“When life gets tangled, there’s something so reassuring about climbing a mountain.” -Stacy Allison
Jack: Why are mountains funny?
Jill: Because they are hill-arious!
“Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.” -Barry Finlay
Overheard: I would go and hike the hills . . . if only I were a little boulder!
“When everything seems like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.” -Author Unknown
No hill’s too steep
No mountain’s too tall
With hope and Faith
You can conquer them all.
-Helen Steiner Rice
“Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point.” -Harold B. Melchart
“Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble.” -Author Unknown
“The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain - he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem - he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills.” -William A. Ward (William Arthur Ward (1921 - 1994))
“If you want to climb mountains, first practice on small hills.” -Author Unknown
The mountain with the longest name, at 85 letters in length, is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu in New Zealand.
“Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
“The man at the top of a mountain didn’t just fall there.” -Author Unknown
What is the difference between a mountain and a hill? A hill is a landform that is higher than the surrounding terrain and that is smaller than a mountain. Mountains were once defined as having steeper sides than hills and being more than 304.8 meters (1,000 feet) in height; however, this definition is no longer the generally accepted standard. At present, the only established difference between a hill and a mountain is that a hill becomes a mountain when someone names it as such.
“When there’s a hill to climb, don’t think that waiting will make it smaller.” -H. Jackson Brown
The world’s smallest recorded mountain is Mount Wychproof in Australia’s Terrick Terrick Range, and it stands 148 meters (486 feet) above sea level. Imagine, if you will, a mountain so very nearly tiny that a genetically-modified super-sized kangaroo can jump over it in a single bound.
Due to gravity, mountains on Earth can be no higher than about 15,000 meters (about 590,550 feet).
“When you help someone up a hill, you’re that much nearer the top yourself.” -Author Unknown
Mount Everest peaks at Earth’s highest-known land elevation above sea level. The mountain’s enormity was first declared in 1856 by a team assembled by India’s Surveyor General, who was also the mountain’s eponym, a British man named George Everest, who never actually saw the mountain. The official height of Mount Everest is 8,848.86 meters (29,032 feet) above sea level. By other measures, Mount Everest is 8.9 kilometers (5.5 miles) high. But wait, there’s more - due to the Earth’s shifting tectonic plates, Mount Everest appears to be growing taller by an astounding 4 to 5 millimeters every year!
“Because it’s there.” -G. H. L. Mallory (George Herbert Leigh Mallory (1886 - 1924)): explaining why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, when asked on an American lecture tour (1923), as quoted in John Hunt: “The Ascent of Everest” (1953) and D. Robertson (David Allan Robertson): “George Mallory” (1999)
Mount Everest is located in the Himalayas, the tallest and fastest growing group of mountains on Earth. Their growth is caused by the pressure exerted by two of Earth’s tectonic plates, called the Eurasian plate and the Indo-Australian plate, which collided millions of years ago and are still pushing against one another.
Evelyn: What was the tallest mountain before Mount Everest was discovered?
Madelyn: Mount Everest.
The Himalayas cover about one-tenth of the Earth’s surface.
Great things are done when men and mountains meet;
This is not done by jostling in the street.
-William Blake (1757 - 1827): “Gnomic Verses”
Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on land; however, the tallest mountain on Earth, measured from its base deep in the Pacific Ocean to its lofty peak way up in the clouds, is a dormant volcano that frequently has snow and skiers atop it, named Mauna Kea in the American state of Hawaii, measuring a total of 33,474 feet tall. We’re going to need underwater breathing apparatuses and more climbing rope.
“You can’t fall if you don’t climb. But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground.” -Author Unknown
Some of the tallest mountains in the world are completely underwater, so you would not climb them to reach their peaks, but lower yourself to them in a submersible vessel.
The tallest mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars, at about 15.5 miles tall. By comparison, Earth’s Mount Everest is about 5.5 miles tall.
“One cannot climb a mountain by a level road.” -Author Unknown: Norwegian proverb
A mountain on the Earth’s Moon, named Mons Huygens, stands about 4,572 meters (15,000 feet) tall. It will remain on the Moon only until we can build a spacecraft big enough to bring it back to Earth.
“One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time.” -John Wanamaker (1838 - 1922)
Meanwhile in Scotland, both mountains and hills go by the name ‘hills.’
Jack: Why are mountains funny?
Jill: Because they are hill-arious!
“Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.” -Barry Finlay
Overheard: I would go and hike the hills . . . if only I were a little boulder!
“When everything seems like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.” -Author Unknown
No hill’s too steep
No mountain’s too tall
With hope and Faith
You can conquer them all.
