There are 46 Adirondack High Peaks, which originally meant peaks higher than 4,000 feet, but actually includes several peaks below this threshold for historical reasons. There is a separate FKT route for climbing all 46 as fast as possible.
There have been a few attempts to summit as many peaks as possible in 24 hours. Bob Marshall set an early standard by climbing 13 high peaks in 1932. His route is known as the Bob Marshall Traverse. More recently, Jeff Mogavero and Jan Wellford each summited 24 peaks on the same day (but in separate unsupported efforts) in 2015. Most of the peaks have maintained trails to the summits but a few require some bushwhacking.
The peaks are
- Macomb
- South Dix
- East Dix (Grace)
- Hough
- Dix
- Dial
- Nippletop
- Colvin
- Blake
- Lower Wolf Jaw
- Upper Wolf Jaw
- Armstrong
- Gothics
- Sawteeth
- Saddleback
- Basin
- Haystack
- Marcy
- Skylight
- Gray
- Cliff
- Iroquois
- Algonquin
- Wright
It should be noted that Jeff stopped his watch at the summit of the final peak. It is unknown whether Jan did the same or measured his time from trail head to trail head.
The easiest peaks to add onto this would be Colden, Redfield, Street, and/or Nye.
Comments
Just stumbled on this and figured I’d provide some extra info. There’s 27 peaks in something of a line. In addition to Ryan’s list of 24 peaks above (Jeff’s route), you could add Marshall, Redfield and Colden. Street and Nye would also be an option, but that’s almost certainly harder than adding any two of the main group of 27. The easiest 24 is probably my direction IMO (Wright to Macomb), but that adds one bushwhack since i did Marshall instead of Blake. Jonathan made it harder on himself by trying for 25: a valiant effort.
Yes, I timed myself trailhead to trailhead (23h 35m), since i was going for only 24 and i like how clean TH to TH is. But it makes sense for the final summit before the 24hr mark to count, as it would feel terrible to do 24 peaks but miss out on 24 in 24 on your way out to the trailhead. Also that way you can try for 25+ peaks in a more open ended way. My idea was never to make this an FKT: more of a 24 in 24 club. But people are always going to try to “beat” the last guy I guess.
Jeff’s report: https://mtnfrolic.blogspot.com/2015/09/24-hour-high-peak-extravaganza.html
My Strava part 1: https://www.strava.com/activities/386276367/overview
Part 2: https://www.strava.com/activities/386211529/overview
I had a bear canister with food and a second GPS watch stashed where part 1 ends and part 2 begins.