Page:Du Faur - The Conquest of Mount Cook.djvu/31

 REASONS FOR TAKING UP MOUNTAINEERING

been asked so often "What made you take up mountaineering?" that perhaps it will be wise to devote the first few pages of this book to answering the oft-repeated question, and endeavouring to explain the fascination the mountains exercise over me.

To begin with, I sincerely believe that the true mountaineer, like the poet, is born, not made. The details of their craft both of course must learn, but the over-mastering love of the mountains is something which wells up from within and will not be denied. An unsympathetic environment and want of opportunity may keep this love hidden even from its possessor; but alter the environment and give the opportunity and the climber will climb as naturally as the sparks fly upward.

The majority of my readers will know that Australia possesses no permanently snow-clad mountains; so the average Australian may perhaps never see snow and ice, and has nothing in his environment to encourage a love of mountaineering. My own life was no exception Rh