-Helen Steiner Rice
“Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point.” -Harold B. Melchart
“Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble.” -Author Unknown
“The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain - he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem - he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills.” -William A. Ward (William Arthur Ward (1921 - 1994))
“If you want to climb mountains, first practice on small hills.” -Author Unknown
The mountain with the longest name, at 85 letters in length, is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu in New Zealand.
“Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
“The man at the top of a mountain didn’t just fall there.” -Author Unknown
What is the difference between a mountain and a hill? A hill is a landform that is higher than the surrounding terrain and that is smaller than a mountain. Mountains were once defined as having steeper sides than hills and being more than 304.8 meters (1,000 feet) in height; however, this definition is no longer the generally accepted standard. At present, the only established difference between a hill and a mountain is that a hill becomes a mountain when someone names it as such.
“When there’s a hill to climb, don’t think that waiting will make it smaller.” -H. Jackson Brown
The world’s smallest recorded mountain is Mount Wychproof in Australia’s Terrick Terrick Range, and it stands 148 meters (486 feet) above sea level. Imagine, if you will, a mountain so very nearly tiny that a genetically-modified super-sized kangaroo can jump over it in a single bound.
Due to gravity, mountains on Earth can be no higher than about 15,000 meters (about 590,550 feet).
“When you help someone up a hill, you’re that much nearer the top yourself.” -Author Unknown
Mount Everest peaks at Earth’s highest-known land elevation above sea level. The mountain’s enormity was first declared in 1856 by a team assembled by India’s Surveyor General, who was also the mountain’s eponym, a British man named George Everest, who never actually saw the mountain. The official height of Mount Everest is 8,848.86 meters (29,032 feet) above sea level. By other measures, Mount Everest is 8.9 kilometers (5.5 miles) high. But wait, there’s more - due to the Earth’s shifting tectonic plates, Mount Everest appears to be growing taller by an astounding 4 to 5 millimeters every year!
“Because it’s there.” -G. H. L. Mallory (George Herbert Leigh Mallory (1886 - 1924)): explaining why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, when asked on an American lecture tour (1923), as quoted in John Hunt: “The Ascent of Everest” (1953) and D. Robertson (David Allan Robertson): “George Mallory” (1999)
Mount Everest is located in the Himalayas, the tallest and fastest growing group of mountains on Earth. Their growth is caused by the pressure exerted by two of Earth’s tectonic plates, called the Eurasian plate and the Indo-Australian plate, which collided millions of years ago and are still pushing against one another.
Evelyn: What was the tallest mountain before Mount Everest was discovered?
Madelyn: Mount Everest.
The Himalayas cover about one-tenth of the Earth’s surface.
Great things are done when men and mountains meet;
This is not done by jostling in the street.
-William Blake (1757 - 1827): “Gnomic Verses”
Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on land; however, the tallest mountain on Earth, measured from its base deep in the Pacific Ocean to its lofty peak way up in the clouds, is a dormant volcano that frequently has snow and skiers atop it, named Mauna Kea in the American state of Hawaii, measuring a total of 33,474 feet tall. We’re going to need underwater breathing apparatuses and more climbing rope.
“You can’t fall if you don’t climb. But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground.” -Author Unknown
Some of the tallest mountains in the world are completely underwater, so you would not climb them to reach their peaks, but lower yourself to them in a submersible vessel.
The tallest mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars, at about 15.5 miles tall. By comparison, Earth’s Mount Everest is about 5.5 miles tall.
“One cannot climb a mountain by a level road.” -Author Unknown: Norwegian proverb
A mountain on the Earth’s Moon, named Mons Huygens, stands about 4,572 meters (15,000 feet) tall. It will remain on the Moon only until we can build a spacecraft big enough to bring it back to Earth.
“One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time.” -John Wanamaker (1838 - 1922)
Meanwhile in Scotland, both mountains and hills go by the name ‘hills.’
