Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Hiking and mountaineering metaphors

Hiking and mountaineering metaphors: It feels like a Friday night as I sit here unwinding and looking forward to something I have a passion for....being in the mountains. We all use different things to motivate us, or to inspire us for whatever we have a passion for. A couple of metaphors that motivate me for mountaineering are flying and football. While it may he hard to explain, those two help to motivate me and as part of the rewarding aspect of this activity. I suppose the flight part is easier to make the connection on as it involves being up high and that sense of freedom that comes with it. The football analogy comes sort of in the form of that great feeling of being in a zone, having the training, the discipline, conditioning, the endurance ....sort of when your favorite team is at the top of its game; a well oiled machine with the confidence and power to line up and complete that drive to the end zone (to the peak and back). Some times it is more like a grind it out running game, other times more like a quick strike.. Growing up a rabid Gator fan in the ultra competitive SEC fed into that I'm sure... Not intended as a "brag", just about what plays a role in lighting that fire... (and a whole lot more to the whole experience as well so this is not all inclusive) Interested in what motivates you......

Beauty...
Living a healthy lifestyle...
See how far I can push... Others and myself...
Bragging rights occasionally...

Loving the mountains but living a couple thousand miles away from the Sierra is a big motivator for me, Jim. Maybe two trips a year at best, so I have to make the most of it. That, and the desire to see my daughter grow up with an appreciation and love for the freedom of the hills. Hopefully she'll carry that in to adulthood and it'll be an integral part of her future.

Best of luck to your Gators this season - of course, sans the Cocktail Party. A third straight year of Gator AMS in Jax would be just fine with me . . .

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."
— Henry David Thoreau

That's it for me.

I certainly identify with Richard.

I certainly do it for a level of requisite suffering, beauty is a great reward and on occasion can make me appreciate sitting at a desk opposed to hauling a heavy pack up a sand chute in the sun and thin air (Those occasions are RARE and FLEETING).

here are two good quotes from two mountaineering literature giants:

How can I phrase what seems to be the most important question of all? It is the chance to be briefly free of the small concerns of our common lives, to strip off nonessentials, to come down to the core of life itself. …On great mountains all purpose is concentrated on the single job at hand, yet the summit is but a token of success, and the attempt is worthy in itself
Charles Houston in Houston and Bates, K2 the Savage Mountain , page 24


As obvious as it seems, it took me a long while to realize that what had happened to us was more important than what happened to the mountain.
David Roberts, Deborah , page 8

I'm at a point where I must be regressing
that, or just getting old.

I started out with a goal or two...but lately the motivation for me to be "out there" is to enjoy the view, the camaradarie and laughter with friends, and burn off some calories. Not necessarily in that order.

I do feel a great sense of accomplishment when I can somewhat keep up with my friends, though.

It's all about being there for me.

Just being "out there" is enough for me. Some Sierra trips feature lots of distance, others have more vertical. The main goal is enjoying yourself.

Along the lines of metaphors,I ran into a nice climbers guide for categorizing different types of fun

The Fun Scale

Here's a quick summary

Type 1 Fun – true fun, enjoyable while it’s happening.
Type 2 Fun – fun when looking back, but not fun at the time.
Type 3 Fun – It wasn’t fun then, nor will it ever be considered fun in the future

My goal is making sure each trip features lots of Type 1 and 2 fun. Brief periods of Type 3 fun are allowed as that's the price paid for getting away and pushing yourself.

-Stuart