But we didn’t envy them. Did they appreciate the lakes as much as we did? Probably not. The summits of many mountains in the world can be reached by cable car or chair lift. But of course, mountaineers would much rather bivvy overnight on the side of a sheer rock face, suspended in freezing conditions, risking frost bite, than take the tourist route. The behavioural economist George Loewenstein called his paper on this syndrome "Because it is there" after George Mallory’s famous quote. He explains that humans just can’t resist the chance to achieve goals and master situations, even when they don’t need to.
