Ascent in Fog

Oct 14, 2026, 3:24 PM

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Mile markers end at the treeline.
Fog blurs the outlines.
The air thins.
Thought clouds.

I look upward.
Nothing reveals itself.
The valley closes.

The summit is there.
I am here,
pressing upward.

There is no trail,
only ice,
only the steepening slope.

I set my boots into ice,
the pack heavy
on my back.

A rope runs between us,
vanishing into the fog.
It tightens, then eases.
Someone, perhaps, is still there.

Higher on the mountain,
steps grow shorter.
Time slows.
The body climbs on.
Thought thins with the air.

Then the summit vanishes.
So does the sky.
Only white.
Only breath.
Only the next step.

I stop counting steps.
No summit.
No higher place.
Only those steps.

I ascend,
where up
is endless.

About the Author

B. G. Yacobi received his PhD in physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1975. He held research positions at Imperial College London and Harvard University, as well as teaching positions in universities in the United States and Canada. He is the author/co-author of numerous articles and several books on physics, and of a number of essays on philosophy.