At 75, hiker climbs 46 High Peaks, for the 100th time

Adirondack hiker Gary Koch celebrated historic milestone on Whiteface

By Tim Rowland

With about 12 vertical feet left before the 4,867-foot peak named Whiteface was officially bagged, Gary Koch looked a little weak in the knees. But it wasn’t from the physical exertion so much as from the sights and sounds of about 40 of his joyful Adirondack 46er brethren (those who have hiked a list of the tallest mountains in New York state). They greeted his appearance with a hiking-pole Arch of Swords and a frightful serenade of buzzing noisemakers.

Koch was handed a green can of his favorite celebratory potion, Genny Cream Ale, which is getting a lot harder to find.

“Do they do this every day?” a puzzled tourist asked a bystander.

Not exactly. Koch, at age 75, was completing his round of 46 High Peaks — for the 100th time.

A record achievement

On Wednesday, Koch became only the second Adirondack hiker to hit the century mark. The record was set by Alain Chevrette, a storied hiker known for breaking snowy trails, playful trail reports and his blue stuffed rabbit PinPin. 

Koch and Chevrette stand alone atop a generation of strong hikers who are legendary in their own right, and pass these high standards of hiking and history on to those who are younger. And while speed records are for the young, the endurance records are for those who have dedicated a lifetime to the High Peaks.

“He’s unbelievable,” Joe Bogardus said of Koch. There’s basically nobody else behind him.”

Well, there is, and that would be Bogardus himself, who has climbed all 46 High Peaks a chintzy 51 times. Five people are known to have climbed the 46 High Peaks at least 46 times: Chevrette, Koch, Bogardus, Rick Balboni and Wayne Ratowski, who finished on Esther wearing a tuxedo.

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But beyond the records, his fans say Koch is among a band of senior hikers who are the connective tissue of the Adirondack hiking community. “You run across him on the trail all the time,” said Brian Hoody, a frequent hiking companion. “Every time he sees someone he strikes up a conversation.”

He hikes for himself, but he is also instrumental in helping others achieve their goals; if you’re unsure you’ll make a peak, Gary will get you there.

Koch said the question he’s asked most often about his exploits is where he finds the time? “I tell them you have to have three things,” he said. “You have to live in the Adirondacks, you have to be retired and you can’t have any life.”

But he does, and that life is evident in his home on the Raquette River in Tupper Lake.

Gary Koch at home

The day before finishing his 100th round, his hiking pack was sitting a handful of feet from the front door, like a go-bag, the one thing you’d grab in the face of a calamity. Resting on it is his hiking pole. Draped across the sofa is a hank of rope, to be employed if Koch’s 75-year-old legs aren’t quite able to reach a ledge down below. Next to that is a bottle of Gatorade.

As he sifted through his handwritten notes, he was apologetic for “only” climbing 55 peaks so far this year. While impressive by anyone else’s standards, a fraction of the 250 or so he bagged in his best years. Age now requires he take a few rest days between ascents.

Several thick binders and notebooks hold his records. There are no spreadsheets, since in his home there is no computer, no cell phone or any of the electronic devices. Koch is even dubious of electric typewriters.

His roots in the Adirondacks are deep, dating to a great-great-grandfather who hunted the wilds in the late 1800s. Koch was a frequent visitor with his family as a boy, focused primarily on fishing. In his adult life he worked retail. 

“I managed a couple of small mom-and-pop-type retail businesses,” he said. “A pharmacy, and then next door was the beer, wine and liquor. So we’d make you sick on one side and cure you on the other.”

A lifetime of hiking

The first mountain he climbed in the Adirondacks was Morris in Tupper Lake at age 6. He knew little of the High Peaks to the east, viewing them as remote, intimidating massifs, accessible only with ropes, lengthy backcountry expeditions and a healthy dose of derring do. This was the sole turf of some group he had heard rumors of, mostly described as “those crazy 46ers.”

That frame of reference changed in 1971 due to a New York Times story about a pair of men trying to climb all 46 peaks in a week. While it was true that one had dropped dead of a heart attack on a flank of Marcy, it was also true that, if it were possible to climb them in such a short period of time, the mountains were not the snarling beasts he’s been led to believe.

After flirting around with the terrain, hiking Indian Pass and Mount Adams in 1972, he took the leap and hiked Cascade and Porter in 1973. “I thought this isn’t so bad, and I hiked 13 that year,” he said. “The next year I finished up.”

Not surprisingly, it was a somewhat obsessive journey. “At that time I was only off one day a week,” Koch said. “I would drive from New Jersey directly to the trailhead, sleep in the back of my car, climb a mountain or two, and then drive right back home without even coming over here to say hi to mom and pop.”

It was another 14 years though before he completed his second round. “Even then the mantra was that you had to get out of the High Peaks” due to heavy use. So he did for a time, paddling and climbing lesser mounts. But the grandeur of the highest of peaks pulled him back.

The latter half of the 20th century was a romantic time for hikers. Maps and trail guides were high forms of art. Outlaw trails were cut in remote sections of the Sewards and Santanonis and the mud. Roots and rocks, if it can be believed, were even worse than they are now.

In those days you climbed Haystack, Basin and Saddleback, not HaBaSa. “Today they’ve got to shorten everything,” Koch said.

He ticks through all the standard questions people want to know when they hear of his exploits. Gothics is his favorite. No, he doesn’t keep track of the number of pairs of boots he’s worn out. It was Chevrette and Ratowski’s “friendly but not always friendly competition to become the first to do 46 rounds” that inspired his assault on the record books.

Will he keep going?

And then the big one: Will he break Chevrette’s record 101 rounds?

He’ll at least tie it, it would seem; he’s well on his way to 101 now. But the clock is ticking. Some routes, such as the famed cable route up Gothics, he’s probably done for the last time. Even if he can do it, Koch said he’s not sure he will.

This would be like Ripken passing Gehrig, a record that — in these HaBaSa days of shortcuts and shorter attention spans — would stand for a long time if not for all time. But he said he might stop after 101 out of respect to Chevrette. It is, after all, the mountain, not the record that’s important.

“I sometimes only half jokingly say to myself, they’re like my 46 children,” he said. “That’s what keeps me going; I just love those mountains.”

Editor’s note: this story was updated to add Rick Balboni to the list of people who have completed at least 46 High Peaks finishes.