Gulmarg

AP Photo by Mukhtar Khan
Indian army soldiers stand guard on top of a ski slope on the first day of the 5th National Winter Games in Gulmarg, some 55 kilometers (34 miles) from Srinagar, India, Monday, Feb. 18, 2008.

Indian Army recruits from high altitude warfare school practice at the ski resort of Gulmarg on February 18, 2008. The ski resort was abuzz with activity as India's national winter games kicked off in Gulmarg, which is closer to the defacto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Credit Getty Images

Himalayan Challenge
It takes escaping death to feel alive, especially if we have survived a tenure in a glacier, a battlefield, enemy encounter, a fatal terrorist attack or other accidents. Mountaineers who actively seek danger climbing to conquer the peaks are the notable ones who dance with human endurance, a conscious thrill of sensation, with the hidden sub conscious joy of cheating death. Looking for and seeking, out- of- the- world- experiences,with unfettered, unsupervised, wild, thrilling and scary emotions. Mountaineers want to be superhuman.
We too share silently the super status. We also think they are insane, especially, when they say goodbye to fellow extreme adventurists who have died on the mountains and still take the plunge. We continue to affirm life's treacherous adventure, even as all of us rebound with joy at unimaginable feats of endurance, and secretly applaud them pushing the envelope of immortality even further.