well, first Russ Carson passed away in 1961. Most of us were kids then. Grace died a couple of years ago having lived 98 years. She outlived the people that knew her in her prime. We 46ers honor her as our mentor and historian but for others her memory becomes more distant.
You may not have heard of these people because they were humble. Grace wrote over 10,000 letters to climbers, always as a volunteer, and never sought recognition for this effort. Russ Carson was the same way. Our committee looked and looked for pictures of Russ. We found only a few. Oh, there were lots of pictures that Russ took. Apparently, he was always willing to take the photo. He was always finding ways to gather the group, step back, and give the credit away….from behind the lens. Russ also gave away his book by donating it and all future proceeds to the Adirondack Mountain Club.
Our organization believes that our project is important. Today there are over six thousand 46ers because of the legacy left by these two individuals. We are a diverse group. Some are construction workers and some are doctors. Some are hunters and others are naturalists. Some are children (the youngest were 5 when they finished) and one of us became a 46er at age 82. Some live in small towns and some live in big cities. Some of us split wood for winter heat and others ride a train to work. We almost never totally agree on anything. One thing we do agree on is the lasting impact that these two individuals have had on us.
Looking back at what these two wonderful people gave to the Adirondacks, we want to recognize them for their humble contributions. They were Titians, and we aspire to be like them. There is no more fitting way to honor them, we believe, than to give the permanent names Grace Peak and Carson Peak to the summits among the mountains they cherished.
As Grace would have signed all her letters,
Good Climbing
Douglas R. Arnold #4693W
Chair Grace Peak Committee
46er Director
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