Most young peopleenjoy some form of physical activity.It may be walking,cycling or swimming,orin winter,skating or skiing. It may be a game of some kind of

football,hockey,golf,or tennis.It may be mountaineering.

Those who have apassion for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon withastonishment.Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and

hardship,and to takerisks on high mountains?This astonishment is caused probably by the differencebetween mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give

their leisure.

Mountaineering is asport and not a game.There are no manmade rules,as there are for such games asgolf and football.There are,of course,rules of a different kind which it

would be dangerousto ignore,but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineeringattractive to many people.Those who climb mountains are free to use

their own methods.

If we comparemountaineering and other more familiar sports,we might think that one bigdifference is that mountaineering is not a"team game".We should bemistaken in

this.There are,it istrue,no "matches " between "teams"of climbers,but whenclimbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives maydepend,there is obviously

teamwork.

The mountain climberknows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful thanman.He has to fight the forces of nature.His sport requires high mental

and physicalqualities.

A mountain climbercontinues to improve the skill year after year. A skier is probably past hisbest by the age of thirty,and most international tennis champions are in their

early twenties.Butit is not unusual for a man of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains inthe Alps.They may take more time than younger men,but they probably climb

with more skill andless waste of effort,and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.Mountaineeringinvolves_________.

A.hardship

B.physical risk

C.cold

D.all of the above