Climbing... A Way Of Life

Climbing... A Way Of Life

I'm very often asked,"Why do you climb?" as if to do so is a strange thing. My answer is always, "Why DON'T you climb?" I have climbed in a lot of places in India and the Swiss Alps , and some of the best moments of I my life I have spent climbing  in these places. To get to these places for the climb is not always easy, its a test for both the mind and the body. Out of this comes a long lasting friendship with the person who comes along with me for my climbs . So if I can get a sense of well being out of this , I can say "Why Not Climb?"

I was born to climb, its my passion , its my way of life.There is some thing about the rocks that draws me to them. Every time I see a cliff, a mountain side, a rock face.. something just clicks inside me.... its time to climb. The silence in the valley,  the fresh air, the peacefullness...unending list of things ..small and big all calling out to me to come and climb.

Right from the first rock face that I ever climbed to this day, I have always felt a sense of rebirth after every climb, Its ..a feeling very difficult to put in words. A sense of achievement, but followed by the feeling what next? I  am very lucky to have an understaning wife, with the same passion, and one who has always supported me in my dreams to climb. She has always been there to help me keep the spirit of climbing alive and burning inside me. May be this is why I am still climbing even at 48. 

Its not that I climb with  friends my age ( a very few who still climb) only, but do so with the gen x too, It does very much help you keep young

I climb beccause its my way of life, a simple way to live.  On the rocks there is no favourite and there is no one to cheat. Ony the fittest survive.. Climbing is some thing very close to me , all I need is to believe in myself.  When I climb ...climbing is what I do.. all the tensions, the deadlines ...the work .... nothing matters.. The way i feel ...connnected to myself , body, mind, and soul its ...something very very special.

I climb........ 

becausse its there.....

(Mallory's answer to the press when asked about his upcoming Everest expedition)

 My favorite one liners.

Climbing is fun.