Everest is a polarizing mountain in the mountaineering community.
For some alpinists, it’s merely a commercial endeavor, something that the rich aspire after but which is not technically difficult. On the other hand, it is the tallest mountain in the world and has claimed the lives of dozens of people, several of whom died this year.
A recent post from Emily Harrington on the American Alpine Club Climbing Blog does a great job of encapsulating that tension, as well as explaining why for her it was one of the most challenging and scary things she’s done in her life.
The post is about a trip to the summit of Everest, which she took this year with Conrad Anker.
“Never before have I faced such a truer reality; that my own life could be taken away from me by circumstances out of my control, and the unsettling knowledge that it was my choice to be there, but for what?” she writes in the post.
Check out the blog post on the American Alpine Club Climbing Blog here.
Mount Everest photo via Wikimedia Commons.
