Learn more about the documentary.
Learn more about the documentary.
In August of 2012, Director Blake Cortright summited Mount Marcy (New York's tallest peak) for the first time. The view from the mountaintop captivated his imagination, inspiring him to create a film about the Adirondack High Peaks. In October of that year, Blake received a letter of interest from Mountain Lake PBS in Plattsburgh, NY and the team at Arche Productions began preparations to launch a fund raiser on Kickstarter in the months that followed.
In January 2013, the team launched their Kickstarter campaign to raise over $12,000 in 35 days and in February they met their goal. Principle photography began in March of 2013 on Cascade and Porter, and the final shots of the film were captured from a helicopter in September of 2014.
The film tells the story of the High Peaks and the men and women who hike them.
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Got Questions? They may have already been answered - check below to see!
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"The 46ers" is a documentary feature about the men and women who hike all of the 46 High Peaks (over 4,000 ft elevation) in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate NY. The filmmakers set out to answer the question, "what transformers ordinary men and women into the legendary mountaineers known as the 46ers?"
The idea for the project came about in July, 2012 when director Blake Cortright summited Mt. Marcy, New York's tallest mountain. As he took in the surrounding view, he was amazed that this area hadn't been given better cinematic treatment. After an exhausting weekend hiking Marcy, Tabletop, and Wright Peak, Blake began to ask "why do people do this?" That started the idea for the project.
About a year later, after the project had been successfully funded on Kickstarter and much of the film had been shot, a decision had to be made about the title. Originally, the working title for the film was "The 46ers: Conquering the Adirondacks." However, after spending a year interviewing folks and hiking with 46ers, the crew felt that the original line "Conquering the Adirondacks," did not truly reflect the spirit of the people who hike the Adirondack Peaks, nor did it convey the heart of the story - transformation. So the decision was made to simply call the film "The 46ers."