Here you have a collection of climbing quotes. I don't now how many, bu list has almost 9450 words :-), maybe the biggest collection climbing quotes in the internet. Famous climbing quotes are great to read. If you need inspiration, then its good place for you. Read something to feel cheery or positive. Life is good :).

Climbing quotes are sorted in some lists. Think which list you want read and go there. Some quotes can be duplicate, because they can be proper for both category (for. example (Mountaineering quotes and funny climbing quotes). Below Categories: 

Great & famous climbing quotes; Bouldering & rock climbing quotes; Mountaineering climbing quotes; Mental Training climbing quotes; Funny climbing quotes; Funny climbing slogans; Quotes about mountains; Inspirational climbing quotes


Famous climbing quotes

"Because it is there." — George Mallory, answer to the question 'Why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?

Bddolts are the murder of the impossible. Reinhold Messner

Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it. Edmund Hillary

We do not live to eat and make money, we eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. - George Mallory 

Mountaineering climbing quotes

There is probably no pleasure equal to the pleasure of climbing a dangerous Alp; but it is a pleasure which is confined strictly to people who can find pleasure in it. Mark Twain

You guys going up? Yes, yes, we go up. You may be going a lot higher than you think! Don Whillans, to a Japanese party, while retreating off the north face of Eiger in a storm

Some mountaineers are proud of having done all their climbs without bivouac. How much they have missed ! And the same applies to those who enjoy only rock climbing, or only the ice climbs, onyl the ridges or faces. We should refuse none of the thousands and one joys that the mountains offer us at every turn. We should brush nothing aside, set no restrictions. We should experience hunger and thirst, be able to go fast, but also to go slowly and to contemplate. Gaston Rébuffat

Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment. Evan Hardin

It's a wonderful feeling to push even a tiny piece of the planet down beneath one's feet. If it's overhanging plastic, it's going to pump your arms like bloated sausages; if it's a steep snow-slope at 27000 feet it's going to deaden the legs and make the lungs like overworked bellows. Either way, the challenges are obvious. Adrian Burgess

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

Skiing is the pleasurable part of alpinism - way more pleasurable and fun than alpine climbing. Michael Kennedy

Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end. Edward Whymper, Scrambles Amongst the Alps

If we successful, we will enter into the history of mountaineering, we will have the opportunity to its success to sacrifice our colleagues. Jerzy Kukuczka

It's always further than it looks. It's always taller than it looks. And it's always harder than it looks. - The 3 rules of mountaineering

Each climber loses one finger or toe once in a while. This is a small but important reason for Polish climbers' success. Western climbers haven't lost as many fingers or toes. Wanda Rutkiewicz

Nothing substitutes a large apprenticeship, a heap of experiences which converts into the base of intuition. Doug Scott

Mountaineering is a complex and unique way of life, interweaving elements of sport, art and mysticism. Success or failure depends on the ebb and flow of immense inspiration. Detecting a single rule governing this energy is difficult – it arises and vanishes like the urge to dance and remains as mysterious as the phenomenon of life itself. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

I've climbed with some of the best climbers in the world, more importantly, to me, they are some of the best people in the world. That's another reason why I climb. Jim Wickwire

There is no response to stubbornly by many posed the question of the meaning of expeditions in the high mountains. I've never felt the need for such a definition. I walked to mountains and defeated them. That's all. Jerzy Kukuczka

The aim of the mountaineer, if he wishes to be an artist in the full sense of word, is neither escape nor "the search for the absolute" as some have claimed, but rather seek that place where "the mystic remains silent and the poets start to speak towards men. Bernard Amy

The bizarre trend in mountaineers is not the risk they take, but the large degree to which they value life. They are not crazy because they don't dare, they're crazy because they do. These people tend to enjoy life to the fullest, laugh the hardest, travel the most, and work the least. Lisa Morgan

For me, the ascent to the peak of the normal ways that torment and anguish. Inspired by the idea of ​​transition was always something that at the moment transcends imagination, seemingly absolutely insurmountable, so absurd in terms of the Himalayan conditions that up beautiful. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Just a reminder - a guidebook is no substitute for skill, experience, judgement and lots of tension. Charlie Fowler

It's a round trip. Getting to the summit is optional, getting down is mandatory. Ed Viesturs

I am not enough to be only in the mountains, not enough to be on an expedition. I believe that if the walks uphill, then with some goal, and that goal is to climb to the top. Jerzy Kukuczka

