Why are people risking their lives to climb mountains?
Everest, Kilimanjaro, Mount Rainier ... why people are risking their lives to climb mountains Just looking at Everest begs the question ... why? Source: AFP IT’S been the deadliest mountain climbing season in history, and it’s not over. With the tragedies on Mount Rainier in Washington and Nepal, one question remains: Why do they do it? Why do people regularly risk their lives to summit a mountain peak or scale sheer cliffs? “Because it’s there,” George Mallory famously replied in 1923 when asked why he was trying to climb Mount Everest. The quote caught the public’s imagination, as it expressed both the childlike whimsy of doing something just for the fun of it, and the adult heroic ideal of dedicating oneself to meeting any challenge, no matter how tall. Although Mallory perished the next year on Everest (and his body was not found for 75 years), his legacy of big mountain climbing remains. Last year, ...