Elizabeth Coxhead's rationale for climbing: "A sport is advanced by the handful of people who do it brilliantly, but it is kept sweet and sane by the great numbers of the mediocre, who do it for fun."
Her novel, set in the 1950s, ONE GREEN BOTTLE was the best climbing novel I have ever read. This link to an article about Elizabeth Coxhead on the website Footless Crow is well worth exploring.