Ich Bin Ein Gridiot: On Completing the White Mountains 4000 Footer Grid

I am a Gridiot, the self-deprecating term used in the White Mountains to describe the crazy people who’ve completed the White Mountain 4000-Footer Grid. I’m the 179th person to finish, which is pretty incredible considering the effort involved in completing this peak list, finishing on May 20, 2024, with a solo hike to Mt Isolation.

Completing The Grid (see my spreadsheet below) requires hiking 12 rounds of the 48 White Mountain 4000-footers once in each calendar month of the year (48 x 12). This involves hiking about 3000 miles with 1,000,000 feet of elevation gain, including close to 6 months in winter conditions with snowshoes and other traction aids.

While I am proud that I finished this list, it would have been impossible without the companionship of my friends and the other Aspiring and Current White Mountain Gridders who provided me with an endless stream of inspiration, encouragement, and advice that made hiking this challenging peak list lots of fun. I’d done a lot of solo hiking, backpacking, and bushwhacking in the Whites before committing to finishing the Grid, so regularly peakbagging with companions, a few days each week, was a new thing for me – one that became more meaningful than climbing the actual summits. While hiking in the White Mountains is world-class, the Grid is special because of the community of hikers who help each other to finish it.

I owe special thanks to John Sobetzer and Pepper (who’s no longer with us), who convinced me to hike the Grid one day when we ran into each other a few years ago while climbing Mt Cabot. I had recently filled out the Grid spreadsheet to see where I was and found I had already completed 265 summits out of the 576 required. I’d been on the fence until then, but John, who’s completed a Grid himself, tipped me over the edge.

While I hiked with many people during the next 310 summits, I had a few friends who were regular companions, including Ken and Karen Robichaud, Lynn Kessler, Barbara Crane, Tom Ickes, and Hilde Getsch. We had a lot of great hikes and even some backpacking trips together, and while my memory of those treks will fade, I’ll always remember the camaraderie and friendship we shared hiking The Grid.

What’s next? I’m headed to Vermont to hike and backpack a Long Trail side-by-side, which is a trail list of all the trails that intersect with The Long Trail, which I hiked in 2008. I also plan to venture into the Adirondacks to sample the ADK 46ers, perhaps hiking them all one day.

About Philip Werner