By Dale Farris, Secretary
Golden Triangle PC Club
September 2002

Program Overview

New to the Fall 2002 lineup of software is TOPICS Entertainment's 1,001 Hikes in North America, the Deluxe CD ROM edition, a neat program that presents in this one program all the valuable information hikers have come to value in the many books from the well known outdoor title publisher, The Mountaineers Books. 1,001 Hikes is a compilation of 13 very popular Mountaineers hiking books, and the program features 18 of America's most scenic regions, including Washington, California, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. The actual number of hikes included in this program is 1,042.

Avid hikers will certainly enjoy being able to explore the most striking locales in the U.S. in this one CD ROM program. The 13 The Mountaineers Books packed into this program include the following:

100 Hikes in California's Central Sierra and Coast Range
100 Hikes in New Mexico
100 Hikes in Oregon
100 Hikes in Utah
100 Classic Hikes in Arizona
100 Classic Hikes in Colorado
100 Classic Hikes in Northern California
100 Classic Hikes in Washington
75 Hikes in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park
51 Best Hikes With Children in Catskills & Hudson River Valley
46 Best Hikes With Children in Connecticut, Massachusetts, & Rhode Island
45 Best Hikes With Children in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine
25 Best Hikes With Children in Michigan

The user interface is designed to make it as easy as possible to find one of these hiking trails from the data on the CD ROM. First, you click on the interactive atlas of the U.S. This allows you to select from the 18 regions that have been organized in the program. Next, you simply choose a highlighted trail from a detailed area map of your selected region.

Then a new window displays a trail map and specific information pertaining to the hike, including directions, trail distance, level of difficulty, favorable seasons, descriptive narratives, and instructions from professional hikers. Then, you can print out your map and all the specific information on your hike.

The many hiking trails that have been pulled from the Mountaineers Books form the basis of the data in this super CD ROM collection that makes it much more easier to access the information on these trails than having to find the data in the 13 books. While many public libraries may have some of the Mountaineers Books, naturally we cannot expect each public library to have all the books. This important CD ROM collection now makes it so very easy to find the data on all these trails from all these books, from this one program.

All the well known information and features from the Mountaineers Books has been adapted to this neat CD ROM program, continuing the focus on highlighting the details about these significant hiking trails in these various regions of the country. In the data on the Catskills & Hudson River Valley, we find many short outdoor excursions, all located within 2.5 hours of New York City, with many kid-friendly jaunts. In the Shenandoah National Park, the 75 hike trails cover almost 20,000 acres, including mountainous quartz outcroppings or trout-filled streams.

In Northern California, the 100 hikes cover sand dunes, lakes, and windswept mountains, in Colorado the 100 trails cover lofty peaks, and in Washington, the 100 hikes cover Alpine meadows and ancient forests, glaciers, and volcanoes.

From the craggy, purple-layered peaks of Colorado's Maroon Bells, to the sterling waters and surrounding forest-topped hills of Washington's Snow Lake, this neat program will take you on an invigorating journey to the most brilliant summits, valleys, alpine expanses, and tumbling waterfalls of North America.

The trails include 3-mile jaunts, 8-mile hikes, and even a 20-mile backpacking exploration, as well as many captivating trails to enjoy with children. The detailed directions and maps, trail mileage, elevation gain, level of difficulty of the hike, estimated time to complete the hike, and the favorable seasons to enjoy the hike all help create one of the most unique CD ROM packages now on the market.

In addition, each hiking entry is narrated by seasoned backpackers and outdoors people, including tips, historical anecdotes, and descriptive photos that will inspire all outdoor enthusiasts of all skill levels.

Features

The ultimate reference guide to hiking in the U.S.
Neat, user friendly user-interface
Extensive guides and maps for the most popular U.S. mountain ranges
Detailed directions, trail mileage, elevation gain, estimated times
Narration of each trail
1,042 actual hiking trails covered
Material comes from 13 The Mountaineers Books on hiking
18 of America's most scenic regions included
Unique computer reference program
Useful for all hikers
Especially of great value in libraries

Targeted Customers

Any family that is actively involved in hiking will most definitely want to add this super home reference program to their library of useful computer programs. Even occasional hikers will find the program of great value, as it can be used to help folks find information about interesting hiking trails, and in planning vacations that include time for hiking.

All public libraries can easily consider this one of their ready reference computer titles that definitely has a place on their desktops. With the program's inclusion of so much material from so many of The Mountaineers Books, the program can also assist libraries in making sure they provide access to these well known titles to their customers.

Install and Setup

The program should install and set up with no problems. The program comes on one CD ROM disc. Uninstalling the programs involves the use of the uninstall feature in the folders on the Start, Programs menu.

Price

$29.99 single license (quite a bargain!)

