By: Environmental philosopher John Hausdoerffer connected with mountains early in life — they represented escape. "I grew up in a multigenerational alcoholic family, and it was very difficult, but my uncle had a place up in Quebec that (we would escape to)," said Hausdoerffer. He and his family would hike all summer and ski all winter. "That was a place where our family was healthy," he said. It was a tradition they maintained even after Hausdoerffer's father left — his mother, on top of raising five kids on her own with a teacher's salary, would work weekends as a ski instructor to earn free passes for the family.