Craigmod: Annapurna Moonrise

“On the side of a mountain you are acutely aware of your body. Of having aching arms and legs and lungs that are too weak. Shoulders that feel like they might start bleeding at any moment. An uncanny ability to sweat all day, rendering yourself a wet mop of a man. And cells begging for more oxygen than you’re supplying them.

You feel food turn into fuel. A piece of chocolate after hours of continuous ascent instantly manifests as pure energy. Have you ever experienced this? It’s biological magic and makes you realize just how direct that connection is between food and our body.

You sleep more deeply and peacefully than ever. Taste becomes explosive — everything delicious or revolting.

In sustaining this activity — extended, continuous exertion — there’s a surreal wonder in watching your body change. Your very physicality sharpens. Fat burns off (despite eating and eating and eating). You whittle yourself down to the elemental components of pure muscle and bone. And on a mountain, standing there naked in the freezing cold in the morning, catching a glimpse of yourself in a dirty mirror, you think that you look both utterly homeless and also like a superhero.”

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