Skiing The 46 Adirondack High Peaks

Ron Konowitz is a retired school teacher that resides in Keene, NY. He is the only person on record to have skied all 46 High Peak summits in the Adirondacks. Now that he is retired he just skis more than before… 167 days in the Adirondacks last year.

ADKBCSKI – When did you hike you first Adirondack High Peak? How old were you then?

Ron Konowitz – I think I did Wright Peak in 1961. 6 years old.

 

ADKBCSKI – When did you become a 46R?

Ron Konowitz – 1968…finished on Emmons.

 

ADKBCSKI – When did you move to the area?

Ron Konowitz – I was a camper for many summers at Poko MacCready Camp where my dad worked. In 1972 I graduated high school (New Jersey) and then attended Plattsburgh State. The first winter I spent here was 1972/1973. I remember it was a real eye opener. Just being up on the summits in the cold.

 

“I think any peak has a descent route.”

ADKBCSKI – What was the first High Peak that you skied?

Ron Konowitz – Whiteface, which I think is the easiest one to start with.

 

ADKBCSKI – When was that?

Ron Konowitz – I would have to say the mid 70′s.

 

ADKBCSKI – So you were already a 46R before you skied your first High Peak?

Ron Konowitz – Yeah.

 

ADKBCSKI – Were you skiing High Peaks with other people early on?

Ron Konowitz – When I started skiing I was by myself a lot. I really wanted to go higher and I wanted to see how to make the things turn. My friends were on snowshoes. I hadn’t met Pat (Munn) and those guys yet, I know they were doing stuff. I had seen them signed in (a trail register) somewhere for a trailless peak. I was like “Huh” “Ski to Die” crew, I knew a little about them. They were defiantly way ahead of me, as far as ability. I was floundering, just trying to figure it out. I had those Alfa boots and long Trucker ski’s.

“The gear wasn’t so good.”

ADKBCSKI – How did the thought of skiing the 46 come about?

Ron Konowitz – I really didn’t think about the whole skiing thing until I had already skied a bunch of them. I was just skiing a lot.

 

ADKBCSKI – Did you continue skiing High Peaks mostly solo as time went by?

Ron Konowitz – No, I did a lot with the “Ski to Die” crew. It sometimes was easier to do them solo or with one other person because the descent routes were so narrow.

 

ADKBCSKI – Did you have to do some of the peaks as overnight trips?

Ron Konowitz – Never. I once broke trail on a solo trip of Couchsachraga. I didn’t summit until 3PM, I started from my truck at 6AM. I had bivouac gear with me. I arrived back at my truck by headlamp at 10PM, having not seen a soul all day. The high temperature was 5 degrees.

 

ADKBCSKI – Are there any High Peaks that you never repeated on skis?

Ron Konowitz – Allen and Couchsachraga.

“It’s not Steamboat Springs, You WANT to have eye protection.”

ADKBCSKI – Do you think some of the peaks are contrived to ski? 

Ron Konowitz – Some were definitely “beat outs”. That was the debate a lot. Should I go out and have a good powder day, where I know it’s going to be stellar powder. Or should I go on a possible “beat out”. Sometimes you would find a gold mine when you were bushwhacking and other times it was choked (with trees). It’s part of the process. I think any peak has a descent route.

 

ADKBCSKI – Did you have to ski down a lot of hiking trails?

Ron Konowitz – No I was skiing a lot streambeds, woods and slides. Many were first descents with the “Ski to Die” crew. I would check things out a lot in the fall and spring, and then a lot of trial and error in the winter. I would also try to find old lumber roads. Sometimes I found that the best skiing is where there’s blow down. You didn’t need as much snow to get above the trees. On Tabletop you could just connect blow down patches all the way down to Indian Falls.

 

ADKBCSKI – Do you think skiing any of the High Peaks is more about suffering than skiing?

Ron Konowitz – Yeah definitely!

 

ADKBCSKI – What summit have you skied the most?

Ron Konowitz – Marcy, It’s a great trail.

“It’s just easier now.”

ADKBCSKI – Did you have any “rules” for what was a true summit ski?

Ron Konowitz – I would ski car to car, and I would never take my skis off. To the point one time in the Seward’s it was real steep and icy. I took my skis off and walked for maybe 150 feet. So I went back 2 days later by myself and reskied Donaldson and Emmon, because I had taken my skis off. I would ski to the top and rip my skins. I never would ski down with my skins on.

 

ADKBCSKI – Would you count a traverse of multiple peaks as a ski descent of each of those peaks? Or did you have to descend a peak a certain amount of vertical feet for it to be a skied peak? For an example Street and Nye.

Ron Konowitz – Yes, a traverse counted. I first did Street and Nye together, but I later skied them separately.

 

ADKBCSKI – If you had current gear back then would it have been easier to ski all of the 46 High Peaks?

Ron Konowitz – Yeah, no doubt it would have been a lot easier. Our skis were so long then. We would buy them long so they would float better in the powder! They were so skinny, the gear wasn’t so good. Breaking trail is a lot easier now. The gear now is amazing.

 

ADKBCSKI – Do you think its possible for someone to ski the 46 in one ski season?

Ron Konowitz – I think it’s definitely doable. Everything is conditions. Now there are more people out in the winter and trails are broken out a lot more quickly. People can look on the internet and see what trails are broken out.

 

ADKBCSKI – What was the last High Peak you skied to complete the 46?

Ron Konowitz – Allen in March 1996. I was with Sharp Swan and Teresa Cheetham Palen, they were on snowshoes.

This entry was posted on October 28, 2011 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Featured, Interview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.