On Physicists and Mathematicians and Mountain-Climbing

<i>"... Both physics and climbing seem to draw people who are comfortable living on society's fringes .... It always seems ready with another surprise, something we couldn't have anticipated ...</i>:<p>Great article. Climbing probably achieves 3 objectives at once - it's quiet, nobody bugs you. Working on a problem? There is nothing worse than interrupted thought. So moving away from people distractions works. You can let your mind relax and wonder while you exert yourself on something totally unrelated.<p>Done my climbing for the day ~ <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/2954173256/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/2954173256/</a>

I have a book called "The Art and Craft of Problem Solving" which uses climbing terms to describe various techniques and tools used in IMO problems. It wasn't a very forced analogy at all.<p>Also, for interest's sake, a few years ago a physicist (<a href="http://insectnation.org/projects/nightclimbing/" rel="nofollow">http://insectnation.org/projects/nightclimbing/</a>) even scanned in an old book on climbing; t'was pretty nifty! (but slightly off topic here probably).

I know a few physicists who are serious mountain climbers. But I know more who are serious drinkers. Where's the article about that?