A Tom Cruise Story That You Won't See on Entertainment Tonight

So what I find irritating about our celebrity-obsessed culture is that we adore our movie stars, then want to tear them down and make them out to be monsters, as if from some elaborate (and national) You Think You’re Better Than Me? impulse. But perhaps I should identify that “we” as being the celebrity-whore media, shows like Entertainment Tonight, which always freaks me out if I’ve watched the news and suddenly ET comes on. Lately I’ve seen headlines about Tom Cruise and his divorce saga, how he ditches all his wives at age 33—though apparently some of the wives ditch him when they reach 33. So here’s a Celebrity Brush With Greatness story that I just heard from the husband of an old friend of mine:
First you should know that the man recounting the story is a dignified gentleman who seems to have little interest in celebrities. He was climbing Mount Wilson, a 14,000+ peak in western Colorado, and Tom Cruise and his “entourage” were on the trail near them. The weather was turning bad and my friend wondered if he should abandon the climb and turn back. Tom Cruise’s group included Tom and his children, plus a guide who was leading things. The clouds were dark and they heard thunder, so my friend was glad to see that the guided group was turning around as well. Tom Cruise and company passed them on the trail somehow, and he said they were quite nice, and stopped to chat a few minutes about having to try to climb that peak on another day. A couple things I like about the story: a) Tom Cruise was climbing a 14er, which is a common enough thing in Colorado, but still, it shows he’s a person who digs the outdoors; b) he was with his kids, doing something healthy (as opposed to being interviewed on ET); and c) he was a friendly, polite human being to my friend, which should not be surprising, but is not the way celebrities are usually portrayed—the ranting diva is a popular pinata to swat.
And I don’t believe Scientologists tried to interfere with anyone.