Of Sports
Dear TomHa,
Subcribed myself to another climbing forum, just to ogle at the beautiful pictures that are taken at impossible angles and altitude. Climbers and mountaineers are a really lucky bunch of people, whose passion (and of course, together with money) takes them to places beyond the wildest possible imagination. I am glad that I had joined such an interesting club, that opened my horizons to beyond Ophir, Tahan and Kinabalu. Woohoo! Life's an adventure, live it.

It is pretty amazing how friendly the mountaineering folks are. I mean, they might have an hidden agenda, but until now, I have failed to sense it, so I shall assume there are no hidden agenda! (I am an engineer in training.. I do lots of assumptions) Dannies just forwarded a mail from Charlie Hobbs, a mountaineer who opened an Old Mountaineers' Cafe in Mount Cook Village whom we met while drinking coffee in that cafe! (wa.. how come all my sentences so long one?) Anyway.. the mail's to check on how we are progressing with our trip to the Himalayas. So friendly and affable. Haha. Well, somehow, I have to agree a little with Cesare Maestri, the 'First' Cerro Torre summiter. If you even question 1 climb, then I'll have to question the whole of mountaineering It makes some sense. Although I am not going to agree on that he is the first Cerro Torre summiter based on the evidence featured, but, in this sport whereby the only trophy is your own satisfaction at overcoming yourself in a hostile Mother Nature environment, I guess trust is paramount in this sport! Otherwise, who is there to judge when, let's say, you solo Mount Everest? You trust the integrity of those who made summit claims and I guess that's all to it in non-competitive sports.

Robert quoted Ernest as saying that there are only 3 sports in the world. Motor racing, Bull fighting and Mountaineering. Reason being that you can die from these sports. The rest are just games. You can stop in the middle if you find something is amiss. The consequences from failing in these are just your pride and the abject disappointment that all your hardwork is nowhere comparable to the other competitors. Hence, it is games. Perhaps...

How would you define your own definition of Sport? I am still searching for it.