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Mountaineering is commonly associated with feats of daring in a landscape of extreme danger. Past theories of mountain climbing, and other adventurous leisure activities, have predominantly focused on uncovering the motives for participation; and risk has been posited as a primary attraction. A number of studies have concluded that identity and meaning are factors related to participation. However, none to date have examined the dynamics by which these factors are constructed and maintained in the lives of participants. This thesis places meaning and self or identity at the centre of its enquiry into how New Zealand mountaineers sustain their commitment to an adventurous leisure activity. Thus, it seeks to address the current lack of knowledge regarding the way in which activities such as mountain climbing can contribute to participants' sense of who they are and what their lives are about. A biographical narrative approach was adopted to achieve this central aim as, it is argued, self and meaning are constructed through the stories told about life experiences. Narrative interviews were conducted with twenty-two committed New Zealand mountaineers; and supporting materials were collected from publications and other relevant sources. The interpretation of the research material was facilitated by theories of the interrelationship between narrative, meaning and self, and the implications of current social conditions for their construction. By applying a narrative approach to the study of mountaineers for the first time, this thesis sheds new light on our understanding of mountaineering. It demonstrates the way in which mountaineers weave together the biographical particulars of their lives with a 'folk psychology' of mountaineering to produce a strong sense of self. In addition, it shows how these 'mountaineering selves' are influenced by a communal narrative, or shared discourse, about what it means to be a mountaineer in New Zealand. The research also reveals the complexities in approaches to the dangers of mountain climbing, and offers an alternative conceptualisation of this issue which does not characterise mountaineers as principally risk seeking individuals. These findings provide an empirical basis by which to consider theories relating to the impact of socio-historical conditions upon individual experience, and the efficacy of certain strategies for addressing dilemmas of meaning and self. Finally, although the study is situated within a specific social and historical context, it contributes - in the spirit of interpretive hermeneutics - to an on-going exchange of meanings about mountaineering and leisure in contemporary society.

A Mountain Feeling: the Narrative Construction of Meaning and Self Through a Commitment to Mountaineering in Aotearoa/New Zealand