If you have a hankering for climbing the highest spot around, The Highpointers Club may be for you. While some Americans travel the lower 48 to lay claim to a game in every professional baseball stadium, Highpointer's 1,500 members share a different goal -- seeking to summit as many high points in each of the 50 states as they are willing and able.

It's one thing to stroll up 1,235-ft Charles Mound, the highest point in Illinois, versus completing the several-day technical climb to Wyoming's 13,804 ft Gannett Peak. I've stood atop three Fourteeners in Colorado (14,000 ft or higher), but the only high point I can claim is Colorado's Mt. Elbert. Not sure if my memory of standing atop 6,643 ft Clingman's Dome in Tennessee counts, I think my dad helped haul me up there when I was a young girl.

Highpointers is not just about notching climbs -- their mission includes conservation and preservation of high points and fostering relationships of like-minded climbers. Only 173 Highpointers, past or present, have reached the summit of all 50. Maybe you, too? Sadly, climbing the higher peaks is serious business. Club member James Nasti, aged 51, died this past July 4 on the summit of 20,320 ft Mt. McKinley in Alaska -- his 49th climb.

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