SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 4 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

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.

Which of the following best summarizes the primary argument of the passage?

(a)Mountaineering is solely a test of physical endurance.
(b)Mountaineering history is dominated by Western adventurers.
(c)Mountaineering represents a confluence of physical challenge, cultural identity, and philosophical exploration.
(d)Technological advancements have made mountaineering effortless.

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The argument lands in the conclusion, flagged by Thus: mountaineering 'resists reduction to mere feats of strength' and 'weaves a tapestry of cultures, philosophies, and personal odysseys'.

So climbing is physical, but not only physical. The keyed summary keeps the physical challenge and adds what the passage insists on beyond it: cultural identity and philosophical exploration → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Mountaineering is solely a test of physical endurance. — Solely is the giveaway. The passage says climbing 'resists reduction to mere feats of strength' and opens on daring that 'transcended mere athleticism', the reverse of a pure endurance test.
(b)
Mountaineering history is dominated by Western adventurers. — Western dominance is never argued, and the West is never mentioned. The nearest line says indigenous climbers, 'long relegated to footnotes', 'increasingly assert their rightful place': a detail, not the thesis.
(d)
Technological advancements have made mountaineering effortless. — Technology never comes up. The oxygen detail cuts the other way, since Messner rejected supplemental oxygen, and a pursuit set against 'Earth's most formidable landscapes' is hardly effortless.

Concept

A primary argument question asks for the claim the whole passage builds towards, not any single example. Look first where the writer concludes; here the last paragraph opens with Thus.

The examples then line up behind that claim. Messner's 'purity over conquest' is a philosophy, Tabei's 'quiet defiance' in an era resistant to female adventurers is a cultural story, and Purja's record-breaking summits are the physical strand.

A good summary is as broad as the passage and no broader. Words such as solely and effortless claim more than this passage says.

Cultural identity is the option's wording, not the passage's. The passage speaks of 'cultures' and of indigenous climbers as 'stewards of sacred peaks', which is as close as it comes.

Key facts

The conclusion opens with Thus and says the saga of mountaineering 'resists reduction to mere feats of strength'.
The passage calls mountaineering a tapestry of 'cultures, philosophies, and personal odysseys'.
The passage names Junko Tabei as the first woman to summit Everest.
It credits Reinhold Messner with rejecting supplemental oxygen.

Study next

Central-argument and main-idea questions: finding the concluding claimSpotting overreaching options built on words such as solely, always and onlyTelling a supporting example from the thesis it supports

Common traps

Treating the third paragraph's 'arenas of rapid, almost transcendental athleticism' as the thesis, when the conclusion refuses to reduce climbing to strength
Choosing the Western-dominance option because the passage mentions indigenous climbers being sidelined

The central argument of a passage is also asked at 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.16 (keyed 'True freedom requires interrogation of influences').

Its central idea is asked at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.16 (keyed 'It is contextually shaped and not always just').

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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.