State Highpoints

[pizza]

Originally Posted by Mike P.

I'd probably call Highpointing & travel goal for people who like being fit (As Pizza mentioned no easy way up ID, AK, WA, CA, NV, AZ, WY & CO high points) & who think traveling to each MLB or NFL park is a fat man's travel goal. (or a real fan of the games goal)

heh.. define "easy".. (:

there is no road to take you to those highpoints.. and by those standards you can add (this is off the top of my head): Maine, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, Louisiana, Illinois (1-mile road is private, you have to walk), Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, and Oregon.

Many of these are easy hikes, but you've gotta hike 'em..

A road will take you about a half-mile from Arkansas & Michigan, too..

[Mike P.]

On a hiking bulletin board a road walk has to be considered easy.

I don't know if I'd call CT hard, it's a decent hike from NY trailhead & over Brace + log book is at Frissell summit (or it used to be) while coming from other side you can use the Mt. Washington Road which is much higher up although you then have to hike up the steep side of Round Mt. (a couple of hundred feet or so) & then up the steep side of Frissell (in MA) & then down to the marker.

Hard time thinking LA would be hard, it's only a few hundred feet. (off the top of my head I'm thinking 545 or just over 600) - (I looked 535 per Rand McNally)

Hood you could take a chair (tram?) up the Mountain. It does not go to the top. What I don't know is how much you would have left or if the chair would put you on even the right side of the pountain for hiking.

[pizza]

Originally Posted by Mike P.

On a hiking bulletin board a road walk has to be considered easy.

I don't know if I'd call CT hard, it's a decent hike from NY trailhead & over Brace + log book is at Frissell summit (or it used to be) while coming from other side you can use the Mt. Washington Road which is much higher up although you then have to hike up the steep side of Round Mt. (a couple of hundred feet or so) & then up the steep side of Frissell (in MA) & then down to the marker.

Hard time thinking LA would be hard, it's only a few hundred feet. (off the top of my head I'm thinking 545 or just over 600) - (I looked 535 per Rand McNally)

Hood you could take a chair (tram?) up the Mountain. It does not go to the top. What I don't know is how much you would have left or if the chair would put you on even the right side of the pountain for hiking.

I'm thinking more along the lines of the distance, not elevation.. CT was 3-4 miles RT by the route I took.. Louisiana was about two miles RT. Hood has a chairlift at TimberLine, but it opens too late and doesn't take you very far up. Climbers normally arrive at the summit a couple of hours after dawn at the latest.. The snow softens up later in the morning, causing dangerous conditions.

Even if the chair opened up early enough, you'd still be dealing with technical glacier travel, at least a couple thousand feet of gain and exposure..

[freeheelwilly]

Originally Posted by Greg

Remember, not all state highpoints are mountains, and not all are remote enough to need to hike to. Therefore, I don't think that state highpointing is inherently a hiker's endeavor, necessarily.

If you want to do all of 'em it sure is - in fact it's a bit more than just a "hikers' endevour", no? This points up what nobody here has discussed yet: What about Alaska? To complete the 50 you'd have to bag Denali. Not an any task, logistically, physically or financially.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by freeheelwilly

If you want to do all of 'em it sure is - in fact it's a bit more than just a "hikers' endevour", no? This points up what nobody here has discussed yet: What about Alaska? To complete the 50 you'd have to bag Denali. Not an any task, logistically, physically or financially.

Touché

[Mike P.]

Pizza,

Good points on Hood, although I'd have to say 3-4 miles RT in CT is easy when compared to the Western Peaks or Katahdin, 4miles in CT shouldn't take anyone more than two or three hours & that's generous, IMO.

If one had a bunch of money you could (some of these probably would) hire guides for Rainier & Denali (I suspect Hood also)

What would be the higher peaks out west most people do not (or can not) hire guides for? I've read my share of TR's from Whitney so I know that many do that on their own (with permit of course) & I don't recall reading any AZ or NV high point reports mentioning guides but what about WY, MT, CO & others. I've only read one or two UT & NM trips, what about those?

