vertical limit

I was going up the escalator at the train station when suddenly a lady pulled on my sleeve and asked me about my t-shirt. I was wearing a climbing t-shirt. I thought she wanted to ask me where can she buy the shirt.

So at the concourse level we stopped and talked. She told me that her friend's son recently went to climb Mount Kinabalu. Although he had a weak heart and the doctor advised him against going, he went ahead. He went up, came down. Everything seemed fine until he collapsed back at the hotel, and he passed away.

While I find the lady weird to suddenly stop a stranger and talk about this, but one thing she said strikes me. She said, what's the use of reaching the top, accomplishment and all when you can't come back home alive, and leaving behind a sad family?

Worth it or not, is up to individual. For me, the reason why I don't really go all out for outdoor activities, is my family.