All ice is dangerous. Grade 4 pillars are pumpy. Grade 5 pillars are pumpy and dangerous. Except for certain rare days of triple-high biorythms and favorable planetary alignments, grade 6 is beyond reach. Dougal McDonald

Frostbite? I consider that a failure. Mark Twight

Mountain climbing is extended periods of intense boredom, interrupted by occasional moments of sheer terror. Anonymous

Skills, strength, endurance, experience, determination and luck, it's almost everything that need mountaineer to wait a serene old age. The rest of this "almost" is not just the responsibility of the case, coincidence, twists of fate or whatever else we would not have called. Aleksander Lwow

Nothing harder Than five seven. Says the man who was never There. Dugal Haston about Heckmaier Route on Eiger

Definition: Alpinism is the art of going through the mountains confronting the greatest dangers with the biggest of cares. What we call art here, is the application of a knowledge to an action. René Daumal

The architecture or look fo a line is really important to me, and often ice can add something to the look of the wall. A dry rock wall is often not very dramatic. You add ice and snow and the features stand out in greater relief and it looks much wilder. Jeff Lowe

If we ever have children and they become climbers I'll tell them, "Stay away from expeditions. They'll make you poor and neurotic. Greg Child

Such ventures required a more hairbreadth creativity: a finer balance between hazard and endurance; talent and vision; a willingness to accept that control may only be an illusion, that success is determined not by the summit, but by the means alone  and that at times your survival, may be the only reward.  On experimenting with styles and technical routes on Everest. The most minimalist form of 8000-meter alpine style night-naked climbing , in which mind and body listen to a new voice, follow a new rhythm (away from) the known paths… without rules or routines to rely on … (where) the only advice comes from deep inside the self… (and) the mountaineer is creative, not merely a participant in sport.
Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Success is not counted by how high you have climbed but by how many people you brought with you. Will Rose

I stared blankly at my fingertips. The ends were black and desiccated, hard to the touch. Ed Webster, before losing fingers on Mt Everest

As in any alpine region, the weather is changeable, protection questionable, route-finding bewildering, rockfall frequent and descents tedious. In short, it's everything you could ever ask for. From the Canadian Alpine Journal, 1993

If everything's under control, you're going too slow. Mario Andretti

Maybe Himalayan climbing is just a bad habit, like smoking, of which one says with cavalier abandon, 'must give this up some day, before it kills me. Greg Child

Take only pictures; leave only footprints.

Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory. Ed Viesturs, No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

Big alpine routes aren't exactly safe... You need to have your feelers out, and you need to be willing to back off if things aren't quite right. At the same time, you have to push through your doubts and fears. Michael Kennedy

There is no place comparable to the Diamond [up Colorado's Longs Peak]. It is high, cold, steep, a long way from the parking lot, and most of all, intimidating. Chasm View, or the Flying Buttress can get you acclimated, but nothing can prepare you for the Diamond but the Diamond. Malcolm Daly

One thing to remember on the Eiger, never look up, or you may need a plastic surgeon. Don Whillans

Bouldering & rock climbing quotes

Remember that time spent on a rock climb isn't subtracted from your life span. Will Niccolls

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 than I was. Warren Harding

I've tried many sports, but climbing is the best. The beauty of this sport is that no matter how good you get, you can always find a way to challenge yourself. Randy Leavitt

Trying to connect to the moment, that move, that breath - this is what I have been striving for; finding the oneness that can exist with all the things around and inside me. Ron Kauk

The hardest thing about Fontainebleau is spelling it. John Black

<>In climbing you are always faced with new problems in which you must perform using intuitive movements, and then later analyze them to figure out why they work, and then learn from them. Wolfgang Gullich

There were no holds so I had to use skill Anonymyous

I don't want to write about climbing; I don't want talk about it; I don't want to photograph it; I don't want to think about it; all I want to do is do it." Chuck Pratt

The strongest climbers aren’t always the happiest or nicest to be around; neither are some of them coming from the purest motivation. Climbing another V17 is not going to save the world! This activity of 'rock climbing' is merely one of many ways to exist, pass the time, and evolve and grow from one moment to the next. That’s all. Chris Sharma

Gee, in the old days people used aid to make things easier, nowadays they use aid to make things harder. Juanita Donini

