While I have not bumped into many of the climbing enthusiast crowd, it seems to me that the attitudes of some resemble that of some bicyclists I know!
Read the articles Muffin linked above.
In there it says the real appeal of mountaineering to those who do it is because it reduces all of life’s complexities to a simple issue, an all-encompassing expedition to summit a peak.
I’ve done three cross-country bicycle trips over the past seven years, and would do one every year if I could. What Ive noticed is the exact same thing; life reduced to a simple task is relaxation, even if physically arduous.
