[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 167 (Thursday, November 3, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7123-S7124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO KRISTEN KELLIHER

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I am taking this opportunity to share 
with the Senate the extraordinary accomplishment of a young Vermonter. 
At the age of 17 years, 4 months, and 13 days, Kristen Kelliher became 
the youngest female to climb the highest peaks in all 48 States in the 
continental United States. Her journey began in 2002 as she and her 
family started climbing during family vacations. Soon she progressed to 
scaling the tops of America's most challenging peaks, including Mount 
Hood and Mount Rainer. Along the way, she endured injuries and 
logistical setbacks, but she never let those stop her from reaching her 
goal. She saved the best for last. Surrounded by 30 family members on a 
sunny September day, she summited Vermont's Mount Mansfield, in Stowe. 
She is a dynamic role model to all Vermonters, young and old.
  Along with excelling on the hiking trails, Kristen is also an honor 
student and a three-sport athlete. She plans to graduate early and 
climb the last two peaks--Hawaii's Mauna Kea, and Alaska's Mount 
McKinley--next year. Kristen is modest when praised about her 
achievement and says she only hopes to inspire others to reach goals 
they once thought unattainable. Vermonters are proud to recognize 
Kristen Kelliher's strength, skill and stamina, and we congratulate her 
on this great accomplishment. I ask unanimous consent to have printed 
in the Record an article about her achievement, from The Boston Globe.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the Boston Globe, Oct. 14, 2011]

                     Climbing Into the Record Book

                          (By Josephe P. Kahn)

