Is it possible to be an armchair mountain-climber?
The reason I ask is because hiking and mountain-climbing are things that I love reading about, but I don't do very often (hiking) or at all (mountain climbing). Although it seems a little strange, my relationship with these intensely active and outdoorsy activities are linked first and foremost to reading quietly by myself.
A few years ago, a friend recommended that I read the YA book Peak (Roland Smith), about a teenage boy who tries to be the youngest person ever to climb Mount Everest (I won't spoil it for you). Before this book, I had never read a thing about climbing, and it was not a topic that I expected to really connect with. But Peak was full of fascinating details about what it's really like to climb Everest, and I was hooked. Although I am not myself an adventurer--and no, I don't plan to start climbing--I now pay attention to Everest news, subscribe to Outside magazine and even followed the Everestnofilter Snapchat account, run by two expert climbers trying to summit Everest with no oxygen (or "Os," as they're known on the mountain!).
Around the same time, I read Cheryl Strayed's Wild, with which I connected in similar ways as I did to Peak--I was fascinated by the details of Strayed's extreme hike, all the logistical considerations around what was required to walk 1,100 miles, and what the experience felt like. Now, since reading Wild, I hike as often as I can (which, sadly, is not a lot) and it's important to me to find time to do it when I am outside of New York City.
It's not in my nature to be extreme; I am a city girl, and frankly too scared to take on anything greater than pleasant day-hikes. But it is in my nature to read all about the topics that I love, and let it all play out in my imagination. I love the feeling of finding a whole new world through books. And I love that there are writers out there who are so skilled that they can open a world of possible for me, to hook me in and make me love topics I had never even thought about before.
