Looking at a situation from afar with an uncluttered mind can have its merits. At a distance, the fiddly bits disappear, and you are left with the contrast. Defocus, use a wide angle lens. At a rougher granularity of film, with high contrast, you can make everything black and white. But an impression was made that's worth thinking about.
Mountains are most noticeable from a distance.
Climbing Everest was not about the exact height, but getting to the topmost top. Everest is not what it was, satellite measurement has reduced its height. But consider the statement that you are on the highest point on the globe, X metres above sea level. There are tides, waves. I know, it is not about the sea, but air pressure, or subtracting from satellite altitude, referenced to the earth's midpoint, maybe.