In 1963, two American mountain climbers, Wili Unsoeld and
Tom Hornbein, achieved fame, and more importantly respect, by being the first mountaineers
to ever traverse a Himalayan peak. They did so on Mount Everest, the highest
of them all. This year, two other men, Conrad Anker and Cory Richards, are attempting
to repeat this feat. While I believe anyone who takes on Everest deserves to be
noted, these two adventurers are going above and beyond (no pun intended) by
attempting the West Ridge route- the most dangerous path up the infamous
mountain where the probability of dying is the same as summiting.
I was reading about this in the National Geographic and it
got me to thinking. All four of these climbers have purposely taken the
toughest route. How often in life do we try the easiest? For everyone has their
own mountain to climb. Some are mere slopes; others seem to keep growing
forever. And while there are people who
can clamber over their mountains pretty quickly, many will spend their whole
lives climbing. But it is better than falling.
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