Halfway to Heaven

My White-knuckled--and Knuckleheaded--Quest for the Rocky Mountain High

By: Mark Obmascik

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Paperback | 11 May 2010

At a Glance

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288 Pages

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21.43 x 13.97 x 2.29

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Fat, forty-four, father of three sons, and facing a vasectomy, Mark Obmascik would never have guessed that his next move would be up a 14,000-foot mountain. But when his twelve-year-old son gets bitten by the climbing bug at summer camp, Obmascik can’t resist the opportunity for some high-altitude father-son bonding by hiking a peak together. After their first joint climb, Obmascik, addled by the thin air, decides to keep his head in the clouds and try to scale all fifty-four of Colorado’s 14,000-foot mountains, known as the Fourteeners—and to do it in less than one year. The result is Halfway to Heaven, a rollicking, witty, sometimes harrowing chronicle of an outrageous adventure that is no walk in the park. This "hilarious midlife picaresque" (Publishers Weekly) has garnered wide critical acclaim, was named an "Editor’s Pick" by Parade, won the 2009 National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Literature, and made one reviewer laugh so hard he "blew beer out of [his] nose" (Colorado Daily). Like the author’s critically acclaimed debut, The Big Year, it brings a keen eye and sharp humor to an obsessive subculture: climbers who share the author’s crazed passion of scaling all fifty-four of the famed and feared Fourteeners.

Industry Reviews

“Obmascik's saga revels in off-color jokes and humiliating pratfalls; the result feels like a raucous bowling night, with moderate oxygen deprivation, on the brink of an abyss." —Publishers Weekly

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Sports & Recreation Active Outdoor Pursuits Climbing & Mountaineering Family & Health Coping with / Advice about Personal, Social & Health Topics Coping with Old Age / Advice about Ageing Walking, Hiking, Trekking Biographies & True Stories Biographies Nature & The Natural World

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Published: 12th May 2009

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Introduction	p. 1
Failure	p. 5
Grays Peak
Torreys Peak
Religious Experience	p. 11
Mount of the Holy Cross
The Mission Takes Shape	p. 22
Huron Peak
Quandary Peak
La Plata Peak
Mount Sherman
Mount Yale
Mount Princeton
The Monkey	p. 35
Creston Needle
Humboldt Peak
Mount Elbert
Grays Peak
Torreys Peak
Man-Date	p. 59
Missouri Mountain
Panic	p. 72
Mount Antero
Shock	p. 81
Mount Massive
Bulldog	p. 97
Mount Shavano
Tabeguace Peak
Punishment	p. 107
Mount Columbia
Blown Away	p. 111
Mount Evans
Mount Bierstadt
The Elephant	p. 118
Mount Belford
Mount Oxford
One Benjamin Franklin	p. 123
Culebra Peak
San Luis Peak
Gravity	p. 137
Little Bear Peak
Blanca Peak
Ellingwood Point
Guts	p. 148
Wetterborn Peak
Uncompahgre Peak
Redcloud Peak
Sunshine Peak
Scruples	p. 175
Mount Democrat
Mount Lincoln
Mount Bross
Gnawed	p. 182
Mount Lindsey
Day at the Office	p. 188
Pyramid Peak
Limits	p. 196
Maroon Peak
Castle Peak
Man Maker	p. 207
Missouri Mountain
The Needles	p. 212
Mount Eolus
Sunlight Peak
Windom Peak
The Bald Leading the Blind	p. 228
Wilson Peak
Homestretch	p. 236
Handies Peak
Mount Sneffels
Snowmass Mountain
Kit Carson Peak
Challenger Point
Mount Harvard
Capitol Peak
El Diente Peak
Mount Wilson
North Maroon Peak
Crestone Peak
Return	p. 249
Longs Peak
Summit	p. 260
Pikes Peak
Bibliography	p. 267
Acknowledgments	p. 271
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Halfway to Heaven

My White-knuckled--and Knuckleheaded--Quest for the Rocky Mountain High

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

ePUB

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