CU Anschutz In The News

Experience is the last factor that contributes to the age when athletes tend to reach their peak, says Rachel Frank, sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon at the University of Colorado. “The cognitive aspect is crucial.”

To put it another way: “You’re slowly dying above 18,000 feet,” says Peter Hackett, a clinical professor in the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Department of Pulmonary Sciences. “But when you get above 26,000 feet, you start dying much more quickly.”