There were other moments, not dreams anymore, but a mixture between sentinels and dreaming, exactly what one might call hallucination. In such a moment he suddenly found the answer to the question so often asked: “Why do you do mountaineering?”(Because all the usual answers were not sufficient enough: for healthiness; but for this there must be other and less costly means. For altitude; but then, what about mountain railways and planes? Because it was an especially rich kind of sports, which, even though from only a close, but elitist circle yields distinctive rewards; this might be more the case, but it wasn’t enough. This was it: To break out of imprisonment ...
 
(From: Ludwig Hohl---Bergfahrt. Bibliothek Suhrkamp, p.. 88/89, first edition 1978; translated by Lumas)