IniciGrupsConversesMésTendències
Cerca al lloc
Aquest lloc utilitza galetes per a oferir els nostres serveis, millorar el desenvolupament, per a anàlisis i (si no has iniciat la sessió) per a publicitat. Utilitzant LibraryThing acceptes que has llegit i entès els nostres Termes de servei i política de privacitat. L'ús que facis del lloc i dels seus serveis està subjecte a aquestes polítiques i termes.

Resultats de Google Books

Clica una miniatura per anar a Google Books.

S'està carregant…

Halfway to Heaven (2009)

de Mark Obmascik

MembresRessenyesPopularitatValoració mitjanaMencions
1036262,320 (3.79)4
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, addled by the thin air, Obmascik decides to keep his head in the clouds and try scaling all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot mountains, known as the Fourteeners -- and to do them in less than one year. The result is Halfway to Heaven, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Obmascik's rollicking, witty, sometimes harrowing, often poignant chronicle of an outrageous midlife adventure that is no walk in the park, although sometimes it's A Walk in the Woods -- but with more sweat and less oxygen. Half a million people try climbing a Colorado Fourteener every year, but only twelve hundred have reported summiting them all. Can an overweight, stay-at-home dad become No. 1,201? With his ebullient personality and sparkling prose, Obmascik brings us inside the quirky, colorful subculture of mountaineering obsessives who summit these mountains year after year. Honoring his concerned wife's orders not to climb alone, Obmascik drags old friends up the slopes, some of them lifelong flatlanders tasting thin air for the first time, and lures seasoned Rockies junkies into taking on a huffing, puffing newbie by bribing them with free beer, lunches, and car washes. Among the new friends he makes are an ex-drag racer trying to perform a headstand on every summit, the lead oboe player in a Hebrew salsa band, and a climber with the counterproductive pre-climb ritual of gulping down four beers and a burrito. Along the way, Obmascik experiences the raw, rowdy, and rarely seen intimacy of male friendship, braced by the double intoxicants of adrenaline and altitude. Though danger is always present -- the Colorado Fourteeners have killed more climbers than Mount Everest -- Mark knows his aging scalp can't afford the hair-raising adventures of Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, and his quest becomes a story of family, friendship, and fraternity. In Obmascik's summer of climbing, he loses fifteen pounds, finds a few dozen man-dates, and gains respect for the history of these storied mountains (home to cannibalism, gold rushes, shoot-outs, and one of the nation's most famed religious shrines). As much about midlife and male bonding as it is about mountains, Halfway to Heaven tells how weekend warriors can survive them all as they reach for those most distant things -- the summits of mountains and a teenage son. And as one man exceeds the physical achievements of his youth, he discovers that age -- like summit height -- is just a number.… (més)
Cap
S'està carregant…

Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar.

No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra.

» Mira també 4 mencions

Es mostren 1-5 de 6 (següent | mostra-les totes)
As an older hiker myself, I found this entertaining, relatable, somewhat terrifying, and somewhat motivational. Something good to read by headlamp at night in your tent. ( )
  dele2451 | May 20, 2022 |
What a fantastic book. Mark Obmascik has a wonderful sense of humor and some of the descriptions of his climbs made my heart race and my palms sweat. For those of you who enjoy the outdoors, this is one of the best I've read. Come join Mark on his quest to climb all the fourteeners. ( )
  slarsoncollins | Apr 8, 2011 |
Outstanding! Imagine Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, except the walk turns into climbing every mountain over 14,000 feet tall in Colorado. It's hilarious, informative, and inspirational. Obamascik's quest to climb every 14er as a self-proclaimed overweight 44 year old might seem unimaginable, yet having climbed half a dozen myself (as an overweight 40 year old) I know it's not impossible. No 14er is easy to summit. But some are just plain daunting. The stipulation the author's wife put on him was that he had to hike or climb with someone at all times, just in case. The result is a series of hilarious and colorful characters that we get to know through the course of the book. The author provides just enough backstory on the history of some of the mountains and those who have climbed before, and spends less time than you might imagine talking about the climbs themselves. With 54 peaks over 14,000 feet, some of the hikes are mentioned only by name. Some of the more difficult climbs that require ropes, like Little Bear and North Maroon, are described in fascinating detail.
It is not necessary to have climbed mountains to enjoy this book; all you need is a sense of humor and a taste for the outdoors. Highly recommended. ( )
  TigerLMS | Apr 29, 2010 |
Although I am still completely convinced that "I" am not a potential mountain climber, this book was a delightful description of one man's personal struggles with a rather huge goal. What might have seemed an odd subject for a book, climbing mountains became a description of all kinds of different people and their odd mixture of motivations for climbing mountains. Obmascik is a great story teller and he was able to relate the tales of all of the man-dates he had with fellow mountain climbers he convinced to go with him, a relative notice who became much better over time. ( )
  nyiper | Oct 5, 2009 |
A light and breezy travel book through the Colorado Rockies and its sub-culture of outdoor enthusiasts united by the desire to summit all 54 of the states 14,000 foot mountains. Obmascik attempts it over the course of one summer, driving from his home in Denver each Saturday morning a few hours to the hike and back that same night. Along the way he meets other people doing the same thing, from different walks of life, united by a common quest (and website: 14ers.com). Each short chapter recounts a climb and its follies, local Colorado historical flavor, a back-story about Obmascik's hiking partner for the day (his "man-dates"), and not a few nail biting close calls with lightning, wind and cliff.

