Mountains are always on my mind. Sometimes, it seems that my inability to stay away from them controls my life and shapes where I live. Some crumble, some abound with apartment sized granite boulders and others are sheeted with snow and ice all year, every year. They all capture the very essence of what it is to exist. What follows are some images of mountains that I’ve taken on my ramblings, and some wisdom that I’ve been particularly inspired by.

Coastal mountains in Glacier Bay Alaska, USA

Muir Camp. Mt. Rainier, Washington USA

“…Clear, unpolluted mountain air has a strong refreshing smell and taste, almost biting, like fine Scotch whiskey.”

-Jamling Tenzing Norgay

Horse in Langtang region, Nepal

“The secret of the mountains is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself: the mountains exist simply, which I do not. The mountains have no “meaning,” they are meaning; the mountains are. The sun is round. I ring with life, and the mountains ring, and when I can hear it, there is a ringing that we share. I understand all this, not in my mind but in my heart, knowing how meaningless it is to try to capture what cannot be expressed, knowing that mere words will remain when I read it all again, another day.”

-Peter Mathiessen in The Snow Leopard

Wind Horses. Langtang, Nepal.

“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.”

-Anatoly Bourekeev

Pollywogpaul on Rainier summit. Washington, USA.

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

-John Muir