[Mark S]

Granite Peak, Montana; Gannett Peak, Wyoming; Mount Rainier, Washington; Mount Hood, Oregon and Denali are the five highpoints that are considered to be on a different level from all the rest. Everything else is hikable although you can take more difficult routes if you choose on some. NM (via Bull-of-the-Woods) and CO are long hikes (I have them planned for September) but no more "difficult" than Katahdin or Marcy. Borah, Idaho and King's Peak, Utah are usually done as overnight backpacks but nothing technical. AZ is also a long hike and NV is a scree scramble (probably Class 2).

Back to the tough five ... Granite has a brief section of vertical rock while the other four mentioned involve glacier travel. I'm just finally getting into the western HPs with my next trip in a couple of months ... got the rest of the country licked. Cheers.

[pizza]

Originally Posted by Mike P.

Pizza,

Good points on Hood, although I'd have to say 3-4 miles RT in CT is easy when compared to the Western Peaks or Katahdin, 4miles in CT shouldn't take anyone more than two or three hours & that's generous, IMO.

If one had a bunch of money you could (some of these probably would) hire guides for Rainier & Denali (I suspect Hood also)

What would be the higher peaks out west most people do not (or can not) hire guides for? I've read my share of TR's from Whitney so I know that many do that on their own (with permit of course) & I don't recall reading any AZ or NV high point reports mentioning guides but what about WY, MT, CO & others. I've only read one or two UT & NM trips, what about those?

Sure CT is easy.. my point was that you couldn't drive your car within a mile of it.

Anyway, guides.

You could hire a guide for any and all of the western peaks. You can hire a guide for the eastern anthills, too. If you want to pay someone to show you how to get to highpoint, nj, I'm sure someone would be willing to take your money.

The better question is which peaks are typically climed with guides?

Generally speaking, people don't hire guides for peaks that are non-technical. Whitney (CA), Boundary (NV), Humphreys (AZ), Wheeler (NM), Kings (UT), Borah (ID), and Elbert (CO). They're all hikes or backpacks, the most difficult aspect being scree (especially NV,UT) and exposure (ID).

People commonly hire guides for Denali (AK), Ranier (WA), Hood (OR) - and less commonly for Gannet (WY) and Granite (MT). AK, WA, and OR are glacial peaks where climbing teams rope themselves to each other for crevasse rescue. WY has some glacial features and frozen couliers that must be climbed. MT has some "easy" 5th class rock climbing, but at 12000 feet with exposure that I understand to be unreal.

Guides to not make a climb physically easier.. you still have to go up under your own strength. What they do is help make sure you don't get lost, hurt, or killed. Many will hold a 1-2 day "clinic" on glacier travel and crevasse rescue, as well as self-arrest, crampon use, etc., before the climb. For Denali, most guides require at least moderate experience with glacier travel..

[Mike P.]

I think the one big advantage a guide provides is decision making based on years (usually) of experience.

There was a resuce conducted on Mt. Washington (NH) several years ago in October where a hiker went up solo on a cold rainy October day. His partner canceled which should have signaled something, he had knee surgery earlier that year & while ascending the Trail, either TRT or Lion's Head his knee was troublesome so he opted to descend a different route which meant significantly more above treeline exposure. As often is the case on a 40 degree rainy day at PNVC, once he got up higher the weather got worse & it was snow & ice he was fighting not rain. He used his "Easy Button" to call for a rescue which almost did not go because the conditions were dangerous to the team & once up there they were getting ready to leave due to conditions when one of the group found the man.

He said he was experienced due to completing 2 of the 7 summits (Kili & Aconagua I believe) & completing a couple of hikes in CO. He said all major CO peaks but I never could get out of him if that meant he did the 54 14k's or just Elbert & Longs. The two Highpoints & Longs could have been done with guides, Elbert too I guess. My point is his decision making on Washington was really bad.

* rainy 40 degree days in October at 2,000 feet are not good days to travel up Washington
* Partner canceling due to conditions, (I susepct it was windy up top all day)
* not turning back when the knee first became an issue
* picking an escape route in bad weather that involved well over a mile of above treeline travel
* not having enough gear to withstand bad conditions when planning an October hike in the rain on a cold day & one of the worst weather places is your destination. (On a summer day without rain & having enough to weather a 30 degree night would be okay - that does not happen in Mid-October)

Glacier travel is a different animal for sure, having knowledge or knowledgable partners (or guides) is a smart way to go.

[Mark S]

So what's your point? That highpointers have bad judgement? Seems like a huge jump of faith to make based on the experience of one person on one highpoint.