Mountains give something different to each of us.
Some go there for sheer challenge, adrenaline, exhaustion, misery.
Some to test themselves, to collect themselves, to wrestle with inner demons and look for answers.
As Brianna Wiest put it: “The mountain is you.”
Me? I choose the mountains for inspiration and recharging.
But more than anything, mountaineering teaches me humility.
There are plenty of sayings about that. “The higher the mountains, the smaller you and your problems become.” Or, my personal favorite, heard from a friend: “You don’t really know yourself until you’ve tried doing number two into a bag on a big wall.” Some lessons are more poetic than others, but the point is the same: the mountains teach.
Mountaineering Humility: Lessons from the 2025 Season
For me, the entire 2025 mountaineering season was one long turn-around.
Just two four-thousanders out of more than ten planned – West and Central Breithorn. Multiple encounters with rapidly changing, hostile weather. Even botched numerous mid-level via ferrata attempts due to inconsistent weather. A medevac helicopter on Breithorn – an experience that reminded me how quickly everything can change, and that there’s truly no such thing as the “easiest” 4000m peaks.
And the latest: turning around from the north face of the Grandes Jorasses. Poor ice. Too much objective risk. A 1200-meter wall I had dreamed about for a year – off limits. Turning around always feels like failure at first. Only later does it feel like survival.
So what did I learn?
Humility.
No matter how well you prepare, how fit you are, how good your gear is, and how badly you want it – there are simply too many factors outside your control. And even things you can control can go awry – we are all human, after all. Learning to accept that. Learning to assess risk honestly. Learning to value coming back more than ticking a checkbox. Learning that sometimes the mountain’s lesson isn’t in reaching the summit, but in the restraint it forces upon you. That’s growth.
After all, we don’t go to the mountains to stay there.
We go to come back home – to our people – and to carry the story with us. To let the humility, the awe, and the lessons learned seep into everyday life, shaping how we live, love, and move forward.
And in doing so, we become a little more ourselves.
If this resonates, I share more about the mountains on Instagram – follow along.