AAMC Reporter: July 2008

No Mountain High Enough

Howard Houghton, M.D. (center), is a psychiatry professor and an avid mountain climber.

Oddly enough, Howard Houghton, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, discovered his favorite physical pastime while he was bedridden. About 20 years ago, Houghton, laid up with a serious leg injury, caught a television special on mountain climbing, and something just clicked.

After his leg healed, Houghton headed for the hills. Decades later, he now sticks mostly with the "14ers," a string of Colorado mountains with peaks above 14,000 feet.

"You have a lot of time to yourself on these hikes," he said. "Even when you're climbing with other people, there's not a whole lot of talking."

Plus, the views from the top are great.

"I remember one time we stopped in a field of flowers, and sat on a cliff side looking over a lake, with the alpine pasture behind us," he says. "It was just amazing."

During one climb, a blizzard struck the mountainside, and Houghton and his climbing partner were left virtually blind in the swirling snow. The stress created some serious friction between the two climbers.

"You can't just walk away from each other in a blizzard," Houghton said. "At one point, we sat down back to back, like kindergartners. But the weather cleared up, we saw the path, and it turned out to be a great climb."

Houghton says that climbing teaches you not to sweat the small stuff.

"When you're climbing, it is really important to stay warm and dry, and to have enough water," he says. "It's not so important whether your cell phone has reception."

—By Elissa Fuchs