Mountains and Approach to Life

In reading the early portion of the late, great mountain climber Anatoli Boukreev's "Above The Clouds", his approach to his sport as a religion illustrates a key point. If we approach our sport only as a venue to feed the ego, we miss the point. We miss its ultimate reward. A little research on Anatoli will reveal that his accomplishments were of a scale and magnitude unlike his peers'. This guy had something going on......something good. Perhaps the sport of cycling can take some lessons from Anatoli.

See what you think of the following excerpt:

Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambitions to achieve. They are cathedrals, grand and pure, the houses of my religion. I approach them as any human goes to worship. On their altars I stirve to perfect myself physically and spiritually. In their presence I attempt to understand my life, to exorcise vanity, greed, and fear. From the vantage of their lofty summits, I view my past, dream of the future, and with unusual acuteness I experience the present moment. That stuggle renews my strength and clears my vision. In the mountains I celebrate creation, for on each journey I am reborn.