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” -John Muir (1838 - 1914): “Our National Parks” (1901) ‘The Yellowstone National Park’
“In the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak; but for that you must have long legs.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900))
“We live on an astounding planet, punctuated by mountains on every continent. The mere presence of mountain ranges has long drawn the human imagination as an invisible force. Some say mountains have a ‘psychic gravity’ enticing us into their grip. There is a magic among great peaks as a location of splendor, where changing light plays games with intense colors, affecting the tones of snow and ice and many gleaming ridge outlines.” -Fred Beckey (Friedrich Wolfgang ‘Fred’ Beckey (1923 - 2017)): “Fred Beckey’s 100 Favorite North American Climbs” (2011)
“It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” -Robert W. Service (Robert William Service (1874 - 1958))
“The great mountains of the world are a great remedy, if men but did know it, against our modern discontent and ambitions. In the hills is wisdom’s fount. They are deep in time.” -E. R. Eddison (Eric Rücker Eddison (1882 - 1945))
“One sunny Wednesday afternoon [Mother] took me to Peel Park. We sat on a high esplanade and looked far over the countless chimneys of northern Manchester to the horizon. On the skyline, green and aloof, the Pennines rose like the ramparts of paradise. ‘There!’ she said, pointing. ‘Mountains!’ I stared, lost for words.” -Robert Roberts (1906 - 1974): “A Ragged Schooling” (1976)
“The mountain cannot frighten one who was born on it.” -Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805): “Wilhelm Tell” (1803), Act III, scene i
“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” -Rene Daumal
“Mountaineers are always free.” [translation to English]
“Montani semper liberi.” [original Latin]
-Author Unknown
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.” -Andy Rooney (Andrew Aitken ‘Andy’ Rooney (1919 - 2011))
“Mountains are climbed one step at a time.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
“Whatever the struggle, continue the climb. It may be only one step to the summit.” -Diane Westlake
“If you can’t climb the highest mountain any more, go to the closest hill. It is better than staying at the bottom thinking you can’t do it.” -Nico J. Genes
“The best view comes after the hardest climb.” -Author Unknown
“Climb the mountain . . . so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” -David McCullouga, Junior
“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.” -Najwa Zebian (born about 1990)
“Mountain climbing: scalesmanship.” -Frank Tyger (1929 - 2011)
“It’s easier to go down a hill than up it, but the view is much better at the top.” -Henry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1887)
“The higher the mountains, the more understandable is the glory of Him who made them and who holds them in His hand.” -Francis Schaeffer
Edmund Percival Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people recorded to have reached Mount Everest’s summit, on 29 May 1953, as part of a team led by John Hunt.
“When Sir Edmund Hillary made the first conquest of Mt. Everest in 1953, his Sherpa bearers were almost all barefooted, even well above the snow line.” -Richard Frazine (Richard Keith Frazine (born 1947)): “The Barefoot Hiker” (1993)
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” -Edmund Hillary (Edmund Percival Hillary (1919 - 2008)): as quoted in “Reader’s Digest” (1993)
Monty: What did the climber say after reaching the top of the mountain?
Mandy: It’s all downhill from here!
“If you do not scale the mountain, you cannot view the plain.” -Author Unknown
Any American citizen can give whatever name the person chooses to any unnamed mountain or hill in the United States - if he or she can find one.
“A lot of us would like to move mountains, but few of us are willing to practice on small hills.” -Author Unknown
“If you don’t climb the mountain, you can’t see the view.” -Author Unknown
“Climbing is a unique sport presenting mental and physical stress that you learn to overcome by operating close to your limits. Sometimes your limits are higher than you realize. Of course you recognize your limits in climbing by falling off the rock.” -Eric G. Anderson
“To the summit.” [translation to English]
“Ad alta.” [original Latin]
-Author Unknown
“God gives us mountains so we can learn how to climb.” -Author Unknown
“The mountains are fountains of men as well as of rivers, of glaciers, and of fertile soil. The great poets, philosophers, prophets, able men whose thoughts and deeds have moved the world, have come down from the mountains.” -John Muir (1838 - 1914)
“No one ever climbed a hill by just looking at it.” -Author Unknown
“Mountains never shake hands. Their roots may touch - they may keep together some way up - but at length they part company, and rise into individual peaks. So is it with great men.” -J. C. and A. W. Hare (Julius Charles Hare (1795 - 1855) and Augustus William Hare (1792 - 1834))
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so . . . get on your way!” -Dr. Seuss (pseudonym of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991)): “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” (1990)
“Men do not stumble over mountains, but over molehills.” -Confucius (also known as K’ung Fu-tzu or K’ung Ch’iu (about 551 B.C.E. - about 479 B.C.E.))
“Only if you’ve been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.” -Richard Nixon (Richard Milhous Nixon (1913 - 1994)): speech (9 August 1974)
Chester: What’s funnier, mountain ranges or beaches?
Caroline: Mountains, of course - they’re ‘hill areas’!
“Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery of why we climb.” -Greg Child
“You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.” -Tom Hiddleston
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” -John Muir (1838 - 1914)
We are MFOL! . . . now let us all go out there and hike every hill and climb every mountain . . .
