Syracuse.com - Tully woman scales 46 Adirondack high peaks during four successive winters

[HuntingNY-News]

She said she was relentless this past winter, getting out to scale mountains all but two weekends.

Nature's Wilde PhotographyPatti Pastella on the summit of her final peak.

Patti Pastella, an engineer who lives in Tully, made the grade this past winter.

It took her nearly four winters, but Pastella, 49, is now a winter 46er. She scaled her last peak, Mt. Skylight, on March 10.

The 46 “High Peaks” in the Adirondacks are all higher than 4,000 feet. Since the 1920s, thousands have taken up the challenge to climb all 46. Those who’ve achieved that status can have their names put on the Adirondack Forty-Sixers website and receive a certificate for their efforts.

To achieve, Winter 46er status, one must climb these peaks between the period of Dec. 21 to March 21. Pastella’s last peak, Mt. Skylight is 4926 feet high and fourth largest in the range.

“This extreme test is both difficult and at times dangerous, ranging from climbing in very deep snows to scaling cliffs of steep ice with an ice axe and crampons,” said Greg Andrus, who is Pastella’s fiance.

Pastella said she was initially able to scale all 46 peaks, mostly in the summer, nailing the last two in the winter — getting to the top of the last one on her 46th birthday. For that, she achieved the regular Adirondack 46er status.

“I’ve always wanted to climb in the winter. I was hooked and decided to try and climb them all again,” she said.

Pastella said she climbed some of the peaks with Andrus, and others with members of the Rochester Winter Mountaining Society and the Adirondack Mountain Club. Some were day trips. Some involved an overnight stay in a cabin. Others involved staying in lean-tos or tent camping.

The coldest it got while tent camping was 20 degrees, she said.

“There’s something about getting up at 4 a.m. and then walking around for 10 hours in sub-zero weather,” she said.

Did friends and family question her sanity?

"Absolutely,” she said. “If you don’t do it yourself, you’ll never understand. You can’t understand or appreciate being on top of a winter peak with all the views.”

Any close calls?

“I did one peak last March (Phelps) in the most severe weather I’ve experienced,” she said. “The wind was blowing at 80 mph and was gusting. I got blown over and one of my crampons poked into my pants and into one of my legs. One of the guys I was hiking with was blown down and cracked some ribs.”

“Her quest in the winter added up to more than 400 miles of trail work and more than 100,000 feet of vertical rise to complete her mission,” Andrus said.

Pastella said she was relentless this past winter, getting out to scale mountains all but two weekends.

“I climbed 18 this winter,” she said.

Pastella is the 554th person to become a winter 46er, according to the group’s Web site.

For more about the Adirondack Forty- Sixers and a complete listing of regular and winter 46ers, see the Adirondack Forty-Sixers Web site.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog