Travel and Photography | Why Do People Climb Mountains

© 2013 Wazari Wazir | View From The Summit of Mount Kinabalu | Low’s Peak

Why do people climb mountains? Well, actually I don’t know why. But the most famous answer on why people climb mountains come from Sir George Mallory, one of the first people to try to summit Everest, he said, “Because It’s There”. But then, his answer is too simple to really answer the question “Why”?

People climb mountains for a wide variety of a reason, some people climb because they need some kind of an adventure, something that will pump up their adrenaline, some people like to test their limit, some people just need to know how far they can go. Some people just love doing it without any solid reason on why do they climb.

For me, I climb Mount Kinabalu because I like beauty of it, I mean, in Malaysia we have other mountain to climb, not as high as Mount Kinabalu but high enough to called a mountain for Malaysian standard because if you compared Malaysian Mountains with the Himalayan Mountains, the Nepali will called our mountain just a “Hill”.

For your information, the summit of Mount Kinabalu is 13,435 ft (4,095 m), Everest BASE Camp is higher than the summit of Mount Kinabalu. Everest Base Camp in Nepal is located at an altitude of 5,364 metres (17,598 ft). Meaning that the base camp is much higher than the summit of Mount Kinabalu. The summit of Mount Everest is 8,848 m (29,029 ft) which is double the height of Low’s Peak of Mount Kinabalu.

Nevertheless climbing a Mount Kinabalu is no easy task, it is not like walking at the beach. You still need to be physically fit to do so but then why people climb mountains? Why do people tortured themselves, risking their lives climbing mountain, why do people choose uncomfortable holiday, they can always choose to have a vacation by the beach but time and time again some people tortured themselves.

Personally for me, I climb Mount Kinabalu because of its beauty, as someone who like photography, I want to photograph the beauty by myself, with my very own camera, other than that I like some kind of an adventure. Even though Mount Kinabalu is not as high as most Himalayan peaks but it is still very changeling for normal people like me. I’m not an athletic person, I did not exercise everyday or week, I live a sedentary lives like most people do, so climbing a mountain does takes a toll on me.

Climbing a mountains is not all about pushing your limits, it is not about to test your strength but most importantly is to test your mental strength.  A lot of mountain climbing is about your mental attitude because, sometimes your body can accept the challenges but for some people they failed mentally. By climbing a mountain we can develop a positive attitude, it is about overcoming challenges ahead. Talking about climbing Mount Kinabalu, it is the 100 meters to the summit that proves to be the most challenging, you do really need a mental strength to do it.

People or the Mountain Guides can push you, give you a motivation but at the end of the day, only you can moves your feet forward. Once you succeed conquering your fear, once you succeed pushing your limits, I believe you can overcome so many challenges in lives.

Don’t climb a mountain because someone does it, don’t climb a mountain because most of your friends have done it, climb a mountain because you really wanted to do it. Climb it because you are passionate about it. At the end of the day, only you can answer why you climb a mountain and when you g=find the answer, it will definitely drives you to the top. Maybe you are not succeed on your first climb but if you have a strong “Why”, you will definitely come back later and pushing the limits.

“The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, “What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?” and my answer must at once be, “It is no use.” There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it.

We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It’s no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.

What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.”

– George Leigh Mallory –