Mountains

Mountains are not Stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve,
they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion...
I go to them as humans go to worship.
From their lofty summits I view my past, dream of the future and,
with an unusual acuity, am allowed to experience the present moment...
my vision cleared, my strength renewed.
In the mountains I celebrate creation.
On each journey I am reborn.

-- Anatoli Boukreev
(1958-1997) Russian Kazakh mountaineer