Why Do You Climb? (in your words)   |  | ||
Page Type: Article Activities: Hiking, Mountaineering, Trad Climbing, Sport Climbing, Toprope, Bouldering, Ice Climbing, Aid Climbing, Big Wall, Mixed, Scrambling, Via Ferrata, Canyoneering | Page By: FlatheadNative Created/Edited: Dec 15, 2009 / Jan 5, 2010 Object ID: 582699 Hits: 5972 Page Score: 89.63% - 38 Votes Vote: Log in to vote | ||
Comments
[ Post a Comment ]
|
| Sarah Simon | So many reasons why, where to begin? | |
Hasn't voted | * To burn off work-related stress. * To feel one with my natural surroundings. * To relish the phyisical and mental challenge of getting to the top. * To enjoy the company of like-minded individuals. * To feed my goal-oriented personality. * Because today, I am physically capable of summitting peaks; one car crash or disease later and that capability could be diminished or eliminated. * Because nothing refreshes me like a long day in the mountains. * I LOVE returning to work Monday fully exhausted from a weekend in the high country. * To me, there is nothing so beautiful as mountainous terrain. * To smile, laugh and cry. * A bad day in the mountains beats a good day at work. * What a cure for insomnia! Ok, I'll stop for now. Sarah | |
| Posted Dec 15, 2009 10:26 pm | ||
| Dean | It's just part of me | |
Hasn't voted | I've always been attracted to mountains, from the time I can remember. For me, I feel renewal in the mountains, and I can never get enough. Fortunately I have an understanding wife who realizes that this passion burns in me and is helping to keep me young. I'm also a driven person and love to visit and then check peaks off my list, whether or not it is meaningful to anyone else. In fact, most everyone else my age is either playing golf or taking handfuls of medications. No thanks. | |
| Posted Dec 16, 2009 5:48 am | ||
| FlatheadNative | I climb.. | |
Hasn't voted | because I must. Climbing allows me to refresh and renew my spirit and gain a better perspective on what is really important in life. It gives me a reason to train in the off season and maintain health. Climbing also allows me to build friendships with my climbing partners and build memories that I will carry with me when I can no longer climb. | |
| Posted Dec 16, 2009 10:27 am | ||
| JimWallace | Climbing | |
Hasn't voted | I suppose I climb because I'm drawn to the mountains.Sice I was a child I was always interested in the mystique with mountains and wilderness.As there are many highs and lows in life,I feel the great gush of victory upon reaching the summit.Much like that of winning a race or performing on stage or even sex for that matter. | |
| Posted Dec 17, 2009 7:33 pm | ||
| Mark Doiron | Very Similar ... | |
Hasn't voted | Very similar to this ... Why We Do It We probably should attach them to each other. -mark d. | |
| Posted Dec 30, 2009 7:34 am | ||
| DTressler | The reason why... | |
Hasn't voted | I believe George Mallory is credited with the best response: "If you have to ask the reason why...you won't understand the answer" | |
| Posted Dec 30, 2009 12:17 pm | ||
| BigRob | Therapy | |
Voted 10/10 | At first, I was running away from other things. Now, it's how I refuel my spirit. It's also an addiction. Climbing is my only drug. My favorite quote about why comes from Mark Twight: "I do it because I can, I climb because it hurts, that pain gives me perspective....." from Kiss or Kill. | |
| Posted Dec 30, 2009 4:34 pm | ||
| Marcsoltan | I climb because... | |
Voted 10/10 | mountains give me life. | |
| Posted Dec 30, 2009 5:59 pm | ||
| Nigel Lewis | A few words...... | |
Hasn't voted | From my profile page.... I'm occasionally asked,"Why do you climb?" as if to do so is a strange thing. My answer is always, "Why DON'T you climb?" Some of the best days of my life have been spent in beautiful, far flung places. It has usually been an achievement to get there, both physical and mental, and the trust and friendship built with a person who doesn't just come along for the ride, but often literally ties their life to yours, even if only for a few hours. Why wouldn't you??? N | |
| Posted Dec 30, 2009 7:44 pm | ||
| ClimberMan420 | I was born to climb | |
Hasn't voted | I climb because I was born to climb. An enchanting force draws me to the peaks. The valley winds brings fresh mountain energy in to my urban life. Their beauty enriches me and all others who live below them. Up in the alpine, the thick fogs brings me unexpected clarity and when I pierce through that layer of clouds, alone and far from anyone, innerpeace stirs within me. Everyone has a diferent path in life but mine climbs through and among the mountains and deep into the nature that thrives in the valleys below them | |
| Posted Dec 31, 2009 1:54 am | ||
| girishaneja | Why I Climb | |
