My daughters and I visited about 40 US highpoints between 1983 and 1992. One of these was with the Highpointes Club annual convention and climb in 1990, which that year was in El Paso Texas and a climb of Guadalupe Peak.

Holsti,

Love that list of cheater high points. Here's a suggestion: it is a cheater if there is a higher point in an adjacent state within a certain distance (say 10 miles) of the high point. So if you are in Connecticut and there is a mountain in Massachussetts higher than yours and it is less than 10 miles away, then it is a cheater. This of course implies many other questions. Like, should you have a list of peaks that are the highest that are not cheaters?

Some earlier states mentioned could serve as examples. As mentioned, Nevada's highpoint, Boundary Peak, is less than a mile from a higher mountain in California and is in fact a subsidiary peak. For this reason many people choose to climb Mt Wheeler on the other side of the state- only 80 feet shorter but a stand-alone mountain and a more satisfying climb.

Frissell in Ct is another example. It is literally on a sloping ridge of a mountain in Mass. So the Ct. highpoint isn't a summit of any kind. (By the way, if you go there I'd definitely recommend climbing the actual summit in Mass- it's a very nice spot with a nice book!)

But what to do about Connecticut? Aren't all of its tallest hills near NY or Mass? What should you call its high point?

And how about Tennessee? East of the Mississippi, Tennessee has more mountains above 6,000' than any state except perhaps NC. But most or all are near the border? How far from the border should the high point be to count? Besides, the high point in NC is hardly higher than the high point in TN. If the difference is less than, say, 300 feet, should we bother calling it a cheater?

GEM Trail wrote:As mentioned, Nevada's highpoint, Boundary Peak, is less than a mile from a higher mountain in California and is in fact a subsidiary peak. For this reason many people choose to climb Mt Wheeler on the other side of the state- only 80 feet shorter but a stand-alone mountain and a more satisfying climb.

Wheeler Peak is truly "Nevada's Mountain"... but you can drive to 10000' to start the climb, which need be no more than class 1.

Boundary is a fairly tough class 2 by any angle. A full trip also involves a climb of Montgomery in CA, which is a class 3 sharp summit. The campground for Boundary is primitive and beautiful, under 9000', and there is no real trail.

Wheeler and Boundary-Montgomery are both beautiful experiences.

This came about while my wife and I drove into South Carolina to climb Sassafras Mountain. We called Sassafras a cheater since it was close to the North Carolina border and it is 3124 feet smaller than the impressive Mount Mitchell. It became an inside joke with us. I also visited Panorama Point, Nebraska this summer and it is a "cheater" as compared to Mount Elbert and the 55 other 14ers in Colorado. This is a fun list and I have decided that only mountains within 10 miles of the border count as cheaters. Distance to the neighboring State's highpoint is irrelevant. We look at it as if the mountain has a "personality" and decided to sneak over the border in order to become a State highpoint. I also think the cheater needs to be at least 1000 feet smaller than the neighbor. I would not call Clingmans Dome (-41') a cheater since it is a big Eastern states mountain at 6643 feet.

If interested in another thread about this check out:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/3897/thr ... Highpoints

Oh my God! What have I become? I must have hung out with county highpointers in Utah for too long.

I've only got 3 highpoints under my belt so far. Drove up and took the short trail to Clingman's Dome, drove right to Mt Sunflower, and drove to Britton Hill. I don't think it matters so much where the highpoint is in a state, it's still the highest point. But it does make for an interesting discussion. I'm going to try a couple winter highpoints this winter if I have the time. Has anyone set their sights on doing all highpoints in summer and in winter too? Just curious.

CRiedel2 wrote:Has anyone set their sights on doing all highpoints in summer and in winter too? Just curious.

It's seems to me that these days, someone would've thought of that (they've thought of everything else that can be on a 'list')! But cool idea.

For myself as far as I can figure I've been to 9 or so, almost all out West. But I've got no intention of doing them all, just as I've got no intention of walking the road up Pikes Peak so I can say I bagged it. That's just me though. Doing the list thing can be fun but my time's limited enough that if I get two days off I'm headed for Baboquivari, not Sunflower Hill.

Unless, of course, there was something going on at sunflower hill. Like an SP party...

Dave Johnston (of Minus 148 fame) is the only guy to do all the highpoints in winter. Pretty amazing feat. I figure if Mount Sunflower is good enough for a legend like him, it sure as hell is good enough for an amatuer peakbagger like me.

There are a million ways to do the highpoints, if you wanna get creative. In winter, from tallest to shortest, alphabetical order, by foot from the lowest base of each mountain, west to east, by prominence, etc.

I gave an idea to a friend of a friend like 12, 13 years ago- to carry my bike up each highpoint. My friend's friend was all hot to do it, but I wasn't. So I let that one go, and this guy did all the highpoints! Well, actually, last I heard, he had done them all but Denali, which he had failed on three years in a row!

The reason I didn't do it was because it didn't seem like enough challenge, what with most of them being walkups. But I gotta admit, carrying a bike up Denali would be a respectable feat...

and now the limit of my climbing world is to get my daughter trained and motivated to just do Denali!

WingLady / Diane, great book! When I moved to California, I only took a few books with me (out of a large collection), and that was one of them.

My highpoints so far
Guadalupe Peak, TX
Black Mesa, OK
Mount Sunflower, KS
Panorama Point, NE
Harney Peak, SD

GEM Trail wrote:I gave an idea to a friend of a friend like 12, 13 years ago- to carry my bike up each highpoint. My friend's friend was all hot to do it, but I wasn't. So I let that one go, and this guy did all the highpoints! Well, actually, last I heard, he had done them all but Denali, which he had failed on three years in a row!

I think Kevin Foster succeeded in riding or carrying his bicycle to the top of the 50 State highpoints. Here is his website:

http://www.kevin-foster.com/summits.htm

I too am a highpointer. I have completed 12 so far this past summer I did 5 in 6 days in a cross country trip to include Mt. Elbert in Colorado. I really enjoyed myself and it was awesome seeing Mt. Sunflower the day before. I enjoyed both even though they are completely different. I will have to say a true highpointer though is someone who has done all 50 or aspires to. Anyone who says that they aren't going to do a few of them because they are not tall enough is not a true highpointer. Because any real highpointer knows that highpointing is not about how tall the mountain is, its about traveling through places you would have never traveled through or even known existed so that you can climb a mountain or an ant hill. Highpointing is truly a journey of a lifetime.

gwave47 wrote:Anyone who says that they aren't going to do a few of them because they are not tall enough is not a true highpointer.

When I first read this sentence, I thought you were talking about short people (like me @ 5'2") using their height as an excuse for not attempting to climb more challenging highpoints (e.g. Denali).

I do try to use my height as an excuse for not being able to get up some rock climbs, but then someone always mentions Lynn Hill, and I have to back off.

I think I need to wake up a little more before reading the forum messages.

I have done 8 (all out west) and I am sure I will finish all of the western ones, but the way I look at it, if I am going to spend time and $$ I want to climb some real mountains.. no offense to highpointers, but that is just me. Maybe when I can't climb anymore I will finish up all 50, but for now, the eastern HP's just don't interest me at all.

Here the website of another SP er -- Interesting site
http://www.surgent.net/highpoints/ -- Scott Surgent