Have you ever climbed Mount Monadnock? How about over 1,200 times? Or 16 times in one day?
Garry Harrington has, and he wrote about those experiences and many more of his mountain climbing adventures in his 2016 book, Chasing Summits: In Pursuit of High Places and an Unconventional Life, published by AMC Books in Boston.
Harrington, who lives in Swanzey, will talk about those adventures during a book-signing presentation to be held Saturday, Jan. 5, at 3 p.m. at the Chesterfield Town Hall.
The event is co-sponsored by the Friends of Chesterfield Gorge, the Pisgah Defenders, and the Chesterfield Public Library and is free of charge.
According to a news release, Harrington began climbing Mount Monadnock almost daily in 2000, reawakening a passion for hiking and the outdoors that has carried him around the world. Since then, he has climbed the 3,165-foot peak in southwestern New Hampshire more than 1,200 times, including a record 16 times in one 24-hour period in 2006.
He soon discovered the White Mountains of northern New Hampshire and the other 4,000-footers of the Northeast, and he climbed them all. From there, he upped his game and headed to Colorado, knocking off all the 14,000-footers in the Rocky Mountains.
That led to a backpacking trip to Central America where he climbed several high volcanoes, including Pico de Orizaba in Mexico, more than 18,000 feet high. In addition, he climbed all the state highpoints in the U.S., except for Denali in Alaska, where he was turned back by bad weather short of the summit in 2016.
Eventually, he also traveled to Europe, where he climbed several country highpoints, as well as the famed Matterhorn in Switzerland, which he considers his greatest mountaineering achievement. Also in 2016, he became just the 13th person ever to summit all the 14,000-footers in the contiguous U.S.
All of these adventures are documented in his book, Chasing Summits.
Well-known to the local community as the former sports editor at both the Brattleboro Reformer and The Keene Sentinel, Harrington now spends much of the year living in his van, traveling around the country hiking, climbing, and, as a competitive athlete, running ultramarathons.
Harrington will have copies of Chasing Summits for sale after the presentation.