To the Top Book

Seeking to climb to the geographic highpoints of all 50 U.S. states has been a recognized passion of a select few adventurous souls since 1986, when some of these folks discovered one another and began calling themselves the Highpointers Club. To the Top, a new book by adventurer Joe Glickman and his friend, renowned outdoor photographer Nels Akerlund, is an engaging, lighthearted account of two close friends accomplishing this new American odyssey.

Their adventure began in 1994, when Joe and Nels, over glasses of beer, hatched a plan to climb America's 50 state summits while documenting the expedition. Expecting the exercise to take six months, Joe and Nels found themselves embarking on a five-year marathon that included not only the physical challenges of scaling imposing peaks like Wyoming's Gannett Peak and Alaska's Mt. Denali, but the artistic challenge of documenting the highpoints in states like Nebraska, where the highpoint, quite literally, was a mound of cow dung on a prairie stretching as far as the eye can see. Reaching one peak required a death-defying, 50-mile round-trip wilderness hike through ice fields and up sheer precipices; in other places, reaching the "summit" was a matter of pulling the jeep to the side of a long, flat highway.

The real adventure for readers, though, is in eavesdropping on the good-natured, back-and-forth banter of two good friends fulfilling a lifelong dream-and in meeting the Americans Joe and Nels encounter along the way: eccentric fellow travelers and off-beat local characters; isolated hermits and thrill-seeking adventurers; forest rangers and fellow highpointers.

To the Top is many things-white-knuckle adventurechronicle, psychological character study; humorous buddy story. It adds up to a truly unique book that does it all.

Seeking to climb to the geographic highpoints of all 50 U.S. states has been a recognized passion of a select few adventurous souls since 1986, when some of these folks discovered one another and began calling themselves the High Pointers Club. But a completed 50-state quest has never before been documented in book form. To the Top, a new book by adventurer Joe Glickman and his friend, renowned outdoor photographer Nels Akerlund, is an engaging, lighthearted account of two close friends accomplishing this new American odyssey.

Their adventure began in 1994, when Joe and Nels, over glasses of beer, hatched a plan to climb America's 50 state summits while documenting the expedition. Expecting the exercise to take six months, Joe and Nels found themselves embarking on a five-year marathon that included not only the physical challenges of scaling imposing peaks like Wyoming's Gannett Peak and Alaska's Mt. Denali, but the artistic challenge of documenting the highpoints in states like Nebraska, where the highpoint, quite literally, was a mound of cow dung on a prairie stretching as far as the eye can see. Reaching one peak required a death-defying, 50-mile round-trip wilderness hike through ice fields and up sheer precipices; in other places, reaching the "summit" was a matter of pulling the jeep to the side of a long, flat highway.

The real adventure for readers, though, is in eavesdropping on the good-natured, back-and-forth banter of two good friends fulfilling a lifelong dream-and in meeting the Americans Joe and Nels encounter along the way%>eccentric fellow travelers and off-beat local characters; isolated hermits and thrill-seeking adventurers; forest rangers and fellowhighpointers.To the Top is many things-white-knuckle adventure chronicle, psychological character study; humorous buddy story. It adds up to a truly unique book that does it all.

About the Author:
Joe Glickman's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Daily News, Newsday, The Village Voice, Outside, Men's Journal, Inside Sports, Adventure Cyclist, Runner's World, US, EcoTraveler, The Paddler, Sea Kayaker, Women's Sports & Fitness, and Brooklyn Bridge. He co-wrote (with Allen Barra) That's Not the Way It Was, a book about myths in sports. Joe lives in New York.

Nels Akerlund's photography has appeared in National Geographic Magazine and The New York Times. He was a co-author and photographer for The Complete Idiot's Guide to Rock Climbing, and his work has been featured in several other books. Nels lives in Illinois.