Mountains mean stability. Everything in our lives can change, but mountains will always be there. I believe that is why they play such an important role in our history. Since ancient times humans look for a little piece of magic in things they cannot control, my favourite example would be formatting star constellations. Although, unlike starts, mountains can be touched, concurred, they are down here always reminding us of how small we are.  

It took me some time to form a relationship with this great amount of rising earth’s surface. I’d never seen the purpose of feeling miserable, sweaty and cold just to be forced to take a picture. I was 18 years old the first time I went alone on a hike and I learnt that it is not about reaching the top it’s about experiencing the journey. This blog post could easily become a love letter dedicated to the power of mountains, full of clichés like; our problems suddenly become small compared to the steep hill and we go on hikes to lose ourselves just to be found at the very top, but they all sound like empty sentences, not quite matching the true experience.

Of course, not everybody goes hiking to spend quiet time with themselves. Mountains can be a great bonding place. I never heard of people who returned from a hike that was okay or average. The greatest stories, of losing possession, falling into some sort of hole or meeting wild animals, happen on hikes. What I tend to forget is that our mountains are technically just small hills, and what an average Czech person call a hike other nation might call a short walk. The experiences Robert Macfarlane describes in his book Mountains of the Mind are completely different from my idea of hiking. However, I’m very proud of the Czech Republic’s promontory and for now, I’m satisfied with conquering my own little peaks.