       Norwich, VT.--On a warm, sunny afternoon last month, 
     Kristen Kelliher hiked to the top of Mount Mansfield, the 
     highest point in her home state of Vermont. Accompanied by 30 
     family members and friends, she was greeted at the summit by 
     a banner celebrating her achievement, one that landed 
     Kelliher in the record books.
       That day, at age 17 years, 4 months, and 13 days, she 
     became the youngest female to ``highpoint''--stand atop the 
     highest peak--in all 48 states in the continental United 
     States.
       Climbing Mount Mansfield, all 4,393 feet of it, was a piece 
     of cake, though, compared with what Kelliher accomplished 
     this year. Beginning in June, she conquered three peaks that 
     rank among America's most challenging: Oregon's Mount Hood, 
     Montana's Granite Peak, and Washington's Mount Rainier, whose 
     imposing height (14,410 feet) and treacherous weather 
     conditions make any ascent risky.
       The previous female record holder, Danielle Birrer, was 18 
     years, 4 days old when she set the record in 2000. In all, 
     only 404 climbers of any age or gender have achieved the 48-
     state feat, according to the Highpointers Club, a Colorado 
     organization that compiles such statistics.
       In the meantime, Kelliher has set her sights on Hawaii and 
     Alaska--and an even more exclusive club, the 50-staters. Of 
     its 214 members, fewer than 15 are female.
       ``I've wanted to do this since I was 9,'' Kelliher said in 
     an interview at the high school she attends across the 
     Vermont border in Hanover, N.H., where she is in her senior 
     year. A three-sport athlete and honors student, Kelliher was 
     preparing to play in a varsity field hockey game.
       Inspired by an article about a record-setting 12-year-old 
     male highpointer, Kelliher, who has been hiking and skiing 
     all her life, decided to try for the girls' record at an age 
     when many girls might consider hiking more of a chore than a 
     challenge.
       ``I'm kind of competitive. OK, a lot,'' Kelliher said, 
     breaking into smile. ``It sounded like a cool goal. I 
     thought, I could do that, too.''
       Her climb into the record books has not been uneventful, 
     uninterrupted, inexpensive, or worry-free, however, 
     particularly on her family's part.
       Conquering Rainier in July took three attempts, each with 
     its own challenges. Her first expedition--accompanied by her 
     stepfather, Bill Bender, a solar-energy company owner, and 
     led by a professional guide team--ended in disappointment. 
     After returning to base camp, Kelliher learned that while her 
     group had technically ``summited,'' they had stopped short of 
     reaching Rainier's actual highpoint, because of bad weather. 
     The mountain's true highpoint, known as Columbia Crest, was a 
     40-minute round trip from where her party turned around, even 
     though the group received papers certifying that they had 
     summited.
       It took two more attempts, each costing several hundred 
     dollars in guide fees and equipment rentals, for Kelliher to 
     cross Washington off her list: number 46, and counting.
       "I was so upset,'' she recalled of the stomach-sinking 
     moment when she found she had fallen short. ``If I am going 
     for a record, I have to get to the top. Technically, nobody 
     would have known. But morally it wasn't quite right.''
       Her stepfather says it's in her nature to persevere where 
     others might not.
       ``Mentally as well as physically, Kristen's very tough,'' 
     he said. Climbing Mount Hood, Kelliher incurred painfully 
     swollen shins that stayed unhealed through her first Rainier 
     climb. ``You never heard her complain, though'' Bender said. 
     Instead, Kelliher grew even more determined after other 
     climbers seemed doubtful she could make it up Rainier, 
     period, potentially forcing them to turn back, too.
       What has recently become a celebration of one teen's 
     extraordinary feat is also a family saga, one that has taken 
     Kelliher, her parents, and three siblings to remote corners 
     of America that few seek out, much less scale with backpacks 
     and ice axes.
       Their first conquest happened almost by accident, on a 2002 
     cross-country road trip, when the family hiked up South 
     Dakota's Harney Peak. Highpointing wasn't even in their 
     vocabulary yet.
       In 2004, urged on by Kelliher, they began targeting other 
     states more systematically. First came New England (all 
     except Vermont, which she saved for last), then six mid-
     Atlantic states. An 18-state odyssey in 2005 took them 
     through the Deep South, Midwest, and Southwest. In 2006, they 
     knocked off 11 more states. In most cases, the family--
     including Kelliher's older brother, Ryan, now 19, and two 
     half-brothers, Billy, 10, and Danny, 7--drove from state to 
     state, camping along the way and hiking together up all but 
     the steepest peaks.
       ``This trip has taken places we just wouldn't have gone to 
     otherwise,'' said her mother, Mary Bender, a pediatrician. 
     Asked whether her daughter's quest to set a record had been 
     their driving force, she nodded and laughed. ``Although I 
     will say that if Kristen had set out to see every shopping 
     mall in America, that wouldn't have worked for us.''
       Only once, in June 2006, did the family highpoint twice 
     (Illinois and Indiana) in a single day. States like Florida, 
     whose 345-foot highpoint, Britton Hill, is America's lowest, 
     were no challenge at all. Five, including Rhode Island, never 
     rise above 900 feet.
       On the other extreme are 11 state highpoints soaring 11,000 
     feet and higher, many of which are difficult to access. 
     Wyoming's Gannett Peak, for instance, which Kelliher and 
     Bender climbed in August 2010, is reachable only by a 46-mile 
     round trip hike. Lugging backpacks crammed with climbing 
     equipment and camping gear, the two spent six long days 
     getting to the top and back.
       Highpoints, said Bill Bender, ``are all kind of weird in 
     their own way. You have to be a little eccentric to do 
     this.'' He has never calculated the overall cost of their 
     highpointing excursions, which until recently have been 
     budgeted as ordinary family vacations. However, flying to the 
     last few Western states and paying for guides and equipment 
     have nudged their spending into ``the many thousands. I'm not 
     sure we want to know the total. Except for the last handful, 
     though, it's been fairly inexpensive.''
       Tim Webb, president of the 3,000-member Highpointers Club, 
     says his organization attracts a diverse mix of hikers, 
     wilderness backpackers, and serious mountaineers, each with 
     different objectives.
       ``We get a broad spectrum, including lots of families who 
     plan vacations around highpointing,'' Webb notes. 
     Accumulating even 40 states, for which his club awards a 
     special pin, is ``a pretty significant accomplishment,'' he 
     adds.
       Early on, the Benders were unsure Kelliher would remain 
     interested in pursuing all 48. By 2007, Kelliher having 
     completed 10 trips and 42 highpoints, only two Eastern 
     states, New York and Vermont, were left. Then came a two-year 
     hiatus.
       ``Kristen was still growing, and she needed to grow into 
     the bigger mountains,'' her stepfather recalled.
       She began last year taller, stronger, and more resolute 
     than ever. ``If I wanted to do this [set the record],'' 
     Kelliher said, ``I knew I'd have to start moving.''

[[Page S7124]]

       Now it's on to 50, and another possible age record. Next 
     February, after completing high school a semester early, 
     Kelliher will tackle Hawaii's 13,796-foot Mauna Kea, a 
     relatively easy climb. Last is Alaska's 20,320-foot Mount 
     McKinley (also known as Denali), the most challenging of all. 
     For every 1,000 climbers who go up, three fail to make it 
     down alive.
       Kelliher has signed with a guide team for next May and will 
     pay for the trip's $17,000 cost herself. Already filling out 
     college applications, she's looking for corporate sponsorship 
     or grant money to help.
       ``It's definitely scary,'' her mother said. ``If Kristen 
     can figure out how to fund it, in her 17-year-old way, I 
     won't stop her, though. And if she can't, well, then I don't 
     have to worry about her being killed in an avalanche.''
       Kelliher says she will not be discouraged if her group 
     fails to conquer Denali.
       Yet if she succeeds, it just might inspire another fourth-
     grader to work harder--and climb higher--to achieve goals she 
     once thought were unreachable.

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