I did a lot of climbing and mountaineering for
about a seven or eight year period. (Notice the oversized calves, definite sign of too much time on the trail.) What you can't see in
this picture are the scarred up knuckles and fingers. (Not a pretty sight). I never really got very good, but I had a lot of fun.
Lots of those times of fear and suffering is where I really learned that just being in the wilderness was just as good as getting anywhere.
'Goal oriented' mountain climbing, was superceded by 'stop and smell the flowers' hiking in the mountains. Something that I still do regularly
today. (Those old skills do come in handy sometimes though.)