Over midterm recess, Oct. 15–17, the Middlebury Mountain Club (MMC) will run 11 trips for 46 Peaks Weekend, doubling the number of trips the club has offered in past years. MMC aims to put a Middlebury hiker on top of each of the range’s 46 highest summits in a single weekend.
Sign-ups open Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. Trip organizer Conrad Pratt ’29 said the club expects between 50 and 80 students to take part.
The Adirondack High Peaks are a range in northern New York across Lake Champlain, traditionally counted as the 46 peaks above 4,000 feet. The 46 peaks tradition dates back to the 1920s, when brothers Bob and George Marshall and their guide Herb Clark set out to climb every one. Later surveys found that a few of the peaks fall just short of 4,000 feet, but the original list stuck. Hikers who complete all 46 are known as “46ers.”
MMC’s version turns that challenge into a community effort: The goal is for club members to cover them collectively in a single weekend.
“What we try to do is have a Middlebury student, or a Middlebury-affiliated person, on top of every mountain over one weekend,” Pratt said.
The club first attempted the challenge on Oct. 5, 2024 after a suggestion in MMC's end-of-year feedback form. Then-MMC president Will Hinkle ’26 had heard of similar challenges at other colleges, and decided to bring it to Middlebury. Last year, Middlebury hikers reached 32 of the 46 peaks.
The planning for this year’s trips began as soon as students returned to campus. “Since the first week we got on campus, we’ve all been thinking about this,” Pratt said.
The hardest part is coordinating the club’s limited pool of student guides across the dozens of peaks, according to Pratt.
“We have a lot of guides, but we don’t have infinite guides,” Pratt said. “It’s about lining them up in the right ways, at the right times, in the right places, and figuring out vans, food, gear, all that stuff.”
Organizing transportation is one of the largest hurdles of the weekend. MMC owns one van and is renting additional vans from the college, according to head guide Nick Brodie ’27.5.
“Since van rental availability is limited, some guides may opt to run smaller trips with their own cars,” Brodie said. The club is working with the Office of Student Engagement (OSE) for reimbursement.
MMC’s board meets weekly and its guides meet about twice a semester. According to Pratt, the guides do most of the work, researching, planning and proposing individual trips. The board then handles the logistics to bring these trips to fruition.
Although MMC’s 11 trips will cover most of the peaks, the club will leave 10 to 15 summits open for other Middlebury community members to hike independently.
Each trip listing includes mileage, elevation gain and recommended experience levels. Pratt added that although the Adirondacks feature some of the more difficult hiking trails in the Northeast, some trips will be geared toward students with little experience.
For students without a car, MMC’s trips put the High Peaks within reach. The club also provides food and gear for its trips, and its gear room is free to use and open three times a week. MMC has already run between 20 and 30 trips this semester, according to Pratt.
“We're trying to bridge that for people who might not have the means, the experience or the gear,” said Pratt. “I'm really excited to get a lot more people outside.”
Sign-ups remain open until the trips depart, but spots usually go quickly.
“People are on their phones at 8 p.m. exactly trying to get in,” he said.
With a full weekend of hiking planned in mountains prone to sudden weather changes, Pratt emphasized that MMC’s priority is safety. All guides are trained to recognize when conditions become too dangerous, he said, and the club has emergency protocols in place. If the weather becomes turbulent, trips will be canceled, postponed or changed. Pratt said he has led trips that turned around just short of the summit because of high winds.
“Everyone is very trained and prepared and willing for that to happen,” Pratt noted. “That’s part of hiking.”
A year ago, Pratt had never heard of the Adirondack High Peaks. Now, he has climbed 31 of the 46 peaks on his own and is helping get others involved in hiking.
“I didn't even know what an Adirondack was until … 46 Peaks Weekend last year,” Pratt said. “And then I just kind of went at it.”