If you want to climb it badly enough, you will. So... why bother ? Doug Scott

I feel that my enemy is anyone who would, given the power to do so, restrict individual liberty, and this includes all officials, law officers, army sergeants, communists, catholics and the house of Un-American Activities Committee. Of course I'm prejudiced, but I cannot imagine a sport other than climbing which offers such a complete and fulfilling expression of individuality. And I will not give it up nor even slow down, not for man, nor woman, nor wife, nor God. Chuck Pratt, 1965

If you've climbed the first 140 meters it doesn't mean that you've succeeded; you are going to succeed by climbing the last 10 meters. Alain Robert

I find that rock climbing is the finest, most healthiest sport in the whole world. It is much healthier than most; look at baseball, where 10 000 sit on their ass to watch a handful of players. John Salathé

What one leads on-sight, in good, strong style, safely, is what one's ability is. Pat Ament

Good climbing and good company often go together: each is essential to the enjoyment of the other. Tom Patey

For me to use what nature offers and to adept one's climbing style to the rock, instead of adapting the rock (by placing bolts) to one's climbing style, represents a form of respect for the environment. Rersonally this is essence of climbing. Nicolas Favress

I remember all the moves of every problem I've ever done. This is what keeps me up at night. Dave Graham

Climbing does not mean just competition and performance. It has other qualities that are important: going on trips, meeting people, seeing other cultures... Wolfgang Gullich

Technique is our protection. Chuck Pratt

I may not be able to pull on the smallest of holds, but those I can pull on I can pull on all day long. Jimmy Jewel

The mystics believe the world is in a rain drop; to me rock climbing was in boulder, and a boulder was in a single small crystal. John Gill

Doing a route at the absolute limit of the possible demands and encourages a coordination of all peripheral factors. It is, at the same time, a sign of joy and contentment with that moment, perhaps even a mirror of the equlibrium in your inner spirit, a mirror of a liberated state of mind. Wolfgang Güllich

In the American Southwest, I began a lifelong love affair with a pile of rock. Edward Abbey

In high school, I'd take girls climbing, instead of on dates. There was one girl in particular who'd have made a brillant climber. But she was disappointed when we went climbing instead of dating. She never returned my calls after that; maybe she had another ideas about how the ropes should be used. Paul Piana

The thing I love about competition climbing is that it's totally unpredictable. The number of competitors and their different abilities makes each round exciting. Sylvain Millet

We search out the most perfect pieces of rock. It’s so amazing that these formations are so perfect for climbing on. It’s almost as if they were created for climbing. You’re taking these random rock formations and you’re bringing to it this interaction. It transforms it from being this random rock into almost this piece of art. It’s almost like a sculpture or something. Just by finding the handholds, finding that line up the rock. Every climb is different, has its own unique set of movements and body positions. Climbing and my appreciation for nature are totally intertwined. Chris Sharma

I'm climbing like the Tin Woodsman and feeling like the Cowardly Lion. Melissa

Tomorrow? Probably back on the ground involved in other struggles more dangerous than loose flakes, more demanding than commitment to a desert wall. Dealing with man can be less than beautiful. Climbing is beautiful."    — Bill Forrest, the secret passage route

Mental Training climbing quotes

You must experiment with your own body and find out what works best for you. Part of the attraction of climbing is its appeal to individuality, its personal nature. John Gill

I can't climb just a little. I need to crank like a bastard. Klem Loskot

Relaxation, acceptance, and keeping open mind are key. First of all, peak performance isn’t possible if one is not relaxed, and if one is going to stay relaxed they must simply accept problems when they arise and decide to solve them. If I can’t do a move I merely accept that I haven’t discovered the right sequence, instead of trying the same sequence over and over or just quitting. I will try to do it 20 or 30 different ways, making subtle changes in body position and fot placement, until I find something that does work. That’s what I mean by keeping an open mind. Lynn Hill

The best training was to go to the pub, drink 5 quarts of beer, and talk about climbing. Ron Fawcett

When you do hard routes, you have to try hard. They’re not easy routes. You have to give everything you have. You have to get totally animalistic. When you’re super pumped, I have to yell to bear down. […]  It’s like martial arts. When Bruce lee threw a punch, he had to mean it.  Haahhh! Like that. When you’re doing a hard move, there is this excess energy you have to let out. Air explodes out of you. Chris Sharma

Every day I go out and climb, like a dancer works on his dance. He probably has some goals, some pieces he would like to perform, but his main goal is to work on his dance. This is how he expresses himself. Both he and I are interested in the same thing. It’s the dance that counts. John Bachar

