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Climbers For Peace |
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| Climbing Quotes |
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The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, "What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?" and my answer must at once be, "It is no use." There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It's no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, and then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for. George Leigh Mallory, 1922
Near the foot of the mountain we visited a yogi who dwelled in a hollow tunneled beneath a boulder. He pondered our notion of climbing Shivling and said: "First travel, then struggle, finally calm." Greg Child Life is brought down to the basics: if you are warm, regular, healthy, not thirsty or hungry, then you are not on a mountain. . . . Climbing at altitude is like hitting your head against a brick wall - it's great when you stop. Chris Darwin, The Social Climbers You've climbed the highest mountain in the world. What's left? It's all downhill from there. You've got to set your sights on something higher than Everest. Willie Unsoeld We commenced plugging up in foot deep steps with a thin wind crust on top and precious little belay for the ice axe. It was altogether most unsatisfactory and whenever I felt feelings of fear regarding it I'd say to myself, "Forget it!? This is Everest and you've got to take a few risks." Edmund Hillary Mountains are not fair or unfair - they are just dangerous. Reinhold Messner The mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too. Hervey Voge It does not matter how slow you go, as long as you don't stop. Confucius Height has nothing to do with it; it is your strength that counts. Lynn Hill Doubly happy, however, is the man to whom lofty mountain-tops are within reach. John Muir I want to know the thoughts of God. All the rest are details. Albert Einstein My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing. Aldous Huxley Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God. Kurt Vonnegut "As I hammered in the last bolt and staggered over the rim, it was not at all clear to me who was the conqueror and who was the conquered. I do recall that El Cap seemed to be in much better condition that I was." Warren Harding Short is the little time which remains to thee of life. Live as on a mountain. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, awake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it reality. T.E. Lawrence He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary. Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra Living with the immediacy of death helps you sort out your priorities in life. It helps you to live a less trivial life. Sogyal Rinpoche Where protection is not assured by a usable crack, long unprotected run-outs sometimes result, and the leader of commitment must be prepared to accept the risks and alternatives which are only too well defined. Personal qualities - judgment, concentration, boldness - the ordeal by fire, take precedence, as they should, over mere hardware... But every climb is not for every climber; the ultimate climbs are not democratic. Doug Robinson The devotion of the greatest is to encounter risk and danger, and play dice for death. Friedrich Nietzsche We took risks. We knew we took them. Things have come out against us. We have no cause for complaint. Scott, found in his diary after the party froze in Antarctica To the sober person adventurous conduct often seems insanity. Georg Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms It is not advisable to drink too much strong liquors while climbing in the Alps. If, however, you are going to fall over a cliff, it's advisable to be thoroughly intoxicated when you do so. English alpinist Many years ago, I climbed the mountains, even though it is forbidden. Things are not as they teach us; the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky. From Star Trek To put yourself into a situation where a mistake cannot necessarily be recouped, where the life you lose may be your own clears the head wonderfully. It puts domestic problems back into proportion and adds an element of seriousness to your drab, routine life. Perhaps this is one reason why climbing has become increasingly hard as society has become increasingly, disproportionately, coddling. A. Alvarez, The Games Climbers Play The pleasure of risk is in the control needed to ride it with assurance so that what appears dangerous to the outsider is, to the participant, simply a matter of intelligence, skill, intuition, coordination- in a word, experience. Climbing in particular is a paradoxically intellectual pastime, but with this difference: you have to think with your body. Every move has to be worked out in terms of playing chess with you body. If I make a mistake the consequences are immediate, obvious, embarrassing, and possibly painful. For a brief period I am directly responsible for my actions. In that beautiful, silent, world of mountains, it seems to me worth a little risk. A. Alvarez To qualify for mountain rescue work, you have to pass our test. The doctor holds a flashlight to your ear. If he can see light coming out the other one, you qualify. Willie Pfisterer If the conquest of a great peak brings moments of exultation and bliss, which in the monotonous, materialistic existence of modern times nothing else can approach, it also presents great dangers. It is not the goal of grand alpinism to face peril, but it is one of the tests one must undergo to deserve the joy of rising for an instant above the state of crawling grubs. On this proud and beautiful mountain we have lived hours of fraternal, warm and exalting nobility. Here for a few days we have ceased to be slaves and have really been men. It is hard to return to servitude. Lionel Terray Fear... the right and necessary counterweights to that courage which urges men skyward, and protects them from self-destruction. Heinrich Harrer Pain is only weakness leaving the body. Tom Muccia If you're ever killed mountain climbing, then all that you've worked for is gone. Jim Whittaker "I hope I die before I get old." The Who |