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Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:03 pm
by Bark Eater
GEM, thanks for the update. Hadn't heard from you in a while. Glad you had a fun trip south.

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:41 pm
by Jow
Posted trip report although most of you have already been here but check out if you're bored

http://www.summitpost.org/quick-trip-to-guadalupe-peak-bonus-adventures/876579

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 6:29 pm
by Redwic
Hopefully, if all goes well, I will reach my 48th/last contiguous USA State Highpoint (Granite Peak) next year. Second time's a charm? I hope so.

But I did accomplish one big highpointing goal this year... Last month, I connected my completed County Highpoints from Canada to Mexico. That might be small potatoes to some of you but for me it was a treat.

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 8:43 pm
by LesterLong
I climbed Mt. Marcy (finally) last weekend. Also got Table Top Mountain (not purposely; got lost, and figured "if I keep walking upward, I'll eventually summit something").

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 8:48 pm
by Matt Lemke
Redwic wrote:Hopefully, if all goes well, I will reach my 48th/last contiguous USA State Highpoint (Granite Peak) next year. Second time's a charm? I hope so.

But I did accomplish one big highpointing goal this year... Last month, I connected my completed County Highpoints from Canada to Mexico. That might be small potatoes to some of you but for me it was a treat.


Hey good luck on Granite Peak. I've done it twice now and it's one of my favorite mountains. If you are willing for a little challenge, do the standard East ridge/upper south face. The SW couloir kinda sucks lol.

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:46 pm
by JohnMcPike
Did #39 Mt Arvon last month. Great time of year to do it for fall foliage.

Have plans to go to Colorado in June for a wedding and hope we can get to Elbert for #40. Mount MArcy looks better now that we moved closer than we were in Texas

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 1:13 pm
by Bark Eater
LesterLong wrote:I climbed Mt. Marcy (finally) last weekend. Also got Table Top Mountain (not purposely; got lost, and figured "if I keep walking upward, I'll eventually summit something").


Lester, did you use crampons? Looking a little white up that way. Snow depth?

Jow, congratulations on making the front page!

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 3:20 pm
by sm0421
Frank, I was in the Great Range last weekend as well, did a 20 mile hike. snow is about ankle deep and in some places deeper. waterproof boots, microspikes and gaiters are a must.

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 11:07 pm
by LesterLong
Bark Eater wrote:
LesterLong wrote:I climbed Mt. Marcy (finally) last weekend. Also got Table Top Mountain (not purposely; got lost, and figured "if I keep walking upward, I'll eventually summit something").


Lester, did you use crampons? Looking a little white up that way. Snow depth?

Jow, congratulations on making the front page!


I didn't use crampons, and saw several folks who didn't use microspikes or poles. I, however, used both microspikes and poles, both for the first time, and found it incredibly useful. It was a gorgeous day. My only regret was starting at 8am and not 6am.

Definitely white up that way....about 12 inches of snow in the pines, with just a solid covering above the tree line.

Hope this helps.

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:03 pm
by Bark Eater
Catamount, that's one beautiful pin. Hope to earn one myself one of these days!

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 4:22 am
by GEM Trail
Congrats, Catamount. Well earned!

I am a little jealous that everyone is climbing much faster than we are. It is frustrating to move so slowly. But I guess the bright side is that my kid and I have another ten years of trips before we have to come up with a new project!

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 11:33 pm
by GEM Trail
My first one was either in 1974 or 1976, when I was 10 or 12 and with a group did Katahdin and the Knife Edge. I had no idea what a high point was.

But I can almost see it now, i'll be one of those stories where it takes your whole life to do something. I am already almost at 40 years!

It would be fun during these slow times to hear everyone's story of their first high point. Please share!

Here's mine. A kid from Philly at camp for a couple weeks doing mostly canoe trips. But we hiked up and camped at Chimney Pond,then over Cathedral Trail and Knife Edge. We also spent the entire next day exploring the valley NW of Baxter Peak. I remember hours and hours of boulder hopping.

But my biggest memory was it was a confrontation between an older camper and our 18 year old counselor as we descended from Pamola Peak. I'd never heard a kid say f u to a grown up before. We were also scandalized he gave him the finger. What innocent times back then!

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 6:23 pm
by Alpinist
My first state highpoint, long before I heard of highpointing, was Mt Rainier. We summited on 9/10/2001 - the day before 9/11.

The next morning, we were packing our gear for the flight home at the hotel when the first CNN news reports came in. We watched in shock as the second plane hit the North Tower.

We listened to the news as we made the long drive to the airport from Ashford. About half way there they announced that all airports were closed. We quickly found a hotel near the Seattle airport. The hotel and rental car company were both very accommodating as we did not know how long flights would be grounded.

We were desperate to get news as to HOW LONG the airports would be closed. I lived in Boston at the time, so neither driving home nor taking a train was a great option. We tried calling airline reservations but their lines were all busy. We finally decided to drive to the airport to see if we could learn anything. When we did, there were armed military guys pointing M16s at us screaming for us to leave the airport area. It was a surreal, panicked response to the attacks.

We stayed glued to the TV for 48 hours but finally couldn't watch anymore. We decided to drive over to Olympic National Park for a day.

We heard the following day that the airports would reopen on Saturday. We still couldn't get through to the airline reservation number so we just went to the airport without any specific reservation. It was unbelievable chaos. We were happy to take any available flight to the East Coast. We ended up going to Washington DC. We didn't have a connecting reservation but they said don't worry about it. Just go! So we did. We didn't really care about our checked bags at that point. We just wanted to get home.

When we got to DC there was more chaos but somehow we managed to get on a connecting flight. Incredibly, our bags made it with us!

There was tremendous uncertainty at that time. We didn't know if the airports would be closed for a few days or a month! I was never so glad to get back home in my life.

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 9:10 pm
by JohnMcPike
Although I grew up 45 miles from Mount Marcy and hiked Marcy Dam and able to see Mount Mansfield from our town in the Champlain Valley, my first state highpoint was Mt Washington in 1992. It was the early years of our relationship and we brought our dog, Mickey with us. It was a given we'd take the road to the top. Howard was afraid of heights at the time and that drive was nerve racking with how high we were getting. I recall the elevation signs and thinking how can there be more to come - it seems we can't go any higher!! 38 highpoints later we chuckle
Mount Washington & seeing Old Man of the Mountain were on sort of a bucket list I had back in high school. I always took notice of state high points being highlighted on road maps and had a handful of them under my belt when I happen to come across Don Holmes' book at EMS in the mall I worked at and from there found out about the highpointers.

Re: STATE HIGHPOINT CLIMBERS

PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:43 pm
by Bark Eater
My first state highpoint climb was Marcy in June, 1976. I had ridden my bicycle up to High Point, NJ the year prior but didn't consider that a "climb" per se. PIcked up a few here and there along the way but never considered highpointing as a goal until I joined SummitPost in 2007. Y'all have been a good influence!