fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Pike’s peak: Woodstock woman aims for adventure

by George Pattison
March 8, 2014
in Community
1
Jane Pike climbing Mt. Washington.
Jane Pike climbing Mt. Washington.

Storm-force winds knocked her to her knees and blood seeped from her blistered feet, but Jane Pike was happily in her element — crouched on the face of a cold New Hampshire mountain in the dead of winter, striving to climb higher.

“I loved being up there! I loved it!” wrote Pike, 46, a veteran ice and rock climber, to a bevy of friends and supporters in the aftermath of her February 22 attempt to ascend the Northeast’s highest peak, 6,288-foot Mount Washington. While the mountaineering expedition — a first for the adventurous Woodstock resident, who works as a physical trainer and serves in the local fire department — fell short of the summit, it whetted her appetite for future assaults on snowy slopes.

Pike’s email concluded: “I was grinning from ear to ear the entire hike, even as my calves were burning and my heart was pumping! If we could have stayed, I would have done it all again today! I have been dreaming about this for so long! I can’t wait to try again! I can’t wait to go for bigger mountains! I am so excited and happy!”

While she plots her next escapade, life is unlikely to get dull for Pike. With her husband, Gregory (who grew up in Woodstock but is unrelated to the noted artist John Pike), she is raising the couple’s three sons, Finnegan, 14, Ronan, 12, and Cade, 9. She serves as an emergency medical technician with Fire Company No. 5, the rescue squad, and is also a member of Zena-based Company No. 4. She is a peace officer with the fire police and is certified for low-angle rescue, ice rescue, and search-and-rescue operations.

 

Organized adventures

And then there’s the Gal Group, a network of local-area women that Pike and a friend founded in 2007. Annually, between March and September, Pike organizes six or seven participatory events, ranging from instruction in skydiving and archery to workshops on bread making and beekeeping, for subsets of the more than 300 women on the network’s email list.

“I try to pick things that get the women out of their comfort zone,” said Pike in a recent interview, noting that affordability — as well as the potential for excitement, stimulation, camaraderie, and education — guides her choices. The Gal Group typically receives a discounted group rate from an event’s vendor, yielding a per-person fee of no more than $50 (or a maximum of $100 for each year’s “big” event, such as the skydiving outing). Pike provides her organizational services free of charge.

In separate interviews, two mainstays of the Gal Group extolled Pike and the adventures that she concocts for the group. “Jane is amazing,” said Jodee Keller, a Kingston resident who has participated in hiking at Mohonk Mountain House; bread making taught by a master baker (who happens to be a physician involved in fundraising for clinics in Tibet); the beekeeping workshop; and a “couponing” class aimed at promoting savvy consumerism in the supermarket. “Jane is very well-connected. I have met some amazing people. I’m a mother of three and have found that these events are a wonderful way to meet people and do ‘adult’ things that are stimulating.”

Grace Murphy lives in Woodstock, where she serves on the volunteer Comeau Stewardship Advisory Committee. She has been a Gal Group participant since 2009. “It’s an amazing thing,” said Murphy. “There is such a variety of events: crewing on the Hudson, ziplining at Hunter, an entire day or bread making or paella cooking. Some are exciting, some are tough, and some are relaxing and instructive.”

 

Page 1 of 2
12Next
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

What it’s like to attend Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show

Next Post

A Chilean divorcée reinvents herself in Gloria

George Pattison

Related Posts

JBee Beauty Supply brings hair care products to people of color in New Paltz
Business

JBee Beauty Supply brings hair care products to people of color in New Paltz

March 31, 2023
30 Hudson Valley Easter events worth hunting for
Community

30 Hudson Valley Easter events worth hunting for

March 30, 2023
Benefit concert for beloved Woodstock musician known for giving back to community
Art & Music

Benefit concert for beloved Woodstock musician known for giving back to community

March 30, 2023
Groups, workshops and book events in Ulster County, Jan. 25-31
Community

20 Hudson Valley workshops, groups and book discussions this week for inquiring minds

March 29, 2023
Historic cliffside steps reopen at Minnewaska State Park Preserve
Community

Parking reservation system for Sam’s Point opens April 1

March 28, 2023
New welcome center opens on Highland side of Walkway Over the Hudson
Community

Walkway Over the Hudson opens elevator, free electric tram and pavilions

March 28, 2023
Next Post

A Chilean divorcée reinvents herself in Gloria

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • After months of speculation, Uptown Kingston’s Market Basket reopens for business 1.7k views
  • School “swatting” strikes Kingston High as police issue statewide advisory 1.5k views
  • Students sent to hospital after Rosendale crash involving school bus 1.3k views
  • Stony Run deal passes, not everyone is celebrating 1k views
  • Best barbecue in the Hudson Valley? Native Arkansawyer brings smoking skills to area’s hottest bars 729 views
  • New Paltz Planning Board considers proposal for feline-themed café 647 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
45°
Cloudy
6:38 am7:21 pm EDT
Feels like: 45°F
Wind: 0mph N
Humidity: 100%
Pressure: 29.51"Hg
UV index: 1
SunMonTue
48/27°F
61/41°F
64/45°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing