“The climber as sportsman (athlete) will see in the Alps only the “escalade.” And within that rock climbing only the exalted gymnastic movement will be important. The man of action will seek and find adventure in the Alps. If a climb blends a philosophical approach to the act of climbing he may discover a will to power like that described by Nietzsche. The prideful will look down on the rest of man from the mountains. The wise will discover the soul. The vain will find glory. The “aesthete” will find incomparable beauty. The religious will look for God, or at least for the image of strength and the infinite that amazes us. The humble will discover his slightness before nature. The “captif” (captive) seeks escape, the obsessed seeks to forget and those loyal (to the mountains) seek a memory. Because man is diverse and numerous, we can find a bit of each of the above in every man.
Everything may be found in the mountains. Nothing new may be found in the mountains. The mountains are not the source of our richness, rather they reflect what we confide to them.
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