Local couple on the verge of completing the ‘New England 67’

Mike Mariano and Kim Bowden on the summit of Mt. Katahdin in Maine

When Mike Mariano was a seventh grader at the Galvin Middle School, he joined his classmates for a field trip to Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. Once there, he ran to the top of the mountain and was the first in the class to get there. “I thought it was a race,” he said.

Exhausted, he made a promise to himself that he would never climb another mountain.

Mariano has broken that vow dozens of times throughout his life. He and his girlfriend, Kim Bowden, have climbed all 48 of New Hampshire’s mountains that are higher than 4,000 feet in elevation, known as the NH48. In 2025, Mariano and Bowden plan to climb Mount Abraham, Mount Spaulding, and Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. The three mountains are the last that they need to climb in order to complete the New England 67 — mountains in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine that are higher than 4,000 feet.

“My personal plan was to complete 100 summits by the age of 50,” Mariano said. “We’re ahead of schedule.”

The couple learned about both the NH48 and the New England 67 from hikers they met along the way.

Mariano and Bowden started to climb the NH48 during the spring of 2020 and climbed the last one in the summer of 2022. In September of this year, the pair completed a climb of Mount Bigelow and Avery Peak in Maine, which was a 13-mile hike. “Sometimes these hikes take a few miles just before you start climbing,” Mariano said. “Overall, that climb took us 11 hours. They’re long, strenuous days.”

Mariano explained that at times he and Bowden have done peak bagging. When they have reached the col, or the space between two peaks, it’s possible to climb one peak, climb down, and climb over a ridge line to another peak. “You technically complete two mountains in one climb, in some situations,” Mariano said. “It really depends on what the plan is and what you’re planning to attack.”

When planning their climbs, they keep an eye on weather conditions. Their routine is to drive to an area on a Friday, wake up by 6 a.m. the next morning, and be on the trail between 6:30 and 7:30, depending on how long the climb will be. They return home on Sunday. The drive to Mount Bigelow and Avery Peak was five to six hours. The next morning, they were on the trail by 7 a.m. in order to be down the mountain by sunset. They plan hikes for every weekend provided the weather is good.

The Appalachian Mountain Club awards certificates and patches to climbers who complete climbs, including the NH48 and the New England 67. Climbers must submit details of their climbs in order to receive the certificates and patches. Mariano uses a spreadsheet to keep track of the mountains that he and Bowden have climbed and includes the name of the mountain, the date of the climb, and the weather conditions, among other details. “They do a good job fact checking everything,” he said.

Once the couple completed the NH48, Mariano said that climbing the New England 67 seemed to be a natural and logical next step. Both lists of mountains are on the Appalachian Mountain Club website. They started with the six 4,000-foot mountains in Vermont and moved on to Maine. “I would say out of all the mountains we’ve climbed, I think Maine is very difficult,” he said.

Bowden handles the climbing logistics of each mountain and also selects the hotels for the couple. Mariano chooses the restaurants where they eat after each climb. They take backpacks, headlamps, two bottles of water each, thermal blankets, gloves, sweatshirts, hats, and thermal lightweight jackets. “If you don’t plan properly, you can definitely subject yourself to hypothermia — and that’s something we do everything in our power to prevent,” Mariano said.

They have encountered weather conditions after they started a climb that made them stop and discuss if they should continue, but have not experienced any dangerous situations. “Kim is very good at constantly watching the weather up until the hours before we go, just to make sure there’s no shifts,” Mariano said.

Mike Mariano on the summit of Avery Peak

There have been times where Bowden has canceled their plans on a Friday due to the incoming rain or colder weather. Temperature changes can happen very quickly at the summit.

“You have to make sure you pack enough,” Mariano said. “You don’t want to find yourself 11 miles into the woods and freezing cold, subjected to hypothermia. By the time you get to these summits, you’re already dehydrated. You’re physically exhausted. You’re emotionally drained. A lot of time, getting back down is just as hard as getting up there.”

Mariano and Bowden turn to sugary foods for energy as they hike. Mariano packs a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, while Bowden carries a turkey and cheese sandwich. Mariano’s go-to snacks are red goldfish, and Bowden brings Reese’s peanut butter cups. Mariano compared the hikes to working out on a stair master for 11 hours on some days.

When they head out for dinner, Mariano orders a rib eye steak for the salt content, while Bowden chooses steak tips. “And always a nice cold beer,” he said, “just to celebrate at the end.”

Mariano and Bowden have a passion for the outdoors, especially the mountains. “We just love the mountains, we love the adventure, we love the views,” he said. “We love getting away on the weekends.”

An old friend told him that anybody can go to the beach and see the ocean, but only few people get to see the world from the top of a mountain. “That kind of resonates with me,” he said. “When I stand on the top of a mountain looking out, it really is just breathtaking to see the expanse of the world. It’s beautiful. It really is.”

He loves being in the back country of New England, especially in the spring and fall, when there are relatively few people around and the foliage is beautiful. “I wish more people would get involved and get out there and do it,” he said.

Mariano and Bowden are now considering a pursuit of the Northeast 111, which includes 46 summits in New York.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Nov 22 2024. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.