Growing up, my family skied. We hiked. While no one would ever have described us as mountaineers, our vacations nearly always involved verticality. What really made us mountain people, though, is that we weren’t beach people. On its face, what set us apart was elevation, but really the divide ran much deeper. In the mountains, you pick a point and work hard to get there.
If you’re hiking or climbing, the goal is above you. If you’re skiing, snowboarding, or mountain biking, the goal is below. Either way, in the mountains, a sense of satisfaction and wonder comes through hard work and achievement. You earn your views.
Beach people, on the other hand—well, I didn’t really get beach people. I understood beach activities: boogie-boarding, bodysurfing, fishing. But just hanging out…