Why do we climb mountains?
By Riley Rackliffe
My dear young friends,
It’s been a long walk. There are a lot of you. Six years ago as a freshman I watch President Hinckley speak from this podium. I’m honored to be allowed near it.
Past
That is one of many treasured experiences from my time in Provo. It slides in there with memories of famous dignitaries and lengthy lectures, loud football games and transforming Sunday meetings. Late night conversations with roommates and trying to read 200 pages in a single night while listening to the 11:45 pm library rock concert.
One of my favorite memories has been the frequent gathering of peers and heading out into the wilderness surrounding campus to conquer some obscure destination. Again and again I found myself, as I hope you did, half way up a rocky mountain with a bunch of gasping peers wondering why I kept subjecting myself to such punishment. I would bury the doubts because I was the Utahan and I was majoring in environmental science so everyone expected me to dance up the mountain slope. So instead of pondering my limitations I would turn to my hiking group and ask them, “why do we climb mountains?”
They would offer a few answers, “Because it’s there” or “For bragging rights” or “because you made me”. As we would repeat the ritual every couple hundred feet the answers would change as the morale of the group would wax or wane. “Because it’s good exercise” or “because we can” or “Because we are men”. I began to ask myself the same question. I first thought, “I’m an Environmental Science Major, the natural world is my life and my passion.” Then why did I feel a drive to reach the summit instead of being content to sit by a river or a stream? I began to realize that I was searching for something. Over the months I wondered what it might be. Was I trying to reach heaven like the Babylonians of old? Was I seeking a spiritual enlightenment that comes from the larger perspective you receive on top of a mountain? Or was I trying to show off to my mountain climbing friends by summiting a taller, more dangerous peak? Perhaps I was trying to become better friends with certain young women who I could occasionally convince to come along.
We would finish our hike and return home tired, sunburned, blistered, and covered in bites. I would wonder once more, why do I climb mountains? The next morning on my walk to campus I would gaze at the sunlight spilling across the valley and see the peak, Squaw Peak, Y Mountain, Maple mountain, Shingle mill, Provo or whatever and realize that I had been there. I had stood on that peak and seen what lay beyond it. I would cast my gaze further and see mountains that I had not yet climbed and the urge would return. A few days later I would be planning the next excursion. There are more mountains to climb and I had to climb them.
Of course occasionally it wasn’t a mountain. Sometime we would hike slot canyons, or waterfalls, or rivers. But the question always dogged me, particularly when someone forgot a sleeping bag or we had a flat tire in the middle of the desert. Why do I go through all this effort to achieve these seemingly unimportant destinations? Why do we climb mountains?
Climbing Timpanogos one time we had a fixed goal, watch the sunrise. I know many of you have done this early morning hike as well because I have watched your flashlights on the trail. Hours and eight miles after starting out in the pitch black you huddle in the cold predawn and watch the sun sprout over the Uinta Mountains far to the east. That morning we were seeking light. I reminded me of a study abroad where we climbed Mount Sinai for the sunrise, joined by pilgrims from all over the world, seeking a little more light, a little more understanding, maybe a little more clarity.
I discovered that many of the reasons I climb mountains carry over to other activities. I often take classes or read books in an effort to understand my world a little better, to gain a new perspective, or to seek a little more light. I attend church to feel closer to the eternal world I sense I am a part of. I walk the miles up the hill to the temple to spend a little time worshiping the creator and feeling his presence.
Present
Today, we have reached the top of another mountain. For each of us there has been a slightly different trail to get here. We each have individual family situations, We each took our own set of classes in whatever order made sense to us from whichever professors we decided to listen to. While some of us share majors we all have individual goals and emphases’ in those majors. We stand today on the same summit.
Why do we climb mountains? You each have your own answer. I don’t know what they are and I’m not sure it’s important for me to know. It’s important for you to know though. Maybe you are here because your parents expected it of you. Maybe you climbed here to learn skills for a specific job. Maybe you are here to get into a graduate program or medical school or some other kind of further education. Maybe you were seeking to be well rounded in a diversity of knowledge to keep yourself open to future opportunities. Maybe you are here to prove to yourself that you can succeed in life. Maybe you are here to prove to your children that importance of education. In this day of pictures, memories, and (hopefully) big fancy dinners take a moment to reflect on why you did it. Why did you climb this mountain?
Future
Perhaps you are far enough from being a teenager now that you have realized that your cells will degenerate with time and eventually you will prove your mortality. Every time I gasp for breath on a mountain side I wonder if this mountain will be my last. It hasn’t happened yet. I suspect most of us have more mountains in our futures. Perhaps the degeneration of our mortal frames will be the next mountain we face. Regardless of what slope you face next you can draw strength from the last hill you summited. Take courage on your next step knowing what challenges you have already left behind you. It will be difficult, mountains always are, but you have done it before and you will do it again. Keep climbing mountains!
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