Berkshire Eagle Article on Highpointers Club

The Berkshire Eagle (May 30th) has an article, “Highpointers Club Relishes Lofty Goals”  by Derek Gentile, about the Club that quotes original club member Donald Berens, Massachusetts Board Member Chuck Bickes and Club Chairman/Webmaster Roger Rowlett.

The article notes among other things there is no limit on how long it takes to complete and that it is done on the honor system. Don Berens,, an Albany attorney and a 1970 graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, said he took 21 years to scale 50 peaks.

“However you can get there,” he said. “You can take a car, a bike,
whatever. If you can get there by helicopter, that would be acceptable.”
But most club members prefer to access the high point on foot, Bickes
said, adding that he is relatively rigid about his own attacks on the top
spots.

Berens said he has scaled all 50 peaks once and has done 45 of them twice. He and several friends founded the Highpointers Club in April 1987.
“There wasn’t a magical point where, all of a sudden, the club was formed,” he said. “What happened was, a bunch of us had scaled [1,979-foot] Mount Arvon in Michigan in 1987. When we got down, we all said, ‘Well, this was fun. We should do this again next year at another peak.’ And that’s kind of how it all started.”

Read the entire article.