Thanks for the hat tip! TinyMtn is my fun hobby, and I've been making high-resolution 3D printed maps from USGS and SRTM1 data for over three years now. I'm just getting into the extensive LiDAR data now, too. The process is: download the highest-resolution data I cna find from USGS's National Map Viewer, process with GDAL, convert to a triangle mesh (custom tools), and then upload to Shapeways or convert to GCode for my XCarve. Some of these prints, along with CNC models of Meteor Crater, Telluride, Mt Fuji, Mt Hood, and Crater Lake are on Etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TinyMtn