The Summit Within- Summary
The Summit Within begins with the author expressing how he felt as he stood at the summit of Everest. Despite the physical exhaustion, the serene view made him feel multiple emotions, the dominant of which was humility. He believes that a man who has been to the mountains is never the same before. He further talked about climbing the summit of the mind once he had climbed the summit of Everest. As soon as he got rid of his physical exhaustion, his mind started wondering as to why people climb mountains. Most people would simply say, “Because it is there” but the author had a more personal answer to the question. He had always been fascinated by the mountains and would get miserable on being away from them. He mentions how the obstacles in climbing a mountain are physical. A climb to a summit means endurance, persistence and will power. He talks about another question that is, “Why Everest?”, simply because it’s the highest and mightiest. No wonder how difficult the passage is upwards, the sense of fulfillment, excitement, joy and satisfaction while standing on the top of the summit is incomparable. The experience is other-worldly. He says that there is no perfect answer to the question as to why he climbed Everest. He compared it to why people breathe. He explains how fellow climbers help each other in fulfilling this conquest. Famous climbers have left records of help without which they would have given up. Standing on the summit makes you realise that the struggle was worthwhile. The view motivates you to rise above your current situations. It provides a means for communion with God. On the highest peak, he explains how you bow down and make your submission to the god you worship. The group had left pictures and relics of the gods they believed in. He then continues talking about the other summit, the summit within which is harder to climb. But any climb, regardless of physical or spiritual, holds the capacity to change you completely. He expresses that having successfully climbed the Everest has given him the strength to face life’s problems and that climbing a summit, internal or that of a mountain, is a worthwhile experience.
Working With the Text (Page 81)
Question 1:
Answer the following questions.
(i) What are the three qualities that played a major role in the author’s climb?
Answer:
The three qualities that ensured the success of the author were ‘endurance, persistence and will power’.
(ii) Why is adventure, which is risky, also pleasurable?
Answer:
Mountain climbing is a great adventure but is also risky. It is a great challenge and a doing challenging job is in itself pleasurable. It gives immense joy to the doers.
(iii) What was it about Mount Everest that the author found irresistible?
Answer:
Mount Everest attracted the author because it is the highest, the mightiest and has defied many previous attempts. It takes the last ounce of one’s energy.
(iv) One does not do it (climb a high peak) for fame alone. What does one do it for, really?
Answer:
Conquering summit is a great physical achievement. But more than that, it gives the climber the emotional and spiritual satisfaction. It satisfies man’s eternal love for adventure.
(v) “He becomes conscious in a special manner of his own smallness in this large universe”. This awareness defines an emotion mentioned in the first paragraph. Which is the emotion?
Answer:
That emotion is ‘humility’.
(vi) What were the ‘symbols of reverence’ left by members of the team on Everest?
Answer:
The author left on Everest a picture of Guru Nanak. Rawat left a picture of Goddess Durga. Phu Durgi left a relic of the Buddha. Edmund Hillary, being a Christian, buried a Cross under the rock. All these were symbols of reverence for God.
(vii) What according to the writer, did his experience as an Everester teach him?
Answer:
The experience of having conquered Mount Everest changed him completely. It made him realise his own smallness.
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