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Bushwhack Jack’s Tracts, by Jack Drury

The outdoorsmen’s outdoorsman

I’ve written in the past about three people who I’ve been fortunate enough to have as mentors. A fourth, Tap Tapley, doesn’t qualify, only because I didn’t spend enough time with him. But he does qualify as being a role model second to none. I was with Tap only three times. In 1971, ...

The girls of winter

Last January, I penned a column on an experience I had at SUNY Cortland with the woman of my dreams (https://tinyurl.com/3wa3cntn). Unfortunately that’s all it was — a dream. Imagine my surprise when the story got picked up by the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association and was featured in ...

The frostbitten ear as a classroom

There was an excellent letter to the Enterprise last week from a writer in Remson lamenting that too many aspiring 46ers put more importance on “... earning the 46-peak badge ... than with truly experiencing and understanding the Adirondacks.” I used to wholeheartedly agree with this, ...

That’s what it’s all about

Not counting Linda Leydon — who I kissed in the back of the bus in third grade — or Crystal Waters — who I sent a love letter to when my family moved from Long Island to the Finger Lakes and never heard from again — my girlfriends were few and far between. Then there was Sally ...

Come on through

Back in my day, the 1970s, I didn’t have to walk through snow uphill both ways to school, but I’ll tell you what, backcountry skiing was a lot more challenging than today. Instead of metal-edge, lightweight skis with high-tech bindings, climbing skins, and plastic boots we had skinny ...

Class conflicts on high

On these subzero winter days, reading is sometimes wiser than going outdoors. A reflection of my age, no doubt. To ward off cabin fever, I’ve been rereading some of the mountaineering classics. I decided on the oldest mountaineering book in my collection. Robert Bates’ “Five Miles ...