The image of a hero ascending to the top of a treacherous mountain, often while battling a raging storm, is a common one in myth, literature and popular culture. At the end of an epic journey, in which both external and internal demons were defeated, the hero arrives at the pinnacle.
In your dream world, the metaphorical journeys that you take in waking life often become literal.
Traveling from one place to another in a dream symbolizes a transition from one life stage to another. The physical obstacles you surmount in your dream are the emotional obstacles you face in waking life. You may be battling negative ideas, bad relationships or aspects of your own personality you do not understand how to manage.
Climbing a mountain in a dream is a sign that although you have been struggling, you are on your way to success. You are rising above the negative forces that have been holding you back.
If the mountain is a volcano, you are learning how to control your emotions so they do not keep you from moving on in life.
Sometimes in a dream, you will find yourself at the foot of a mountain. Looking up toward the peak, you may think that the mountain is impossible to climb. If clouds obscure the peak, you may not even be sure of what your efforts will achieve. However, if you do try climbing, you may find that reaching the top is easier than you thought. You may even develop the ability to fly upward, a sign that you have freed yourself from restraints.
If climbing the mountain proves to be difficult, if you slip and fall numerous times, your dreaming mind is telling you that things may not be easy, but you will reach your goal eventually.
You may have the opportunity to climb a mountain in a dream, but choose to travel around it instead. This can be a message that the hardest choice is not always the best choice. You do not have to prove that you are worthy of success by making things more difficult than they need to be.
A dream about a mountain can have a spiritual aspect, as a mountain can represent a connection between the earth and the heavens. There are sacred mountains in many cultural traditions. Climbing a mountain in a dream can represent an attempt to become closer to God or to become more connected with your spiritual nature. Even if you are not religious, a dream about climbing a mountain can represent a need to focus on the abstract and spend less time considering the mundane.