Variety is the spice of life. Variety will give you good skills, stop you stagnating and keep you motivated. Ben Moon

Many of the women who I've taught to climb have a better sense of balance than the men. I think it has to do with being a little more sensitive to it rather than relying on strenght. It's also a reflection of a passive attitude - balancing your way up the rock, rather than attacking it. Lynn Hill

[…] I realized that a climber’s ability can usually be judged by the point at which he gives up. Beginners fall off when they don’t know what to do, advanced climbers when they get pumped, but world-class climbers like Jerry Moffatt climb far beyond the phisical limitations of their muscles. Christian Griffith

If there's only one thing I would like to say, this is: enjoy the process. Don't worry about the result. Climbing must be fun. Marc Le Menestrel

I think that drive and mental strength are the factors that distinguish ordinary for extraordinary achievements. In competition, it is not the physically strongest climbers who win, but rather the mentally strongest. Jibé Tribout

One aspect is strength, one is technique and one is the mind. And I think that the mind is the most powerful, technique is second and physical strength third. How many people do you know who can do one-arm pull-ups, but can’t do even relatively easy boulder problems? How many people do you know who can’t one-arm hang off a half-ich edge, bu tcan climb 5.13? Jim Karn

Success seems to be rargely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. William Feather

Funny climbing quotes

Don't Bolt - Be Bold Slogan on a T-shirt

Most sports require only one ball. Seen on a T-shirt with a picture of a climber

Well, I'll say this: climbing can kill you, but women can destroy you. There's a big difference, y'know. Derek Hersey

Pucky lads, a wee bit over their heads. Doug Scott after encountering two climbers on Denali suffering from exposure

Vertigo I can handle alright — It's horizonto that drives me nuts. Jim Lubell

Rocks make no compromise for sex... rock climbing is not like some sports, where it is made easier for women; or sports like, say, softball, which is only baseball for soft people. On a rock, everything is equal. Beverly Johnson

We'll climb with you and steal your women. Todd Skinner and Paul Piana

I taught my mother to climb. And she gets nervous sometimes. She'll yell: 'let me down'. That's a tough one. You never want to let your mother down. Nancy Feagin

My best vacation is your worst nightmare. Jim Bridwell

There are all kind of values to be gotten out of climbing. Sometimes you can take a girlfriend up a climb and get laid for it. Steve Wunsch

My best vacation is your worst nightmare. Jim Bridwell

Climbing is like a brain enema. It just cleans all the crap out of your head.

Anyone who says that they are having fun up here is flat out lying!  Russ "The Fish" Walling.

The reason for not getting married was that I just didn't have a partner to get married to. Climbing mountains was more attractive to me than marriage, or other fun things like that. Tamae Watanabe

If she spends more time drooling over gear catalogs than you, takes guidebooks into the bathroom to spend some quality time, blows off a friend's wedding or bridal shower to go to the Phoenix Bouldering Contest, then *maybe* she's a climber. Rex Pieper, about girlfriends

Writing about climbing is boring. I would rather go climbing. Chuck Pratt

Every critter does what feels good, I guess. Pigs roll in mud, Scott climbs, Inez rolls in mud and climbs. I think it is simple Biology. Inez Drixelius

My best vacation is your worst nightmare. Jim Bridwell

Blood /n./ substance commonly used to mark a climbing route.

I heard that having big balls can help a climber make a bold lead, but that being a dick doesn't help anybody. Karl Baba

Sport climbing is a lot like sport f*#king. It's a lot of fun and requires no commitment. Jim Bridwell

They say that if the Swiss had designed these mountains they'd be rather flatter. Paul Theroux, US-born writer, referring to the Alps

I did the 23 hour nose-route to the top of El Capitan in 6 hours and 18 minutes! I can make this work. Avery Bishop (Kelly Preston) responding to Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) after calling off their engagement

We do not deceive ourselves that we are engaging in an activity that is anything but debilitating, dangerous, euphoric, kinesthetic, expensive, frivolously essential, economically useless and totally without redeeming social significance. One should not probe for deeper meanings. Allen Steck, 1967.

