SHOUT TO THE TOP
Climbing Mountains is a healthy physical exercise that creates wonderful memories. It provides opportunity to slow down and disconnect and given the chance, hiking teaches us important truths about life.
Josh Kirk - Snowdonia
Mountains are so special; they have such magic to them. Maybe it is the fact they are can be so dangerous or maybe it is because they make us feel so small.
Even if you don’t climb them they can call to you. You might find that all the problems in your life dissolve when you are around them or that life slows down a bit. After spending time climbing them you will feel the urge to return.
Climbing a mountain is the furthest thing from easy. Long stretches of constant vertical climbing can be the most exhausting and hardest thing you do. Not only the physical difficulties but also the mental difficulties will also test you.
Exposed and tricky climbing and route finding can get the best of your mental abilities. The classic quote that tells you “not to look at the whole mountain take it one piece at a time” is something you will come to understand.
You will learn to never give up; to know that the reward will be worth the work it takes. It may take you several months, attempts and hours but you will take the time and you can achieve the climb.
Once you make it you will realise what all the fuss is about. It is like reaching a goal, achieving a dream and figuring out that you can do anything that you set your mind to. It’s an addictive feeling that no one can properly explain and one that you have to experience.
The great thing about hiking people is that we all have the similar goals to get to the top of the mountain and to enjoy a day of exercise and nature’s beauty. Life long friends can be made this way because you generally spend a lot of time together aiming for the same goal.
Mountain climbing can be the greatest thing you ever do in life but at the end of it all you usually end up wanting more of it no matter what.
Life Lessons Learned Climbing Mountains:
Many have gone before Many will go after you Healthy fuel is important Pack light Choose your steps carefully.
Age is only a number If you can climb a mountain, you can do anything The physical health and fitness benefits are huge
You can see places very few get to see You will meet the most amazing people who you will call friends
Finally understand why the mountains are calling and you must go Climbing mountains will teach you patience, persistence and gratitude
They will teach you why we want to protect the environment They will teach you how to be positive
They will teach you to enjoy the small luxuries in life They will teach you about change and being prepared for change
Every mountain will teach you something
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Daniil Vnoutchkov - Fuji, Japan
Here are some to the worlds ‘easier’ mountains to climb
1. Mount Fuji, Japan, 3,776m
Mount Fuji is a striking, singular peak rising almost 4,000m above Japan’s capital city, and one of the most-climbed mountains in the world. The hike up the most popular route, Kawaguchiko, is a great introduction to the stamina needed for climbing mountains, without technical terrain — the hike, all on well-established trail, starts at 2,300m and ends at the summit at 3,776m, and takes about eight hours round-trip for fit individuals. The official hiking season is only two months, July 1 to August 31.
2. Pikes Peak, United States, 4,302m
Pikes Peak gets hikers about as high as they can get in the continental United States — 4,302m, all on a good trail. And if you get to the top and don’t feel like walking back down, you can hop on the cog railway or hitch a ride in a car from one of the tourists who have driven up the road on the mountain’s north side. From the trailhead, the 21km hiking route gains 2,250m, a strenuous day of hiking that gives aspiring mountaineers a taste of what it takes to climb big mountains.
3. Tofana di Rozes, Italy, 3,225m
The Dolomites’ Tofana di Rozes offers a great mountain hiking experience, gaining 1,200m from the trailhead to the summit, and adds in a component of exposed rock climbing—on novice-friendly via ferrata, providing all the experience of rock climbing without needing the expertise and knowledge of how to use rock climbing safety equipment. The Ferrata Lipella is one of the longest, but not most difficult via ferrata in Italy, a system of iron ladders, rungs, and cables that the climber is tethered into in case of a fall. The entire climb usually takes five hours, four hours of which are spent on via ferrata.
4. Mount Hood, United States, 3,426m
The Pacific Northwest of the United States is a great training ground for the big mountains of the world, with large glaciated volcanic peaks that require all the skills used on 8,000m peaks, without the high altitude. Mount Hood is one of the least-committing peaks in the area, and a great first snow climb for climbers who are new to crampons and ice axes. The most common summit route, the South Side Route, is a half-day climb from the Timberline Lodge, and is guided regularly from late April through June every year.
5. Breithorn (via the Normal Route), Switzerland, 4,164m
The Breithorn’s western summit may be the most-climbed 4,000m peak in the Alps, thanks to the Klein Matterhorn cable car, which takes climbers to 3,883m, less than 300m below the summit.
From that point, though, climbers head across and up a glacier and snow climbing up to 35 degrees, requiring use of crampons and ice axe. It’s a short climb, but its snow climbing and high altitude make it a good entree for beginning mountaineers.
6. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, 5895m
Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain, and one of the world’s highest free-standing peaks, a volcano almost 6,000m high. And that’s the biggest challenge in climbing it — adjusting to the thin air at altitude. All of the routes on Kilimanjaro require a local guide, but are simply hiking on trails. Most guide services take clients from the start of the climb at around 1,800m to the 5,895m summit over the course of five or six days, allowing climbers to acclimatise to the increasingly thin air. It provides aspiring mountaineers the chance to see how their bodies react at high altitude without the technical or objective risks (avalanches, crevasse falls) of other high mountains.
7. Pico de Orizaba, Mexico, 5636m
A climb of Mexico’s highest mountain gives mountaineers a snow-climbing experience on a glacier that’s not heavily crevassed, and moderate altitude. Most guide services include several days on lower peaks to acclimatise, and then push for Orizaba’s 5,636m summit over one or two days. Summit day on the normal route begins at the Piedra Grande hut on a trail, then transitions to the Jamapa Glacier at about 5,000m, and climbs 40-degree snow and ice to the summit.
8. Island Peak, Nepal, 6,189m
Sometimes called 'the world’s easiest 6,000m peak,' Island Peak is the most popular 'trekking peak' in Nepal – peaks classified as attainable by climbers with some mountaineering experience. The climb isn’t a walk-up, though. It still requires an alpine start (two or three in the morning) and use of crampons and ice axe. Most parties tackle the 1000m climb from base camp to summit in one day, but many choose to take two days to climb. Many guide services also include a trek to Everest Base Camp.