It's hard to be critical of a book like this because it makes you feel good; it's well written, funny, self-deprecating, sympathetic and educational. Obmascik is a family man with a happy marriage of 17 years, three kids, overweight, middle aged, balding - this is not exploration or macho adrenaline adventure literature - it is not `Into Thin Air`, to the benefit of every middle-aged balding overweight father who wants to do something beyond the ordinary. As A.J Jacobs says "I thank him for climbing a bunch of tall mountains so I don't have to. I was with him for every oxygen-deprived step of the way (as I lounged on my sectional sofa)." If you enjoy travel books like `A Walk in the Woods` or `A Year in Provence` this is for you.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2008 cc-by-nd ( )
1 vota Stbalbach | May 2, 2009 |
Es mostren 1-5 de 6 (següent | mostra-les totes)
Sense ressenyes | afegeix-hi una ressenya
Has d'iniciar sessió per poder modificar les dades del coneixement compartit.
Si et cal més ajuda, mira la pàgina d'ajuda del coneixement compartit.
Títol normalitzat
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès. Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
Títol original
Títols alternatius
Data original de publicació
Gent/Personatges
Llocs importants
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès. Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
Esdeveniments importants
Pel·lícules relacionades
Epígraf
Dedicatòria
Primeres paraules
Citacions
Darreres paraules
Nota de desambiguació
Editor de l'editorial
Creadors de notes promocionals a la coberta
Llengua original
CDD/SMD canònics
LCC canònic

Referències a aquesta obra en fonts externes.

Wikipedia en anglès (1)

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, addled by the thin air, Obmascik decides to keep his head in the clouds and try scaling all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot mountains, known as the Fourteeners -- and to do them in less than one year. The result is Halfway to Heaven, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Obmascik's rollicking, witty, sometimes harrowing, often poignant chronicle of an outrageous midlife adventure that is no walk in the park, although sometimes it's A Walk in the Woods -- but with more sweat and less oxygen. Half a million people try climbing a Colorado Fourteener every year, but only twelve hundred have reported summiting them all. Can an overweight, stay-at-home dad become No. 1,201? With his ebullient personality and sparkling prose, Obmascik brings us inside the quirky, colorful subculture of mountaineering obsessives who summit these mountains year after year. Honoring his concerned wife's orders not to climb alone, Obmascik drags old friends up the slopes, some of them lifelong flatlanders tasting thin air for the first time, and lures seasoned Rockies junkies into taking on a huffing, puffing newbie by bribing them with free beer, lunches, and car washes. Among the new friends he makes are an ex-drag racer trying to perform a headstand on every summit, the lead oboe player in a Hebrew salsa band, and a climber with the counterproductive pre-climb ritual of gulping down four beers and a burrito. Along the way, Obmascik experiences the raw, rowdy, and rarely seen intimacy of male friendship, braced by the double intoxicants of adrenaline and altitude. Though danger is always present -- the Colorado Fourteeners have killed more climbers than Mount Everest -- Mark knows his aging scalp can't afford the hair-raising adventures of Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, and his quest becomes a story of family, friendship, and fraternity. In Obmascik's summer of climbing, he loses fifteen pounds, finds a few dozen man-dates, and gains respect for the history of these storied mountains (home to cannibalism, gold rushes, shoot-outs, and one of the nation's most famed religious shrines). As much about midlife and male bonding as it is about mountains, Halfway to Heaven tells how weekend warriors can survive them all as they reach for those most distant things -- the summits of mountains and a teenage son. And as one man exceeds the physical achievements of his youth, he discovers that age -- like summit height -- is just a number.

No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca.

Descripció del llibre
Sumari haiku

Debats actuals

Cap

Cobertes populars

Dreceres

Valoració

Mitjana: (3.79)
0.5
1 1
1.5
2
2.5
3 3
3.5 5
4 10
4.5 3
5 2

Ets tu?

Fes-te Autor del LibraryThing.

 

Quant a | Contacte | LibraryThing.com | Privadesa/Condicions | Ajuda/PMF | Blog | Botiga | APIs | TinyCat | Biblioteques llegades | Crítics Matiners | Coneixement comú | 203,240,764 llibres! | Barra superior: Sempre visible