Minimum System Configuration Requirements

486/66 computer (Pentium class PC recommended)
Windows 95 or better
16MB RAM
Super VGA card, 16-bit color monitor, 800 x 600 resolution or higher
CD-ROM drive
Sound card recommended

About The Mountaineers Books

The mission of The Mountaineers Books to "inspire and educate the outdoor community through quality publications." This unique publisher has released more than 600 outdoor guidebooks, how-to books, adventure narratives, histories, conservation books, and more.

As a branch of the Seattle-based Mountaineers outdoor activity and conservation club, The Mountaineers Books is a non-profit organization. A percentage of the proceeds from the sale of every book goes to support the conservation programs of the club.

The Mountaineers publishing origins trace back to 1961, when a group of volunteers, tired of mimeographing notes for the club’s popular climbing course, pooled their resources and formed a committee to publish the notes as a book. Now, more than 30 years later, that book, "Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills" (now in its sixth edition), has sold 400,000 copies, and is the standard text for climbing courses around the world.

The Mountaineers publishing efforts continued to grow during the subsequent decade, to include biking, hiking, and climbing guides for the Northwest. By the mid-1970s, the volunteer publishing committee had amassed a list of 70 titles. By this time the outside world had begun to treat The Mountaineers as a real publisher, so The Mountaineers Books was born.

Today, with a full-time paid staff of 30, The Mountaineers Books has established itself as a leading publisher of outdoor-related titles. The subject matter of the company’s catalog has expanded far beyond the Pacific Northwest, to include places like the North American mid- and southwest, New England, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, South America, Costa Rica, Russia, Western Europe, Tibet, Nepal, and many other exciting regions. Many of climbing’s renowned authors have published through The Mountaineers Books, among them Jim Whittaker, Lou Whittaker, Mark Twight, John Roskelley, Kurt Diemberger, Reinhold Messner, Fred Beckey, and Greg Child.

The Mountaineers Books has also made a commitment to wilderness preservation by publishing books to further specific conservation goals. One such title is "The Columbia: Sustaining A Modern Resource," a book of stunning color photographs and enlightening text that seeks solutions to sustaining the mighty Columbia River. Conservation awareness weaves a continuous thread throughout The Mountaineers publishing efforts, from education for youngsters in the "Best Hikes With Children" series to urgent pleas for action, such as those found in "Washington’s Wild Rivers" and "Alaska’s Brooks Range: The Ultimate Mountains."

About TOPICS Entertainment

With corporate offices located in Renton, Washington, TOPICS Entertainment is a premiere publisher of educational software and spoken word audio products. Founded in 1990 as a specialty video products distributor, TOPICS quickly became one of the most prolific suppliers of special interest video in the United States, servicing more than 5,000 independent retailers.

In 1994, founder and President Greg James (already an accomplished documentary video producer), entered the company into video publishing. The company's first release, “America By Rail,” went on to become one of the biggest successes in special interest video, selling more than 300,000 units. Other productions from Mr. James include the enormously successful “Learn Country Line Dancing” (2,000,000+ units sold), the “Awesome” children's series (500,000+ units sold), and the “I Wanna Be...” children's series starring ABC's Steve Pool (350,000+ units sold).

In 1996, TOPICS recognized the growing PC market and entered into consumer CD ROM publishing. Realizing there was a need to show consumers a better value, TOPICS first release, “Super Games Galore,” was one of the first collection-type software products on the market, containing more than 300 computer games. Also released that year, “Math Resource Center” (a joint venture with Encore Software), became one of the biggest selling math titles of all time, selling more than 250,000 copies.

Since 1996, TOPICS has become a leading publisher of language and reference software, and was ranked the 13th largest consumer software company in the U.S. (according to NPD INTELLECT/PCDATA Market tracking). With over 150 titles released since 1996, TOPICS Entertainment has sold more than 5 million software units to U.S. consumers.

In 2000, TOPICS infused its potent value message to spoken word audio. To date, the company has compiled more than 40 releases and sold more than 1,000,000 units to both national retail chains and specialty independent resellers. Covering all the popular genres of literature and entertainment, each beautifully packaged, multi-cassette or CD collection carries a $19.99 street price with a contained value of over $60. As one of the fastest growing product lines at TOPICS, the company is committed to growing this segment of business by continuing to offer more titles and increasing the value of content.

TOPICS Entertainment doubled its sales volume in each of the last six years and is one of the few publishing companies in America that is solely financed by it's own profits, and remains entirely debt-free. The company's stellar growth is due entirely to its commitment to consumers and retail customers. It is completely dedicated to producing the best quality products at the best price, and to always provide the highest levels of customer service in the industry. For 2001, TOPICS was ranked the #1 fastest growing consumer software company, with a 200%+ rate for the year!

Contact Information

Lindsay Collins
Director of Marketing
TOPICS Entertainment
1600 S. W. 43^rd Street
Renton, Washington 98055
425-656-3621
425-656-8013
lindsay@topics-ent.com
info@topics-ent.com
www.topics-ent.com

You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.