The Highpoint team consists of John Jancik, Terri Baker, David Baker and Jennifer Pauley. John and Terri, who met when they became team members and co-leaders of an expedition to Greenland, were married in 1991. After John and Terri's marriage, David, Terri's son, moved to Colorado where he met Jennifer Pauley. Because of his dedication to the Rowell Fund for Tibet, John was invited on to the board of directors of the fund in the winter of 2003/2004. Terri's selection to the board followed soon after. David and Jennifer were married in July 2005.

Around the time of the Dalai Lama's November, 2005 visit to Washington D.C. John came up with the idea for a volunteer fundraising project that would simultaneously raise funds for The Rowell Fund for Tibet while spreading awareness of the endangerment of the Tibetan culture. He would travel to every state in the country and visit the highest point in every state including Denali in Alaska and Mauna Kea in Hawaii. He would ask for donations in the form of a pledge per high point reached. Similar to a walk-a-thon approach where walkers ask people to contribute an amount per mile walked, John thought that the amount of money he asked from others should be directly related to his dedication to the project.

John described his idea to David and Jennifer and invited them to accompany him on some of the high points. As they talked about the idea more, it was realized that the three core members Jennifer, John and David would be attempting all 50 together, with Terri joining them on high points as her schedule allows. At this point Jennifer and David became an integral part of the fund-raising, organization, and planning.

Together with the International Campaign for Tibet and Mountain Light (the fine art photography company started by Galen and Barbra Rowell), Team Highpoint is dedicated to spreading awareness of the Chinese occupation of Tibet, both through publicizing the Highpoint Challenge and raising funds for the Rowell Fund for Tibet.