What's the point of adventure?

[Originally posted on Facebook, 17 Jan 2015]

Passion and the definition of adventure revisited...so now if participants ask: "What happens if it rains or if there are mosquitoes?" Maybe we can respond with: "What's the point of adventure?"

Excerpts from "On Myanmar's Mystery Peak, Drama and a Challenge Like No Other"
National Geographic
Published 16 Jan 2015:

Over five arduous weeks, the team members had been pushed to their limits physically, mentally, and emotionally. Finally, high on the mountain and within striking distance of their objective, the strain nearly broke them when a disagreement over which of the five climbing members would try to reach the summit turned into angry shouting.

The conflict revolved around issues that are familiar to expert mountain climbers who push their limits on some of the world's highest peaks: how to balance their own pride and desire for achievement against the need to keep everyone in the group as safe as possible.

For each member of the group, Hkakabo Razi represented a rare chance to do something no one had done before, and the argument that boiled to the surface in some of the team's most desperate hours was partly a reflection of the team's passion for its mission.

"It was ugly," Jenkins said of the argument, "and in many ways heartbreaking."

A Brooding, Mysterious Peak
In an era that has seen the widespread commercialization of mountaineering, one in which a trip to the summit of Mount Everest is considered almost passé, serious climbers are hungry to find mountains that offer a rawer, some would say truer, spirit of adventure.

Few places fit the bill as squarely as the little-known Dandalika range, east of the Himalaya in northern Myanmar. And Hkakabo Razi (pronounced Kaka-bo Rah-zee), believed to be the tallest of these isolated peaks, has long stood as the biggest mountaineering prize of them all.

Experienced in High-Altitude Adversity
The team expected to face physical and mental hardships during the expedition.

"This was more than just a mountaineering expedition, with a lot more logistical complexities," Jenkins said. "We knew some things would go wrong. They always do. But without hardship there would be no adventure. And then, what's the point?"