There's Always Going to be Another Mountain: Or is there?

I became absolutely fascinated, utterly enthralled by mountain climbing at some point in my late childhood. Having always been a devout reader, I picked up a copy of Peak by Roland Smith at the Scholastic Book Fair, and I was sold. Although the book is a work of fiction, mountain climbing is very real, and many of Peak’s experiences in Roland’s story were based on real events, places, and real emotions that one would feel if one were in his shoes. So then, who exactly are the Peak Marcello’s in the real world?

Alex Honnold. Jimmy Chin. Conrad Anker. Tommy Caldwell. Nimsdai Purja. These are just a few of the adventurous, brave souls who have been climbing walls and summitting peaks for years. However, they each have also narrowly escaped near-death encounters in the mountaineering world. There are countless others who haven’t been so fortunate–Alex Lowe, Ueli Steck, Marc-André Leclerc, and most recently, Hilaree Nelson. The few that are listed are just the ones that immediately come to mind, but there are many others.

Although I am not personally a member of the climbing community, I support those who are there with their boots on the ground from the comfort and safety of my home. At home I sit, obsessively watching documentaries, reading posts on Social Media, and buying books in order to live vicariously through them, in order to understand what drives them–their why.

First and foremost, I think it’s important to acknowledge that mountain climbing isn’t a sport that is pursued in order to stay in shape or as a routine, physical activity. If one wanted to do something solely to keep in shape, one would just go to a regular gym and run on the treadmill or lift weights. Maybe they would do P90X or Zumba. However, people do not climb just for the sake of maintaining their physical health. I’m sorry, but no one sleeps in a tent for weeks on end, wears the same set of clothes for who knows how long, or poops on a frigid, windy, tall mountain for the sake of simply having done it. People do not leave their loved ones behind to worry about them, spend months training and making preparations, or invest exorbitant amounts of money in an expedition just for the sake of doing it. Within them exists a burning, all-consuming passion and desire that transcends the act of climbing, there is something more.

Can we, “the normal people” or “average person”, agree that we feel the same way about our own lives? Just as creating music, literature, and art is more to me than just the action itself, climbing a mountain is more than just the action itself for those that choose to pursue that path. Oftentimes, mountaineers are pursuing the very same things that we who participate in less “dangerous” activities are–joy, fun, fulfillment, a sense of accomplishment, or a thrill.

You, the reader, may be muttering the cliché statement: Mountaineering is dangerous.

To that I would like to ask: so what?

Mountain climbers practice, they dedicate themselves to their art, to their passion. They prepare for every possible outcome, and they prepare their families for every possible outcome. Their expeditions and endeavors (oftentimes) are carefully planned and calculated. Year after year passes them by as they continue to train, build their physical strength, increase their muscle memory, and gain knowledge and experience through their pursuits. If anything, they are more prepared for the feared outcome of death than most of us that live regular, average, mundane lives.

In July my cousin Ashley was killed in a car accident that wasn’t her fault. Leaving behind a three-year-old daughter wasn’t on her agenda. She didn’t see it coming, and she wasn’t prepared at all. People die in the blink of an eye, every single day. Therefore, I’ve come to the conclusion that life is dangerous in and of itself. Although we can do things that may increase the longevity of our lives, we cannot control outside forces, and I think it’s important for us to grasp that and accept it for face value. A careless driver can claim a life just as quickly and unexpectedly as an avalanche can. One can fall and injure themself or even end their life doing something as simple as getting out of the shower or walking to work on a busy highway. Life is dangerous, and danger is everywhere. Sure, there are other factors that are exceptions to my conclusion. If you’ve never climbed a mountain and have no experience, I would say that it would be extra dangerous for you to attempt to summit Everest, just as it would be to jump off a diving board if you don’t know how to swim. But for the most part, that is not what these people do.

Climbing in and of itself may not be extra dangerous, but it is hard, it is not something the average person does. It can be expensive, it takes time, and–as I’ve previously stated–it is not done for the sake of simply doing it. So then, what is their why? Why do people choose this path?

This is the conclusion that I’ve come to realize after carefully observing these climbers’ actions and listening to and reading their words: People climb for things that they believe in. However, it isn’t the same for every single person. Sometimes it gives them something to live for, or it humbles them and brings them to their knees as they bask in the enormous weight of what they’ve just been a part of. Just as there is something intrinsic within me that compels me to create music, art, and literature, there is something that is ingrained within these men and women that compels them to be in the mountains or scaling a massive rock wall. The essence of who they are and what makes them unique is inseparably linked to being in the mountains and the physical act of climbing.

As of late, in addition to climbing for himself, Alex Honnold has been climbing in the name of science, genuinely going places and doing things that have never been done. Nims Purja climbs in order to improve the lives of the Nepalese porters who are often treated as second-class citizens in their own country. He climbs to bring notoriety to the Nepalese climbing community, which is long overdue. Nims climbs to show the world that nothing is impossible. Jimmy Chin climbs for himself, but also to document the incredible feats of others. Jimmy Chin’s photos and videos aren’t just for Social Media or to get a beautiful shot while doing something “dangerous and reckless”. He is capturing history through the lens of his camera–he is capturing triumphs, struggles, and tragedies, moments frozen in time.

They are accomplishing a feat that many never get to. The things that these people are currently doing or have done encapsulate the entirety of humanity’s goals and ambitions. These brave souls have set out to discover the secrets of the world and see things and places that many of us will never see or experience. They are leaving their mark on the world, they are making history, and they are letting people know that they were there. They are leaving a legacy.