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. Willi Pfisterer

Climbing is no longer the best thing to do in this area. Anonymous climber about the nude sunbathers beneath the Calanques

I love climbing because it feels so good when I stop... Karl 'we're all nuts' Baba

The fact that I'm three months pregnant doesn't change anything. Catherine Destivelle preparing to solo the Old Man of Hoy seastack

Sure, some people pack more crap than others, but going dumb and naked isn't what 'fast and light' is about either. Nate Beckwith

Climbing is hard to give up, it's just as hard to give up as cigarettes. Layton Kor

Er, I say, are you going to be able to get me out? Eric Shipton while inside a Patagonian crevasse

He who remains calm while those around him panics probably doesn't know what is going on. Anonymous

If you can bang a pin in with your ice axe without anyone yelling at you and you packed the whiskey 'cause it is the only thing that won't freeze, you're probably alpine climbing. Christian

Climbing may be hard, but it's easier than growing up Ed Sklar

The reason it was so scary was that there was only one climber capable of rescuing us, and that was Layton Kor, and he was in Colorado. Yvon Chouinard, on the first ascent of North American Wall

What most male climbers want from their female partners is one thing: a good belay. robDotCalm

Maybe true. Maybe not true. Better you believe. Sherpa saying

I am too slow to be a good climber, so I film instead. Wanda Rutkiewicz who has climbed many 8000m peaks, often without oxygen

Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death. Anonymous

Gravity is a myth, the Earth sucks

How is it Mac that you can climb so well, when you are so decadent? A Russian climber to Ian McNaught-Davis who was smoking on the summit of Peak Communism

Being a climber in Florida is like being in Seatle without a raincoat.

The difference between climbers and normal workers is that climbers are glad of the Mondays, so they can rest. Guillaume Dargaud

Mountain climbing is extended periods of intense boredom, interrupted by occasional moments of sheer terror. Anonymous

While climbing with a guy who had a really old an worn-looking rope, I asked him how often he changed it. 'Everytime it breaks' he said Anonymous

He who dies with the most toes, wins. Greg Mushial

Switzerland is not that great: remove the mountains and what's left ? Anonymous

I climb much harder in my posts than I do in real life. Geoff Jennings

A man who wants to seduce a woman must climb over mountains, a girl who wants to seduce a man only needs to go through a wall of paper. Chinese saying

In Ukraine, we have enough climbers without fingers and toes — the only problem is to change bootsize. Roman Coval

Never noticed a female monkey not climbing as well as a male, have you? Don Whillans on being asked it if was possible for a woman to be a better rock climber than a man

John Wayne never wore Lycra. Ron Kauk about why he climbs in Blue-Jeans

Remember: if you take bivouac equipment along, you will bivouac... Yvon Chouinard

There are all kind of values to be gotten out of climbing. Sometimes you can take a girlfriend up a climb and get laid for it. Steve Wunsch

Remember when sex was safe and climbing was dangerous? Chuck Pratt

Free soloing can be deadly, even if it looks great in the photos. From a Climbing Editorial

Why ? Why, why, why do I do this ??? Chuck Pratt

Bouldering is like masturbation: not as good as the real thing but you don't need to worry about your protection. Scott Grimes & David Kastrup

I suggest going out to the nearest pub and getting completely, and utterly, wasted. Make sure you smoke at least 1 pack of unfiltered Camel's. Get the full ashtray, pour a drink in it and then pour the mixture into a water bottle. 
When you get home (ideally around 3:30am) stick the vile mixture into your freezer. Put on your best goretex and thermal layer. Climb in. At 5:30am, get out, drink (chew?) the mixture and go run the biggest flight of stairs you can find. Run until your heart threatens to explode.
Your dehydration caused by the alcohol should adequately simulate what you may experience at higher altitudes. Your lung capacity should be sufficiently impaired by the smokes to simulate a oxygen poor environment. The freezer episode should adequately replicate a bivy. Drinking the booze/butt mixture should simulate your lack of appetite.....
Oh — once your finished your workout, go to work (to replicate the long walk out). Greg Hamilton suggesting an altitude training methodology

A woman's place is on top. T-shirt from first American woman's ascent of Annapurna

There are old climbers, there are bold climbers, but there are no old bold climbers! Anonymous

The true object, as always, is not simply to get up things and check them off in our guidebook — it is to challenge ourselves. Doug Robinson

Many climbers become writers because of the misconceptions about climbing. Jonathan Waterman

I like climbing for pleasure but wouldn't like to do it for money. Same thing than for sex. Guillaume Dargaud, about 

