Why Climb Mountains?

"Why climb mountains?" is a question all climbers are asked time and again. Few have described the lure better than Charles Houston: "The answer cannot be simple; it is compounded of such elements as the great beauty of clear cold air, of colors beyond the ordinary, of the lure of unknown regions beyond the rim of experience...[it is] the pleasure of physical fitness, the pride of conquering... the chance to be briefly free of the small concerns of our common lives..."

:)