highpointers.org

Kathy Dalsaso Mitchler and Club Newsletter Editor John Mitchler show off the Club logo during a reception at their home in Golden, Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 3, following their wedding.

John proposed to Kathy in Talkeetna during his successful McKinley climb. Club Treasurer Dave Covill and Beckie Covill hosted highpointers from across the country (Club Chairman Roger Rowlett from New York, Nikki Hemphill from Indiana and Mother Merc Jean Trousdale from Oklahoma) at the Evergreen home. Other highpointers attending the reception included President Don Holmes, Patrick and Susanne Thornley, Dave and Sue Pellegrini and Travis Canon. There’s more discussion on the forum.

General Questions:
What was your first highpoint?
Our own Mt. Elbert here in Colorado was the first highpoint for each of us.

Why did you start highpointing?
Charlie: I started highpointing by accident, really. The first mountain I ever climbed was Mt. Elbert, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I originally conceived the idea of hiking to all the state highpoints in 1983, the year I first attempted Denali.
Diane: I really wanted to see more of the country. Until we started highpointing, I had only visited a few of the Western states, and had seen almost nothing of the rest of the country, other than from a window seat on a jet. It was a wonderful way to get out to places we may never have seen otherwise. Plus, hiking was involved, which we both enjoy.
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[This interview by Roger Rowlett appeared in the 2nd Quarter Issue of Apex to Zenith]

It’s hard to imagine what the Highpointers Club would be like without the efforts of Mary Maurer and George Vandersluis who have teamed up to some of the hardest, unsung jobs in the past 10 years.

They hosted back to back conventions in 1993 and 1994 in South Dakota and New Mexico (the only people to host more than one convention). They have been on the Board of Directors since the Club started having a board in 1998 (they’re the only married couple to do that – the bylaws permit married couples on the board as long as they have separate memberships).
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