Climbing is Ageless: Life Lessons on Colorado's Fourteeners

Author Tom Wilke explores the trials and triumphs he experienced while climbing the 58 Colorado peaks over fourteen thousand feet high after turning age fifty. Completing this feat later in life caused him to realize that one can accomplish anything at any age, given the right motivation, opportunity, and perseverance. Often accompanied by his two strong sons and close friends, the author climbed these peaks over a period of eight years while working full time in the medical and computer technology fields. Wilke's expectation is that reading about these experiences will inspire you to conquer any challenge set before you, regardless of the physical or mental difficulties you encounter along the way. The book contains descriptions of all 58 climbs, often with exact times it took from the trail heads to the peaks and back. The author gives some information about each climb, although more definitive descriptions have been recorded in books by other authors, including "Colorado's Fourteeners" by Gerry Roach. Wilke's book contains details about the physical and mental difficulties of climbing, the experiences and luck that brought him to begin and continue climbing, and the joy of the arrival at each peak along the way. Peppered with interesting stories not directly about the climbing, Wilke adds color to some of the more straightforward hiking experiences. For example, he explores a connection between two seemingly unrelated activities, mountain climbing and golf, in several passages in the book.