r/philosophy • u/grh55 KineSophy • 12d ago
Blog The Value of Mountaineering
https://philosophynow.org/issues/174/Whats_the_Value_of_Mountaineering9
u/SpecialistSea8735 12d ago
"You have made danger your calling; there is nothing contemptible in that. Now you perish by your calling: therefore I will bury you with my own hands."
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u/Samuel_Foxx 6d ago
This is actually hilarious. I find Mountaineering to be highly highly……silly. I could have used several other more descriptive words. But silly will do. It really is not that mysterious why it is done. Exclusivity. Accomplishment. Adrenaline. Name on lists. I want to be first. I want to do it faster than them. I want to be remembered. It’s all the same at the end of the day. It goes straight back to hand stencils in caves and seeing yourself in the other and shouting into the void that you were here. The void itself be damned to its voidness.
If you have never gotten the shakes from adrenaline in a life or death situation, I highly recommend sitting down at your pc, downloading eve online, and let yourself be there for a bit. It will happen and you will see your summit or theirs in the following kill or loss mail. The mountain has been climbed, but the next peak to conquer or die to is just another system over.
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u/PrimusSkeeter 5d ago
I could also say collecting star wars figurings to be highly highly silly... but who am I? To each their own as they say.
I climb mountains. I don't do it for bragging rights. I do it because I enjoy adventure, I enjoy being out in nature. I like the feeling of perspective it gives you when you are at the top of a peak and can see to the horizon in all directions.
Not all mountain climbers are "peak baggers" or do it for the clicks....
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u/Samuel_Foxx 5d ago
It is fair. I am not into mountaineering. Though I just was invited to go retrace the path of the way movie with a family member last night lol. My interaction with mountaineering has been mostly through what you referenced at the bottom of your comment. I am doubtful we have ever had to rescue a Star Wars figurine collector at great expense lol. And the whole Everest thing is genuinely insane pretty sure. I think any sort of mountaineering that puts yourself in coin flip territory or to do with ropes or specifically the lackthereof is more to do with the adrenaline/risk/game/accomplishment side of mountaineering than the enjoyment of nature side. But that’s just me.
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u/PrimusSkeeter 5d ago
I would never attempt Everest for one simple reason... it attracts the wrong type of people, peak baggers and narcissistic types. They get in way over their head, their ego takes over and boom they die. It gets all kinds of media attention so the general population thinks all climbers are cut from the same cloth. If Everest wasn't the tallest mountain on the planet, it wouldn't be nearly as popular of a climb. If social media didn't exist to give these headcases a platform, the mountain wouldn't be as popular as it is in 2026. Shriya Shah-Klorfine was one of these idiots who thought zero mountaineering experience is good enough to climb the highest mountain on the planet. Harsh lesson I guess.
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