The Altitudes Volume explores our innate fascination and appreciation for great heights. It discovers the profound effects precipitous landscapes can have on the human psyche; how they can inspire fear, elation, creativity, and spirituality, and incite bold pursuits and artistic practice. It unearths what we may learn when we push the limits of our human ability and earthly confines, and it observes how feeling small in big places can challenge our perspective on the world and our place in it. It uncovers cultures and communities harboured by the rugged folds of mountainous terrain and shaped by high altitudes, and it reflects on how even in the most trying of environments it is possible to live harmoniously with nature. Editors Note It’s human nature to gaze up and feel a sense of wonder. Since time immemorial we have envied birds and their ability to fly, so much so that for millennia we fixated on ways to reach the skies. Mountains too have long captured our imagination, dominating skylines with their jagged and gnarled silhouettes, their staunch presence forming powerful monuments in our minds. This volume explores our innate fascination and appreciation for great heights. It discovers the profound effects precipitous landscapes can have on the human psyche; how they can inspire fear, elation, creativity, and spirituality, and incite bold pursuits and artistic practice. It unearths what we may learn when we push the limits of our human ability and earthly confines, and it observes how feeling small in big places can challenge our perspective on the world and our place in it. It uncovers cultures and communities harboured by the rugged folds of mountainous terrain and shaped by high altitudes, and it reflects on how even in the most trying of environments it is possible to live harmoniously with nature.
