Musician Malcolm Kogut has been tickling the ivories since he was 14 and won the NPM DMMD Musician of the Year award in 99. He has CDs along with many published books. Malcolm played in the pit for many Broadway touring shows. When away from the keyboard, he loves exploring the nooks, crannies and arresting beauty of the Adirondack Mountains, battling gravity on the ski slopes and roller coasters.
These
are photos from a three day hike through the Adirondack Mountain range
in upstate NY. We ascended eight arresting peaks in twelve hour
excursions. The steep ascents, rocks and roots in the trail, crowded
trails, occasional black flies and carrying about four liters of water
made for an arduous trip but the worst offender was the 90 degree
temperatures and high humidity. I need to invest in more moisture
wicking clothing. Most all of the mountain streams were dry so there was
no chance of filtering water en route. Pictured are my partners in
crime, Doug, Jim and me, Malcolm Kogut.
The pictures include
Ausable Lake from Blake Mountain, the fire tower at the top of St. Regis
mountain, a distant view of Giant, Noonmark and Sawteeth, the ridge
walk of Whiteface Mountain, Mirror Lake in Lake Placid and a sign
designating the "Ladies Mile" trail from back in the day when women were
considered the more "dainty" of the sexes.
From my "Make Recitals Great Again" recital. It was 95 degrees outside and I don't know what the temperature was inside the church under those 500 watt flood lights but this was the stickiest, sweatiest and most difficult recitals I have ever played. My fingers were so sweaty that they were sliding off the keys.
This has always been a difficult organ to record because the swell and solo divisions are located in a chamber on the other side of the chancel, the great is located right behind my head and the choir division is installed up in the balcony and consequently often sounds out of sync. For this recital I placed the recorder in the middle of the church amongst the people and that seems to have equalized it.
Other Pieces from this Recital:
Fugue in G Major, Bach Allegro From Concerto II, Bach Princess Leia's Theme from Star Wars Carillon De Westminster by Vierne Fanfare by Malcolm Kogut Prelude in C Major, Bach Battle Hymn of the Republic Toccata on "Duke Street" Once In Love With Amy Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter Trumpet Tune by Marsh Eternal Father, Strong To Save 20th Century Fox Fanfare A movement from Jupiter; Bringer of Jollity by Holst From The Planets Dialog
These are clips of one of the many arresting glaciers emanating from the 10,000 foot summit of Mount Baker in Washington State. These pictures were taken at the foot of one such glacier from the Heliotrope trail at about 5,000 feet.
A Heliotrope is a pink-purple flower which I don't think I saw. There were billions of Lupine but they were already past bloom and all the plants had gone to seed. There were several other varieties for which I don't know the names.
While in the parking lot, the rain was heavy and being ill prepared, I embarked on the hike anyway. Fortuitously, the tree canopy protected me from the rain and the trail was relatively dry. I only encountered rain when I hit some open areas of the trail.
Upon reaching about 5,000 feet in elevation, I was above the clouds and the sun was shining. Suddenly the weather changed and the clouds and temperature rose. The clouds quickly ascended and enveloped me. It seemed like it was about 80 degrees despite being surrounded by ice and I was sweating up a storm. Before ascending any further I and a few other hikers waited for the clouds to dissipate but they did not.
Not wanting to climb into the clouds, we all decided to call it a day. I would have loved to hike to the next ridge up in order to see the summit of Baker but the wet rocks, heat and cloud cover made it undesirable. If you look at a few of my other Washington videos, you'll see the peak of Baker from a distance.
This autumnal grand-daddy of all hikes led us to the serene and beckoning summits of Macomb, South Dix, East Dix, back to South Dix, then to Hough and Pough, over the Beckhorn, to Dix, back to the Beckhorn, then straight down the SW ridge of Dix and Beckhorn. We camped at Slide Brook then ascended via the land slide of Macomb Mountain with its beautiful view of Elk Lake. Each mountain has its own beckoning gleam of silver track slides. Bear Grylls would be proud.
