by artirm » Tue Jun 08, 2010 5:15 am
by Ejnar Fjerdingstad » Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:03 pm
artirm wrote:Mountaineering is intrinsically irrational activity. There is no valid point in climbing mountains. Therefore, calling some behavior "stupid" or other "smart" is kinda out of place. It's utter stupidity to go there anyway. So, I guess "admire" is a good word. Yes, I do admire people who can conquer their own fear and press on. Plain lack of endurance hinds behind an apparent prudence way too often.
by bergs » Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:56 pm
by The Chief » Tue Jun 08, 2010 3:15 pm
Dingus Milktoast wrote:I think of some of the classic mountaineering tales we all grew up reading and hearing. I still marvel at the shitty weather guys like Bonatti et al climbed up into ON PURPOSE.
Whether or not any of us has the stones, death or the summit has long been a fact, in this sport of ours. Not everywhere all the time... but those Golden Age blokes were some hard motherfuckers.
Sometimes too hard for their own good.
Ah but our tribe is stronger for them and the stories to which their tragedies produce.
I've been reading too much death and mayhem mountaineering stories lately - Joe Simpson's Beckoning Silence most recently, where he catalogs death after death as a way of examining his own growing sense of mortality and dread. Particularly the Norwand of the Eiger - death or the summit has long played its role.
I keep asking myself as I read those stories... (A Short Walk with Whillans remains to this day my favorite Eiger story)... WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???
Being first was worth risking it all, to a lot of those guys.
DMT
by SoCalHiker » Tue Jun 08, 2010 3:46 pm
by Sierra Ledge Rat » Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:16 pm
SoCalHiker wrote:I don't find anything admirable if someone still pursues his/her goal and death seems inevitable. Of course serious accidents and even death are almost all the time part of the equation if one climbs these mountains but it should never become the only possible outcome.
by dan2see » Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:30 am
by Sierra Ledge Rat » Wed Nov 14, 2012 7:13 am
The Chief wrote:I have backed off tenfold times more than I have suceeded.
The Chief wrote:A very important part of that process is knowing when to turn around.
by lcarreau » Wed Nov 14, 2012 3:08 pm
by DrGranola » Wed Nov 14, 2012 3:57 pm
by dan2see » Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:55 am
by mrchad9 » Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:48 am
dan2see wrote:So what the hell is this "summit or die" thing anyway? I'm not sure I actually know.
by spiderman » Mon Jan 02, 2017 3:57 am
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