SummitPost.org

Mountains are nocturnal, so I climb them during the day only; otherwise they might get really ticked and do something nasty. When you climb them during the day, you must be careful not to wake them (remember Sinbad and that giant fish). That is the principal reason that you should never use an ice axe and crampons when there is no snow, and why pitons are rarely used anymore.

Reminds me of standing on the summit of Orizaba in January and realizing I was the highest person (insert pot joke here) in all of North America at that moment. It was a pretty cool feeling.

Catamount wrote:For me, the appeal is quite the opposite. Mountains make me feel small and insignificant.

Exactly. And all of my problems are not really that important either.

bird wrote:Reminds me of standing on the summit of Orizaba in January and realizing I was the highest person (insert pot joke here) in all of North America at that moment. It was a pretty cool feeling.

Assuming you can ignore the thousands of folks aloft in airplanes at 30,000ft at any given moment...

Grampahawk wrote:

Catamount wrote:For me, the appeal is quite the opposite. Mountains make me feel small and insignificant.

Exactly. And all of my problems are not really that important either.

Well said! I was fortunate enough to notice several years ago that my problems disappeared while climbing. Of course, most of them are still around when I get back, but the day-long respite is pretty damned nice.