Respect the Mountain

Three years ago in August in Colorado, United States, at the Rocky Mountains National Park, I pushed myself to the limits I didn’t know I had and conquered the highest mountain and the most difficult climb (class 3) at the Park.  And I did it all in outstanding time: that was due to the bet I had with my friends, who at the time were laughing at me when I said I wanted to climb Longs Peak in five hours (final time was 4hrs 20 minutes, which for a first timer is really good).

I remember coming down the mountain, my whole body in pain, my lungs screaming for mercy and my muscles aching. Even though the breathtaking view on top of that 14,250 feet (4,3km) mountain was totally worth the pain, I swore to myself that I would never put myself through that much suffering ever again.

Yet there I was, climbing the same mountain exactly three years after.

There is just something amazingly magnificent about mountains. I’ve always been in love with nature, and connecting with it has been close to my heart. I also want to push myself to the limits, to exceed myself.

This time I knew that I was not in as good shape as I was three years ago – back then I trained six months just for the climb. Also my sickness in Mexico had squeezed me out of my strength pretty bad and it was only about three weeks ago that I started training again.

But I still wanted to climb it. Test myself. Test the mountain.

If last time I conquered the mountain, this time definitely the mountain conquered me. With my friend, we were able to climb all the way to the Keyhole, so about 12 kilometers. But the last kilometer to the peak was impossible for us to reach. The weather was drastic, the wind so strong that I could not stand up without being blown away. So we realized that we have to respect the mountain and its powers and not risk it. It was too dangerous. Besides dark clouds were gathering above us and lightings are the biggest threat while on a mountain.

Like I learned in Croatia, at the Plitvice Lakes National Park, nature will always be stronger than man, nature will always win. This time the powerful mountain was too powerful for me to conquer. Respect, Longs Peak! Still it was a good climb, and my body is once again in pain.

Can’t wait for the next challenge!

"You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself."

-James Whittaker