The highpoints in some of the United States don’t necessarily present challenges in and of themselves. Florida’s highest elevation is found atop Britton Hill, at a towering 345 ft above sea level; which is dwarfed by Louisiana’s Driskill Mountain (at least the word ‘mountain’ is in the name, right?) at 535 ft. But imagine reaching every single one of those high points. Now try to make it in less than 50 days. Sounds easy with elevations like 345 ft and 535 ft, but when you factor in Rainier’s 14,410 ft, Mt. Elbert’s 14,433 ft, Mt. Whitney’s 14,494 ft and Denali’s staggering 20,320 ft, the task starts to look daunting at best.
Mike Haugen, a schoolteacher from Denver, and Zach Price, an architect from Seattle, just finished up the record-setting challenge: 50 peaks in 50 days (website here). These guys made it to the highest point in every state in the US in 45 days, 19 hours and 2 minutes (they started the timer on the top of Denali on the 9th of June). On July 25, they finished their adventure on the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Their website is full of details from all of their climbs, and a ton of photos. Way to go, gentlemen–an impressive tour de American altitude (in its varying degrees), and congratulations on setting the time record!