God only knows why I do it to myself. No actually thats not quite true. The reason I keep booking myself onto mountain climbing trips is because I never read the itinerary properly.
Typical example:
Oh cool, Borneo. I want to go there, what’s on the list of activities? Aha, Orangutan Sanctuary, Turtle Island, local village…cool. Click…booked it…done.
It’s only when I get there I discover I’ve overlooked days 4-5…climb the biggest f’ing mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea…
Being notoriously stubborn and having now been to Mt. Everest, I just figure I can do anything I like. I tend to overlook the fact I’ve only just quit smoking and that I’m an unfit lazy bastard.
So I did climb the damn thing, or Mt. Kinabalu as they call it, at 4065m or 13,336 ft or thereabouts.
Part of my group included 2 Swede’s who played for a volleyball team and who described their week as volleyball practice 4 nights, and time at the gym on all other days. Plus the odd run or two.
Needless to say they were first up the mountain. But ironically, nobody gave a shit about them.
Who got all the praise? Me. Ok, so it usually went like this:
“Man, I just can’t believe you made it. We’d all written you off. We just figured after the first day when you staggered in, chewing your gum violently, with a look of grim death on your face, threatening to stab anyone who came near you, that you’d never reach the summit. But you did it. And you haven’t smoked the whole time, despite being in a group with 6 people smoking around you constantly. You’re amazing man, we totally respect you.”
Personally I think I’m an idiot, but it just goes to show. It’s not enough to excel these days, you have to be a complete wreck and still manage it to get respect.
Something I doubt I’ll have a problem with in future…. :p