“In the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak; but for that you must have long legs.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900))
“We live on an astounding planet, punctuated by mountains on every continent. The mere presence of mountain ranges has long drawn the human imagination as an invisible force. Some say mountains have a ‘psychic gravity’ enticing us into their grip. There is a magic among great peaks as a location of splendor, where changing light plays games with intense colors, affecting the tones of snow and ice and many gleaming ridge outlines.” -Fred Beckey (Friedrich Wolfgang ‘Fred’ Beckey (1923 - 2017)): “Fred Beckey’s 100 Favorite North American Climbs” (2011)
“It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” -Robert W. Service (Robert William Service (1874 - 1958))
“The great mountains of the world are a great remedy, if men but did know it, against our modern discontent and ambitions. In the hills is wisdom’s fount. They are deep in time.” -E. R. Eddison (Eric Rücker Eddison (1882 - 1945))
“One sunny Wednesday afternoon [Mother] took me to Peel Park. We sat on a high esplanade and looked far over the countless chimneys of northern Manchester to the horizon. On the skyline, green and aloof, the Pennines rose like the ramparts of paradise. ‘There!’ she said, pointing. ‘Mountains!’ I stared, lost for words.” -Robert Roberts (1906 - 1974): “A Ragged Schooling” (1976)
“The mountain cannot frighten one who was born on it.” -Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805): “Wilhelm Tell” (1803), Act III, scene i
“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” -Rene Daumal
“Mountaineers are always free.” [translation to English]
“Montani semper liberi.” [original Latin]
-Author Unknown
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.” -Andy Rooney (Andrew Aitken ‘Andy’ Rooney (1919 - 2011))
“Mountains are climbed one step at a time.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
“Whatever the struggle, continue the climb. It may be only one step to the summit.” -Diane Westlake
“If you can’t climb the highest mountain any more, go to the closest hill. It is better than staying at the bottom thinking you can’t do it.” -Nico J. Genes
“The best view comes after the hardest climb.” -Author Unknown
“Climb the mountain . . . so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” -David McCullouga, Junior
“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.” -Najwa Zebian (born about 1990)
“Mountain climbing: scalesmanship.” -Frank Tyger (1929 - 2011)
“It’s easier to go down a hill than up it, but the view is much better at the top.” -Henry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1887)
“The higher the mountains, the more understandable is the glory of Him who made them and who holds them in His hand.” -Francis Schaeffer
Edmund Percival Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people recorded to have reached Mount Everest’s summit, on 29 May 1953, as part of a team led by John Hunt.
“When Sir Edmund Hillary made the first conquest of Mt. Everest in 1953, his Sherpa bearers were almost all barefooted, even well above the snow line.” -Richard Frazine (Richard Keith Frazine (born 1947)): “The Barefoot Hiker” (1993)
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” -Edmund Hillary (Edmund Percival Hillary (1919 - 2008)): as quoted in “Reader’s Digest” (1993)
Monty: What did the climber say after reaching the top of the mountain?
Mandy: It’s all downhill from here!
“If you do not scale the mountain, you cannot view the plain.” -Author Unknown
Any American citizen can give whatever name the person chooses to any unnamed mountain or hill in the United States - if he or she can find one.
“A lot of us would like to move mountains, but few of us are willing to practice on small hills.” -Author Unknown
“If you don’t climb the mountain, you can’t see the view.” -Author Unknown
“Climbing is a unique sport presenting mental and physical stress that you learn to overcome by operating close to your limits. Sometimes your limits are higher than you realize. Of course you recognize your limits in climbing by falling off the rock.” -Eric G. Anderson
“To the summit.” [translation to English]
“Ad alta.” [original Latin]
-Author Unknown
“God gives us mountains so we can learn how to climb.” -Author Unknown
“The mountains are fountains of men as well as of rivers, of glaciers, and of fertile soil. The great poets, philosophers, prophets, able men whose thoughts and deeds have moved the world, have come down from the mountains.” -John Muir (1838 - 1914)
“No one ever climbed a hill by just looking at it.” -Author Unknown
“Mountains never shake hands. Their roots may touch - they may keep together some way up - but at length they part company, and rise into individual peaks. So is it with great men.” -J. C. and A. W. Hare (Julius Charles Hare (1795 - 1855) and Augustus William Hare (1792 - 1834))
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so . . . get on your way!” -Dr. Seuss (pseudonym of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991)): “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” (1990)
“Men do not stumble over mountains, but over molehills.” -Confucius (also known as K’ung Fu-tzu or K’ung Ch’iu (about 551 B.C.E. - about 479 B.C.E.))
“Only if you’ve been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.” -Richard Nixon (Richard Milhous Nixon (1913 - 1994)): speech (9 August 1974)
Chester: What’s funnier, mountain ranges or beaches?
Caroline: Mountains, of course - they’re ‘hill areas’!
“Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery of why we climb.” -Greg Child
“You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.” -Tom Hiddleston
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” -John Muir (1838 - 1914)
We are MFOL! . . . now let us all go out there and hike every hill and climb every mountain . . .