Paralyzed Man to Wheel Up 14,000-Foot Pikes Peak

Glen House will propel up the Colorado mountain this weekend
By Luke Kelly-Clyne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 9, 2011 2:23 PM CDT
Paralyzed Man to Wheel Up 14,000-Foot Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak, near Colorado Springs, Colo.   (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

A 13-mile hike up a 14,100-foot mountain would be challenging for anyone, let alone someone with a physical disability. Tomorrow, a 42-year-old paralyzed Colorado man will do it in a wheelchair. Glen House will be one of about 450 hikers participating in the Pikes Peak Challenge for charity, and the only participant rolling himself up in a wheelchair, the Huffington Post reports.

Paralyzed from the waist down after a college skiing accident, House completed the climb several years ago and has been training for this year's race by wheeling himself up steep hills near his home. Because of the dangers (no guardrails on the trail, for instance) organizers say House must be followed by a support team in case he has trouble. "It's a lot of work," he says, "but it's unbelievably exciting." Click for more on House, including photos of him training. (More wheelchair stories.)

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