On relativism in aesthetic appreciation of nature:
“My first problem was that the Colorado Rockies have no glaciers to speak of. . .the sun . . . was too high in the sky . . . and the landscape was somewhat flattened as a result. . . In addition, the sun shone too much . . . and I was subject either to what I had always considered the epitome of visual boredom, a cloudless day, or to assaults by hail, lightning and thunder . . . What I could never appreciate were the trees; Millions of them, all evergreen. . . and except where they thinned near the timberline, all blocking the view . . . The forest that American’s experience as womblike, I found claustrophobic . . . boring. . . Usually if I see a mountain I want to climb it. Not so in the States. I simply lost the desire. Not wanting to climb the mountains was the strongest indication of how little the great outdoors, which means so much to Americans, meant to me.” J. A. Walter, "You'll Love the Rockies," Landscape 17, 2, (1983):43-47.