What drove someone like Roger Payne to risk his life to stand on top of a mountain?
He was a highly experienced mountain guide with a passion for mountaineering that has been a driving force in his life since he discovered the Scottish hills as a boy with his scout troop from London.
Like all mountaineers, Roger was well aware of the potential dangers of his lifestyle, and he knew better than most the risks mountaineering held. He also knew that, in some cases, Lady Luck held the cards.
Mountaineering means using skills and techniques to minimise risk, but there is always the possibility that events can transcend those safety precautions and the eventual outcome can be cast into various shades of doubt. We only enter the realm of true adventure when those doubts become apparent – and that's when it becomes addictive.
The combination of emotion, adrenaline and endorphin flow is a powerful cocktail, and most people who experience that high will feel on top of the world, whether it's on Everest, Mont Blanc or Ben Nevis. It's a sensation that in its own way is as addictive as nicotine or alcohol, and like any narcotic you can die as a result of it.
But you can die crossing the road. You can die of boredom. You can live a long, safe life and wonder at the end what it's all been about. Attempting to live life to the full, trying to find a meaning and a purpose to life, is surely commendable. Roger Payne certainly lived life to the full and his influence on the mountaineering world will live on. He'll be badly missed.
Cameron McNeish was a friend of Roger Payne
www.cameronmcneish.co.uk
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