“It’s easier to go down a hill than up it, but the view is much better at the top.”

Henry Ward Beecher

Why do you climb mountains? What is it that motivates you to put forth the effort? Are you climbing the mountain simply because it is there, or do you want to see the view? Are you taking in the sights along the way up and the way down?  

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to climb Mt. Yale, just outside Buena Vista, Colorado. Mt. Yale is one of Colorado’s legendary “14’rs” where the peak is over 14,000 feet above sea level.

The reason for the climb was to see something beautiful and take on a challenge I had never done before.  It was a grueling climb, primarily scrambling on hands and feet over the rocks for the last mile.  

But the view from the top was so worth the effort…

As were the sights along the way down…

The views we find at the top of the mountain are the inspiration we need to climb up a higher and even more challenging peak.