PROVO, Utah -- A man in Provo just finished climbing all of the highest mountains in all 50 states.
The amazing feat took him to the top of Mount Mckinley in Alaska and a mere 345 feet above sea level in Florida.
Andy Howell said some of the climbs proved to be a greater challenge than others.
"The most difficult one without a doubt is Denali, it's a 2 to 4 week adventure,” Howell said. “It's super cold. It's very committing. It's very high, but all the ones out here in the west are high peaks in their own right.”
Howell started mountaineering three years ago. After he realized he made it to the top of two of the most difficult state high points, he thought he better check the rest of them off his list.
"About 20 of them you can basically drive up to,” he said. “You just have to physically get yourself there. The highest point in Kansas is Mount Sunflower. If they didn't have a very ornate high point marker, you would have no idea. It's in the middle of a corn field on the top of what we wouldn't even consider a hill around here."
It took two and a half years to make it to all the highest points in all the states. Howell said the journey took him to a new level, which was one of the high points in his own life.
"I think mostly for me, high pointing and climbing is about learning that I can do hard things,” he said. “That my endurance is always more than I think it is, and I can keep going.”
