Most young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling, or swimming, or in winter, skating or skiing. It may be mountaineering.
Those who have a passion for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment.
Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks on high mountains? This astonishment is caused probably by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity from which men get their relaxation.
Mountaineering is a sport but not a game. There are no man-made rules, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of a different kind which it would be dangerous to ignore, but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people.
If we compare mountaineering with other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a "team game". There are, it is true, no "matches" between "teams" of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.
The mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than man. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities.
A mountain climber continues to improve skills year after year. A skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most international tennis champions are in their early twenties. They may need more time than younger men, but they probably climb with more skills and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.
A. We should be mistaken in this.
B. He has to fight the forces of nature.
C. Teams compete against each other.
D. Climbing high mountains needs patience, skills and strength.
E. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.
F. It may be a game of some kind football, hockey, golf, or tennis.
G. But it is not unusual for men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps.
