Over the next three weeks I’m going to try and tackle the question I get asked the second highest amount of times (the first is about weight gain!) and that is why? Why are you doing this? Why bother? What’s the point?

There are generally three reasons why people do these kind of things:

Answer 1:

My favourite response to the question why came from French tight rope walker Philippe Petit. He’d just walked across illegally from one twin tower to the other in New York, been arrested and was getting questioned by some journalists-they asked him why and in a superbly French, laissez faire way he said:

“Why? There is no why.”

This echoes strongly with the much more British retort from George Leigh Mallory of:

“Because it’s there.”

Personally I’m doing this because I can. The challenge is there and I’m in a position to take it on. I think with all adventures and hazardous activities there’s always going to be a certain element of if you have ask the question then you’ll never fully understand the answer.