Have you ever thought, you climb mountains, up the mountain, in the end for what? What’s after?
You might say that you are interested in seeing beautiful scenery, perhaps exercising physical fitness, and perhaps looking at the natural ecology of plants and animals,
Also prefer to explore the history of the humanities, or to shoot videos or even paintings, and others say they like to go up the mountain because of people,
Like to be closer and more direct interaction with people on the mountain, some people understand that climbing is chasing trends, in order to share the show off … If you don’t have to go up the mountain for a living, there must be thousands of possible answers to the reason for climbing.
For an old mountain friend who has climbed from Taiwan to all kinds of mountains and forests around the world for more or less, I now have some kind of work and necessity. Even in such a tired condition,
Every time I go up the mountain, I seem to be able to find my original purpose: I like to find that lonely ritual environment, where I can feel really relaxed and gain strength.
So I started climbing mountains, because compared to flat and suburban mountains, the mountains have a vast and magnificent scenery. Later I went deep into Taiwan’s intermediate mountains, because although often trapped in the closed forest,
But it is more barren and less human, is to retain the most of Taiwan’s original appearance of the region. I explore secrets, perhaps just to escape the crowd and find places that fewer people know. Although it’s harder to find,
The beauty that is easy to capture through the way I love photography, but on the one hand it is more challenging to learn to move the holy place in my heart and to convey it to more people through photography or words.
Last year because of the outbreak, the vast majority of people were unable to travel abroad, in this age when not traveling would die,
Taiwan’s traditional tourist areas can no longer meet these people who have traveled the world, with rich tourism experience. Coupled with the government’s policy of fully opening up the mountain forest the year before last,
Therefore, mountaineering this practice of “traditional outdoor sports”, suddenly become very fashionable trend, after all, into the wild, is essentially a special experience for civilized people, we all by climbing the way to replace the freshness of going abroad.
So the popular mountains are more crowded than ever before, originally only a few climbers concerned about the triangular Lun Mountain, into not to leave behind the “matcha mountain” super clocking point,
People who have never or rarely climbed a mountain have challenged Jianlong Ridge for the first time, and the seven-star mountain on holiday has more people in line for a top-of-the-line photo than the popular Net-a-Porter. Despite the mountain-climbing chaos,
Mountain accidents have also skyrocketed, but this is a transitional phenomenon, more people finally understand the charm of mountaineering,
Being able to be closer and more familiar with the land we grow up on, and gradually learning and upgrading the basic outdoor skills we should have, makes us more like real mountain islanders, optimistically saying that we are moving towards this goal.
But for me personally, it could be a nightmare, and while job opportunities are increasing, the chances of encountering a mountain of people are higher.
There were fewer routes that could be quiet all day long, and no one was able to explore them, which reduced the number of trips up the mountain. But I’m not worried that the secret will disappear,
Small Island of Taiwan because of the mountains dense, mountains and valleys deep, the rare desperate situation is still not in the minority … This is also the most precious feature that can be seen in Taiwan’s mountains. If there’s a heart,
Like me, you can still explore here and explore the rest of your soul between the mountains that are unique to you.
Publicly or sharing secrets to more people knows is another contradiction and struggle… Today’s ultra-fast community spreads at a rate that can take place in a short time,
Turn a difficult mountain spot into a popular route that can go back and forth quickly, and then maybe we’ve ruined the mystery again. People have a preference for sharing the essence of good things,
But at the same time there is a desire to hide private and self-empowerment to adjudicate control. It’s like liking mountains and forests but ultimately dragging them out of civilized life, talking about environmental protection but unknowingly wasting more resources that could harm the environment,
The balance between human development and nature is always the current human being, facing the evolutionary bottleneck of this breakthrough.
Seems to be far away, then let us put down these mediocre self-disturbing whispers, temporarily from the world of paper to explore some of the secrets I have gone to! This does not use suffering, no risk, and no damage to the environment.
The following eleven pictures are what I have seen in recent years, the more special human or natural background of the mountain vision. Maybe some are no longer secret, some are quite difficult to reach,
And some are just the gifts of God’s light in the course of the exploration, which happen to be captured by me by chance. I wish we all knew that even if the world was crowded again and life was urgent, maybe in our own backyard, in this paper book,
Or even at this moment in your place, the hidden quiet that will heal your soul will always be there.
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Author: Cui Zuxi
Mountain Adventure and Travel Photography Writer, Lecturer, Mountaineering and Outdoor Adventures at Wenshan Society, columnist for the International Chinese edition of Lonely Planet Magazine,
Overseas mountaineering professional leader, engaged in mountaineering education for more than 10 years. Specializing in technical exploration of no man’s land (intermediate mountain) in Taiwan’s wilderness, in the field of mountain hundreds of yue,
Ancient road exploration, in-depth tourism, overseas mountaineering and hiking, ice and snow climbing, natural ecology and landscape photography.
