Upward Bound

Upward Bound

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Karl "Gus" Gustafson and his closest friends were at the forefront of the sport of free climbing in Colorado, achieving many first ascents. Upward Bound details the adventures of ten teenage climbers who took on Colorado's fiercest rock faces and towering mountain peaks, discovering courage, character, and camaraderie in the process. This coming-of-age memoir is filled with untold Colorado history, climbing lore, and historic climbing photographs. A Compelling Memoir Of Early Colorado Climbing History And Teenage Mountaineering Adventures Karl "Gus" Gustafson is a professor emeritus of the Mathematics Department at the University of Colorado, where he taught for more than fifty years. He has climbed all of Colorado’s 14ers, some of them many times, and has summited peaks throughout the world. He was born in Manchester, Iowa, and moved with his family to Boulder in 1948. He is an accomplished author of numerous publications, covering topics from mathematics to quantum mechanics. He became the honoree of an endowed faculty chair at the University of Colorado in 2022. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Karl “Gus” Gustafson and his closest friends were at the forefront of the sport of free climbing in Colorado, achieving many first ascents. Upward Bound details the adventures of ten teenage climbers who took on Colorado’s fiercest rock faces and towering mountain peaks, discovering courage, character, and camaraderie in the process. This coming-of-age memoir is fi lled with untold Colorado history, climbing lore, and historic climbing photographs.