SSC CGL 2025 PYQ — Question 21

Read the passage and answer the questions:

The annals of mountaineering history are adorned with figures whose daring transcended mere athleticism, embodying philosophical quests for transcendence against Earth’s most formidable landscapes. Each mountaineer — whether treading the snows of Everest, the granite of Patagonia, or the arid heights of the Atlas Mountains — etched a distinct narrative of audacity and introspection.

'Tenzing Norgay' and 'Sir Edmund Hillary’s' epochal 1953 Everest ascent immortalized human perseverance, but figures such as 'Reinhold Messner' redefined the boundaries further. Rejecting supplemental oxygen, Messner’s minimalist ethos emphasized purity over conquest, portraying mountains not as trophies but as sentient entities commanding reverence. Similarly, 'Junko Tabei', the first woman to summit Everest, symbolized the intersection of resilience and quiet defiance in an era resistant to female adventurers.

The ethos of mountaineering diversified through the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Climbers like 'Kilian Jornet', blending ultra-marathon endurance with technical ascents, and 'Nirmal Purja', whose record-breaking summits shattered temporal assumptions, reveal a contemporary paradigm: mountains as arenas of rapid, almost transcendental athleticism. Meanwhile, indigenous climbers, long relegated to footnotes in expedition histories, increasingly assert their rightful place as stewards of sacred peaks.

Thus, the saga of mountaineering resists reduction to mere feats of strength. It weaves a tapestry of cultures, philosophies, and personal odysseys — each ascent a dialectic between human fragility and the immutable majesty of the mountains.