Peter Bronski - At the Mercy of the Mountains

Peter Bronski ( peterbronski.com ) is a passionate climber, skier, and trail runner and an award-winning writer who covers outdoor adventure, energy and climate, travel, nature, and science and technology. He is the author of seven other books, including Powder Ghost Towns: Epic Backcountry Runs in Colorados Lost Ski Resorts, which received an honorable mention from the North American Snowsports Journalists Association Harold S. Hirsch Awards. Peters writing has appeared in more than 100 magazines, including 5280: Denvers Mile High Magazine, Adirondack Life, AMC Outdoors, Climbing, National Geographic Traveler, Rock and Ice, Sea Kayaker, Trail Runner,and Vermont Life. A New York native, he is a former member of Lower Adirondack Search and Rescue and past recipient of the teams Summit Award. Peter lives in Colorado with his wife, Kelli, and their three children.

This project would not have been possible without the support, encouragement, and assistance of many people.

Thank you to my agent, Jim Cypher, and editor, Rob Kirkpatrick.

Invaluable research assistance was provided by: Phil Brown, Doug Chambers, the Clinton County Historical Association, David Glenn, Jim Goodwin, Tony Goodwin, the Keene Valley Library (especially Patricia Galeski and Nona LeClair), Emily Ladue, Mary Lou Record (and the Adirondack Forty-Sixers), the Saranac Lake Free Library (especially Susan Stiles in the William Chapman White Memorial Room Adirondack Research Center), Jim Schaad, John Streiff, and Dave Winchell.

I am deeply indebted to the survivors of the misadventures about which I write, who were so graciously willing to be interviewed and share their story for this book: Chris Beattie, Bill Black, Bryce Dalhaus, Jim DeGaetano, Peter Gough, Bob Henry, Rev. Philip Keane, Ron Konowitz, James McCaughey, William Moskal Sr., and Anthony Patane.

My sincerest thanks also go out to the rescuers who similarly shared their perspectives on the events within these pages: David Ames, Doug Bissonette, James Giglinto, Will Giraud, Gary Hodgson, Lower Adirondack Search and Rescue (especially Peter Benoit, Larry Gordon, Joe Coach Iuliano, Dave Loomis, Pat McGinn, and Tad Norton), Robert Marrone, Ed Palen, Vic Sasse, and Michael Sheridan.

Long before this book was even an idea, and throughout the publishing process, my family and friends provided constant and unconditional support and encouragement, especially as difficult deadlines approached. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I especially want to thank my mother, Georgann, for believing in my passion for writing, for giving me strong roots in people, places, and values, and for giving me wings to follow my dreams.

Thank you, most of all, to my wife, Kelli. Your love and support, constructive criticism, endless patience, careful proofreading, thoughtful insight, and willingness to become a temporary book widow as I became hopelessly attached to my laptop computer during deadlines, all mean more than I can ever say. This is our book.

More than a decade has passed since the original publication of At the Mercy of the Mountainsin 2008. Some things havent changed: The Adirondacks remain New Yorks playground. An estimated 12.6 million people visited the region in 2018251,000 more than in 2017, which in turn saw 460,000 more visitors than 2016. Not surprisingly, outdoor recreation is the number one reason drawing people to the Park.

But other things havechanged. Notably, backcountry use has risen sharply. For example, between the 1970s and today, the number of hikers using the Adirondack Mountain Clubs Heart Lake property to access Marcy Dam has grown from 20,000 to 100,000; likewise, use of the Ausable Clubs Adirondack Mountain Reserve property to access the wilderness has increased fivefold from 5,000 to more than 27,000 annually.

All of this visitation has introduced new challenges, from mitigating overuse of sensitive wilderness to managing overcrowded trailhead parking. It has also kept the New York State Forest Rangers and the regions search-and-rescue teams as busy as ever.

During the period 20072010 spanning this books publication, the total number of search, rescue, and recovery operations conducted by the Forest Rangers hovered in the range of 210 to 245 per year. Those statistics have been climbing. And since 2015, the numbers have been fully 50 percent higher, never dipping below 335 and peaking at 357 in 2016. Thats an average of nearly one per day.

Even as I write these words, the year 2019 and the recent first weeks of 2020 demonstrate that Adirondack misadventure is an equal opportunity employer: Rescued people include an injured climber at Chapel Pond Slabs, lost hunters, lost and injured hikerssome requiring helicopter extractionwith all manner of conditions ranging from fatigue and heat stress to broken legs and dislocated ankles, and a backcountry skier partially buried, but thankfully uninjured, in an avalanche.

Over the past twelve years, Ive received notes from a number of readers. Some have expressed appreciation for the books stories. Some have confessed a newfound, deeper respect for the Adirondacks, which translates into greater mindfulness and caution when planning their own adventures there. One person was even inspired to join a SAR team and later formed his own.