There's something to be said of standing on a mountain peak with the powerful wind nearly blowing you off your feet. The air is clean and crisp to your face, as your eyes absorb all there's to see - hundreds of miles of jagged land stretching out into the horizon; at this point the Earth, with all its force, could swallow you whole. But it doesn't, and you're thankful to be 14,000 feet high, feeling small and big at the same time. ©: 1996 JP Astier