The mountains that capture my eyes and my imagination tend to be of the severe, sharp-summitted sort: Points of a rocky knife, piercing the sky. Mt. Shuksan (above) appeals to me, while Mt. Rainier (below) strikes me as a tad too gentle-looking and, well, rounded.
I’ve been wondering why this is -- why do some peaks quicken my pulse but others do not? -- and I’ve decided that it is a Climber-Thing.
Simply put: I seem the be visually lured to peaks that scare the crap out of me.
Mostly what I do when I venture into the mountains would be called hiking, not climbing, but apparently I’ve made my way to just enough summits that my brain now can’t help itself. I look at a peak and I begin to visualize climbing routes: That glacier would lead up to that ridge, and the ridge might get me to the top...
Sheesh. My feet might be on the ground but my head is often in the clouds.
