SUBSCRIBE NOW
GIVE A GIFT

DINING GUIDE

Select Cuisine --- American Asian Barbecue Breakfast Cajun/Southern Caribbean Contemporary Deli Ethiopian French Fusion Health Indian International Italian Latin American Mediterranean Mexican Middle Eastern Pizza Pub Seafood Southwestern Steak House Select Neighborhood --- Downtown Cherry Creek Central Denver Boulder Southeast Metro Southwest Metro Northwest Metro Northeast Metro

Advanced Search

TOP DOCTORS

Click here for our 2009 list, with 283 Denver doctors in 83 medical specialties. It's our biggest, most comprehensive Top Docs feature yet.

NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for 5280's weekly e-newsletters. Want the latest restaurant scoop? The latest happenings around town? Access to exclusive events and deals just for 5280 readers? Sign up today for our great 5280 email newsletters and you'll be in the know all week long.

TALK TO 5280

Tell us about it. Give us your restaurant feedback or submit your event for our online and printed calendar.

JOBS

Find out more.

On Top of the World
Award-winning journalist Mark Obmascik's dishes on his new book about summiting Colorado's 54 fourteeners.
By Julie Dugdale
June 2009

When award-winning journalist Mark Obmascik found himself in a couch-bound rut at 44, he took a cue from his 12-year-old son and set out to summit each of Colorado's 54 fourteeners in just one year. In Halfway to Heaven: My White-knuckled—and Knuckleheaded—Quest for the Rocky Mountain High (Free Press), he chronicles his adventures as he battles self-doubt, sheds a few pounds, and meets a slew of quirky hiking partners on 14ers.com. Here, Obmascik looks back.

5280 Your wife had a "no solo hiking" demand. You never cheated the rule?
Mark Obmascik It turned out to be a great rule. I learned about stuff I never knew I was interested in by going on the Internet and meeting strangers. Not only didn't I cheat, but I never slept on the sofa when I got home.

Was it awkward hiking with total strangers?
It's kind of a code. You don't know each other, but I would have done anything to save the other guy's life, and he the same. You get above a certain altitude and there's a truth elixir. You have heartfelt talks, which doesn't really happen for men without alcohol involved. You get so far out of your comfort zone—away from the cubicle, the house—that everything gets stripped down to its essence. Everybody's got a story.

What motivated you to keep up the grueling schedule?
It's before dawn...and you're moving. You look up, and there's the Milky Way, just brilliant. I really love the spirit out there. It's a wild thing. The Discovery Channel doesn't do it justice.

Next on the docket?
I like stories about people chasing something without brakes. I think people live their lives like a compromise, which is sometimes good.... But what happens when you take the brakes off?

 Save to del.ico.us

ADVERTISING