Some people run marathons, others compete in triathlons, and still others climb mountains. Athletes risk stress fractures, blisters, heat exhaustion and other pains to run races. It is part of the cost of competing and unlocking your body's potential. I'm currently reading a story of two men who are setting out to hike all 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail. To carry a fifty-pound pack 2,000 miles through mountains, snow and rain is almost unbelievable.
Mountain climbing involves a whole other level of risk.
Perhaps this summer you've read Into Thin Air, an account of an ill-fated ascent of Mount Everest. Climbers may lose fingers, toes, hands or feet to frostbite as they try to climb the world's tallest mountains. Some people even pay the ultimate price of their lives when avalanches occur or blizzards roar in. It is a rare year on Mount Everest in the Himalayas or even Mt. McKinley in Alaska where there are not serious injuries or fatalities. These climbers are not unaware of this.