Voted 10/10 | I want to climb. As if the Mountains and I have an intimate relationship. More intimate than I can ever dream of having with a person. I cannot imagine a more perfect day, the sun plays hide and seek behind the clouds, there is a gentle breeze in air and I’m alone on a Climb. This is as close as I will get to paradise, I’m sure. To me all the worldly problems disappear when I come to the Mountains. It feels like home. It feels as if life is seeping back into my body ravaged from all the bullshit in life and work. It feels Right. | |
| Posted Dec 31, 2009 3:27 am | ||
| benjydaniel | the reasons to climb | |
Hasn't voted | i climb because it's simple there are no favorites, no ways to cheat, only the strong thrive, the unfit are weeded out it is personal, the only barriers are within yourself when you climb nothing else matters what we call life takes a break, pressing matters become obsolete it is invigorating and feels right and natural it is spiritual, physical, mental, climbing is real, nature and struggle is real it contrasts the manufactured fake existence of modern society climbing is simple | |
| Posted Jan 1, 2010 4:06 am | ||
| flow | i have been hiking a little bit... | |
Voted 10/10 | ...before 2004. from january 2004 to june 2004 i've studied for one semester in the south of finland. it was nice to explore the area (russia, latvia...), but it was very flat. when i came back to austria the mountains where so much higher and impressive that my attitude to them changed entirely! | |
| Posted Jan 1, 2010 12:45 pm | ||
| Ejnar Fjerdingstad | Why does one climb mountains? | |
Hasn't voted | I one saw a British cartoon, where two young men stood gazing at a fabulous mountain scenery, presumably in the Alps. One asks the other, who apparently is a climber, "Why do you climb mountains?". The second says, "If you have to ask now, you wouldn't understand the answer!" Otherwise, I presumably climb mountains because my father did. Even before I could read, I would spend my time going through his many mountain books, and looking at photos (Grossglockner, The Dolomites, Matterhorn, Berner Oberland, Mont Blanc, Verte and Dru, La Meije, Elbrus and Ushba, Everest and K2, Chimborazo and Aconcagua, Denali etc.) that for one living in rather flat little Denmark (and unable to travel because of the war) seemed to be from another world. When I got older I read the two only mountain books my father had in Danish, his own mountain diaries, and a book by Mozart Cohn on his climbs in the Alps, and later my father's books in English and German, I was especially fond of Luis Trenker's "Meine Berge" (my mountains) with its wonderful (black and white) photos. I could hardly wait till the war was over, and travel restrictions lifted, still I was 17 when I saw my first mountains. They were infinitely larger and more impressive than I could ever have imagined, and I felt somehow like I had come home. | |
| Posted Jan 2, 2010 5:42 pm | ||
 | ||
| BigRob | Re: Why does one climb mountains? | |
Voted 10/10 | Incredible story. I hope my children gain interest in the mountains. | |
| Posted Jan 4, 2010 12:03 pm | ||
| oldsnowy | Why climb? | |
Hasn't voted | I have a feeling that we all climb for the same reason. It's the mountains that call us to find a special place for our strength, our spirit, and our hopes. | |
| Posted Jan 2, 2010 7:55 pm | ||
| dclimb14me | ...because it's there. | |
Hasn't voted | This was, of course, Mallory's answer to the press when asked about his upcoming Everest expedition. It is one of my favorite one liners. I find the movement of climbing to be rewarding. Simple but with an identified purpose. There is a goal that is tangible and easily measured. It reduces everyday noise to a focused act. The camaraderie is unmatched and the rewards clear. The most simple of necessities are earned. The water is better when you have to melt snow and ice, the food the best you'll ever taste when you make the effort for all to contribute to the meal. We realize the ultimate in teamwork and trust, jokes are funnier and sleep is sound. I can't describe to someone who has never made camp at 12,000 feet on a ledge on Rainer what the view is like at sunset. They certainly can't know what it meant to work hours with two friends to level a platform for the tent and a "couch" to sit on and eat dinner. Non-climbers certainly wouldn't appreciate the moment when a rope-mate breaks out in an 80's pop song midway through a tough pitch. Surprise m&m's from the bottom of a pack and tuna fish. Life's simple pleasures are magnified and trivia melts away. It's a combined effort and individual spirit that rejuvenates us, recharges us, cleanses us. Climbing puts us in places where we can find our own peace. | |
| Posted Jan 2, 2010 11:25 pm | ||
|