Confused again.. je suis monté par?

Question

I am confused. J'ai monté les escaliers.. Why.. unless I am a carpenter and I have a set of escaliers on my shoulder, surely I remain the intransitive subject .. I am not doing anything to the stairs.. I am climbing using the stairs. I am carrying myself, not the stairs. Could you use je suis monté par les escaliers? to escape the trap?

Accepted Answer

Hi Mark, 
Je suis monté par les escaliers 
means you went up using the stairs, not the lift for example.
Je suis monté par l'ascenseur = I went up using the lift 
Je suis monté par l'escalateur/ le tapis roulant = I went up using the escalator
So you are not physically going up the stairs as in 
monter les escaliers = to climb the stairs

Answer

Je monte les escaliers can theoretically mean two things:(1) I am going upstairs.(2) I am taking the stairs up. (doesn't make sense).Since (2) doesn't make sense, it is always interpreted as (1). By the way, one also says:Je monte mon cheval / mon vélo. -- I'm mounting my horse / my bike. (I get up on my horse / my bike.)