20 years after her death, Adirondack 46er Grace Hudowalski continues to inspire
Grace Hudowalski’s legacy should reach higher than a mountain.
The historical significance of women can inspire change for the future. That’s one of the reasons Women’s History Month exists.
Growing up as a student in Troy schools, I never heard about the wonderful woman called “Amazing Grace.”
I wish I did.
It all started in the 1940s with the formation of the 46ers, a small group of hiking enthusiasts based at Grace Methodist Church in Troy.
Grace Hudowalski was one of those hikers.
Here are just a few of her accomplishments, listed in her Times Union obituary notice. She died 20 years ago on March 13, 2004, at age 98 at Guilderland Centre Nursing Home.
• She was the first woman and the ninth person to climb the 46 Adirondack mountains over 4,000 feet in elevation.
• As a founding member of the Adirondack 46ers, she organized its first meeting on May 30, 1948. She served as the new club’s first president from 1948-1951.
• The Adirondack Mountain Club conferred on her its highest honor, the Trail Blazer Award, at its annual banquet, which was held the evening of her death.
It’s been 10 years since an Adirondack peak was named in her honor, a huge undertaking that took 12 years of steadfast determination to accomplish. The United States Board of Geographic Names approved a petition submitted by the Forty-Sixers to rename East Dix “Grace Peak.” The name designation was approved on June 12, 2014, at the monthly meeting of the USBGN.
Adirondack museums feature her hiking memorabilia and sponsor seminars about her achievements.
Hudowalski knew the importance of preserving our natural resources and the need to actively participate in protecting the future of our planet.
But are we doing enough to preserve her legacy?
‘If it’s worth climbing, it’s worth writing about’
A documentary, “The Mountains Will Wait For You,” narrated by Johnny Cash, provides a glimpse of the woman who developed the recording system to monitor the progress of hikers seeking membership in the Adirondack 46ers.
“We want to know what happened on the mountain, we just don’t want a list of peaks and dates. That’s very boring and climbing the mountains is not boring,” Hudowalski said in this clip from the documentary, which described her correspondence with hikers seeking to be recognized as a 46er. “If it’s worth climbing, it’s worth writing about.”
Laurie Rankin, climber No. 5525, the current president of the Adirondack 46ers, didn’t know Hudowalski, climber No. 9, but wished she did.
She’s certainly following in Grace’s footsteps.
Rankin’s dedication to the outdoors began as a child growing up in the heart of the Catskill Mountains where her dad was the fire tower observer at Balsam Lake Mountain Fire Tower.
“I was always in my dad’s back pocket and was never once told I could not do something because I was a girl. If dad went to the tower, I wanted to go and often did on weekends. If he went fishing, I went. If he went hunting, I did,” Rankin said.
She raised her two boys in the Catskills, often spending time in the woods and mountains, hunting, fishing and hiking with them. When they graduated from college, she immersed herself in the hiking world, eventually climbing all 35 peaks in the Catskills, the 46 in the Adirondacks and all 115 peaks in the Northeast in both summer and winter.
“Along the way, each time an opportunity presented itself to voluntarily help out in the mountains, I tried to step up and help. All of the volunteer opportunities allow me to give back to the places that have given me so much,” she said.
She has certainly put in her time, serving as president of the Adirondack 46ers starting in May 2021. Her term ends this May, and she will remain part of the organization as past president for three more years. Prior to 2021, she served six years as a director and vice president. She also volunteers as a member of the 3500 Club, the Catskill Fire Tower Project and the Forest Fire Lookout Association.
She is a regular participant in the 46ers’ WOW: a Women Only Weekend. WOW events are organized by a skilled group of trail masters who plan details of the work weekend with the assistance of NYSDEC.
“The women who come are all willing to take on whatever task needs to be done that they are capable of and there is always a task. It may be pulling nails out of an old piece of bridge decking, digging a privy hole, carrying a stringer, building a bridge on-ramp, or a bridge abutment or trying to figure out how to work around the Northern Water Snakes, but everyone can play a part,” Rankin said. “It is a great time of camaraderie.”
Preserving the Adirondacks for future generations is one of the main goals of the 46ers and the Adirondack 46R Conservation Trust, an endowment Grace established to continue her work.
The Forty-Sixers climbers’ code tells hikers to:
“Climb joyfully, filled with the beauty and wonder of the mountains. Climb prepared. Climb with conservation, preserving the wilderness unmarred for those who come after you. Climb thoughtfully, with understanding and humility, grateful that to you a great gift has been given – the opportunity to walk the mountains.”
Climbing a mountain is often a spiritual experience for hikers, as well as a phenomenal athletic achievement. One that is passed down through generations.
“I spend as much time as I can sharing those outdoor places with nine grandchildren,” Rankin said.
That’s what it’s all about.
Photo at top: Relaxing after a tough climb, Susan Bibeau admires the view from Grace Peak. Adirondack Explorer file photo by Lisa Godfrey
Grace was certainly a unique individual. I can’t imagine someone reading and answering every climbing account letter. THAT is dedication! Certainly missed. I finished my 46 on what would become Grace Peak.
I was lucky enough, when a camper, CIT and Counselor at Silver Lake Camp in Hawkeye, NY, to hear both Noah Rondeau and Grace Hudawalski at our Sunday night Campfires. Noah carried a little silver suitcase and sold his autographed photo. He talked about becoming a hermit at Cold River because he couldn’t get enough “eddication,” Grace also spoke about her life in the mountains. Mostly I remember that the camper who introduced her could not pronounce her last name. Grace laughed heartily. When, years later, I became a 46’er, Grace really laughed again because the list I sent of my dates climbing the 46 was the list she had given us at that campfire. What a lovely person Grace was!