Adventure Searching

Here and there I see stunning images of ice climbers and extreme skiers who practice their sport in extremely hostile environments. Raised in a family of avid skiers, the mountains are for me more a source of admiration that fear. With the skiing season upon us I stopped by Barnes & Nobles to browse through several ski and snowboard magazines. One article caught my eye. The author was a 17 year old who had climbed all seven peaks of the world in a year, Johnny Collinson. I expected his article to explain the thrill of reaching the top of a mountain or the rush of climbing an ice wall. On the contrary, this experienced teenager stressed the importance of safety. Thanks to his enormous ethos and plentiful personal examples, his well structured article first explained the techniques used to reach these 12,000+ ft. mountains and then risks that they engendered. Johnny then explained how a moment of inattention had almost cost him his life, making him question the importance of thrill and adrenaline. At the end of his article, this diehard extreme athlete explains that he has come to believe the only sports worth it are those that can be practiced in total security. This idea, coming from the one of the most athletic 17-year old in the world, certainly has a lot of power.