Welcome to On Verticality. This blog explores the innate human need to escape the surface of the earth, and our struggles to do so throughout history. If you’re new here, a good place to start is the Theory of Verticality section or the Introduction to Verticality. If you want to receive updates on what’s new with the blog, you can use the Subscribe page to sign up. Thanks for visiting!
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“Mountaineering offers an emotional experience which cannot otherwise be reached.”
-George Mallory, English Mountaineer, 1886-1924.
“The highest of mountains is capable of severity, a severity so awful and so fatal that the wiser sort of men do well to think and tremble even on the threshold of their high endeavour.”
-George Mallory, English Mountaineer, 1886-1924.
“Is this the summit, crowning the day? How cool and quiet! We're not exultant; but delighted, joyful; soberly astonished.”
-George Mallory, English mountaineer, 1886-1924.
Anecdotes : Earning the Summit
I recently had the opportunity to summit Mount Washington in New Hampshire, and the experience brought to light a few aspects of verticality for me. It’s the tallest peak in the Northeast US, famous for it’s erratic weather patterns. As such, it’s been commercialized with a cog railway, auto road, visitor center and museum in order to attract tourist dollars to the park. This makes for an interesting summit experience, which is quite different than a typical mountaintop. Put simply, this is a summit you don’t have to earn by climbing up to it.
“What is the use of climbing Mount Everest? It is of no use. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life.”
-George Mallory, English mountaineer, 1886-1924.