Dr. Tyler Cooper's Pursuit of Mountain Medicine - D Magazine

2 years ago 45

Earlier this summer, Dr. Tyler Cooper was hanging disconnected the look of a 1,800-foot vertical partition connected the broadside of Mount Whitney successful California, the tallest upland successful the contiguous United States. It is 1 of the 74 peaks successful the little 48 that are astatine slightest 14,000 feet high. Over the past 25 years, Cooper has completed his ngo to ascent them all.

They weren’t each arsenic harrowing arsenic Mount Whitney, but plentifulness of the summits progressive method climbing with ropes, harnesses, and definite decease below. Cooper is simply a erstwhile Baylor University way jock who is present president and CEO of Cooper Aerobics, which includes 7 antithetic wellness and wellness entities. In short, helium comes by his pursuit of carnal achievements honestly.

A formative infinitesimal was arsenic a kid with his father, Dr. Kenneth Cooper (founder of the Cooper Clinic), arsenic they climbed a smaller highest successful Europe. Tyler remembers wanting a camera to seizure the view. His begetter had different mode of appreciating the mountains. “Just enactment it successful your mind, and it’ll beryllium determination the remainder of your life,” helium told his son. Ever since that moment, the younger Cooper says, “there’s ever been a peculiar enslaved with the mountains.”

When helium graduated precocious school, helium climbed Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, backmost erstwhile it inactive had important amounts of snowfall astatine its summit. He has already climbed the highest upland successful the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney) and Australia (Mount Kosciuszko). The ascent successful South America, however, proved to person a antithetic result.

In 1998, helium attempted to get to the apical of Aconcagua successful the Argentinian Andes mountains erstwhile a blizzard slammed his group. They were stranded successful the tempest for 3 days, stuck astatine 17,000 feet elevation. Cooper ended up with cerebral edema, wherever fluid develops successful the encephalon and causes it to swell; the radical yet descended, and helium recovered.

“That was harrowing and the closest I’ve travel to having a decease lawsuit successful the mountains, but it didn’t scare maine away,” Cooper says. “It made maine admit the magnitude of however earnestly you person to instrumentality them.”

Over the years, helium has been progressive successful rockslides, fallen into crevices, and travel look to look with a bear. He says helium remains alert and cautious, makes definite to enactment successful the apical carnal condition, and hires guides for much challenging climbs. At times, helium has had to crook astir and springiness up connected a ascent for which helium has prepared for months. “The acme is halfway. If you don’t travel down alive, you didn’t marque it,” helium says. “It’s a humbling experience.”