Dangerously Addicting

I found the most striking part of a ExWeb article about the dangers of climbing all 14 8,000 meter peaks to be this quote from Silvio Mondinelli – one of the 14 men who has every climbed all 14:

"I was so consumed with summiting the 14 8,000ers. Now, after 14 draining years of sacrifice, and so many moments lost with my family forever - finally, I am done."

I appreciate how supremely bad-ass you must be to climb the world’s 14 tallest mountains, I doubt that I’ll even do one in my lifetime. But is there a point where you’ve just lost sight of role the adventure is playing in your life? It sounds like Mondindelli didn’t realize until after he was done that he had pretty much sacrificed the rest of his life on the alter of great accomplishment.

All that aside, serious respect for the 14 who have made it to the top of all 14.

Image: Silvio Mondinelli, with one frostbitten nose.