Pain is only weakness leaving the body. Tom Muccia

As far as I'm concerned, if someone eliminates the mental part of climbing, then we might as well all go play miniature golf. Greg Opland

Climb now, work later. DMM slogan

It doesn't have to be fun to be fun. Barry Blanchard

The best part is getting to the top 'cause the pain's all over. Dan Osman

No, she's the leader of our climb. Colin Grissom in response to a german who asked if Kitty Calhoun was the base camp manager on the way up to Dhaulagiri

No one is completely useless — They can always serve as a bad example. Anonymous

He gets a free ride after 10 rescues... A chopper pilot about Laurent Smagghe, who had the speed record of Mt Blanc but also the record of being rescued most times

Climb like a girl. Pee like a guy. Julie Haas

During the qualifying round I heard the contestant ahead of me introduced: 'Hardest redpoint: 5.14b, hardest on-sight: 5.13c' (Geoff Weigand). The contestant after me: 'Hardest redpoint: K2' (Greg Child). Andy Cairns

Climbers have no sense of smell. Conrad Anker's mother

After all, maybe sticking to a diet is easier than climbing Big Walls. Jennifer Mariani Halfway up the Salathé Wall

Sport climbing is a lot like sport f*#king. It's a lot of fun and requires no commitment. Jim Bridwell

What is hard to endure is sweet to remember

How can you tell Santa is a climbing bum? He's got a beard, always wears the same clothes, and only works one day a year.

It's always further than it looks. It's always taller than it looks. And it's always harder than it looks. - The 3 rules of mountaineering

I climb as hard as anyone on earth. I just do it on easier routes. Mad Dog

Screwing is more enjoyable than drilling bolt holes! Warren Harding

Quotes about mountains

I live not in myself, but I becom Portion of that around me: and to me High mountains are a feelin, but the hum of human cities torture. George Byron

I soon learned that Everest wasn't a private affair. It belonged to many men. Thomas Hornbein

The deepest sea has a bottom, the highest mountain has a summit. Chinese saying

For an old man, any hill is a mountain. Jewish saying

I can't understand why men make all this fuss about Everest — it's only a mountain. Junko Tabei, first woman to climb Everest

Pissing through 6 inches of clothes with a 3 inch penis! - Anonymous Everest summiteer when asked what was the hardest thing about climbing Mt. Everest

I believe that the ascent of mountains forms an essential chapter in the complete duty of man, and that it is wrong to leave any district without setting foot on its highest peak. Sir Leslie Stephen

Within a month of intense life in the mountains is going through so much, what used to be a period of several years; This is a occupancy for people greedy for life - human life is not enough. Jerzy Kukuczka

One thing to remember on the Eiger, never look up, or you may need a plastic surgeon. Don Whillans

Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence. Hermann Buhl

If adventure has a final and all-embracing motive, it is surely this: we go out because it is our nature to go out, to climb mountains, and to paddle rivers, to fly to the planets and plunge into the depths of the oceans... When man ceases to do these things, he is no longer man. Wilfrid Noyce

At a time when you stay at the top, there is no explosion of happiness - happiness is experienced when everything remains in front of youwhen you know that you have to a goal a few hundreda few dozen meters when you are right in frontThis is the time of happiness. Jerzy Kukuczka

Climbing is one of the few sports in which the arena (the cliffs, the mountains and their specific routes) acquire a notoriety that outpopulates, outshines and outlives the actual athletes. Jonathan Waterman

The mountains have rules. they are harsh rules, but they are there, and if you keep to them you are safe. A mountain is not like men. A mountain is sincere. The weapons to conquer it exist inside you, inside your soul. Walter Bonatti

The higher the mountain, the deeper the valley. Alsacian saying

Been there, done that. Greg Child about Everest

Ever since a small boy, I have loved just to look at the mountains, to see them in different lights and from different angles, to feel their rough rock under my fingers and the breath of the winds against my feet... I am in love with the mountains. Wilfrid Noyce

Only mountains can never meet. French saying

You climb to reach the summit, but once there, discover that all roads lead down. Stanislaw Lem, The Cyberiad

It is a crest of granite... perfectly inaccessible, being probably the only one of the prominent points about the Yosemite which never has been, and never will be, trodden my human foot. California Geological Survey report about Half Dome, 1865

"Because it is there." — George Mallory, answer to the question 'Why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?

He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary. Friedrich Nietzsche

I was never comfortable with the risk of climbing in the Himalayas, or the amount of time in idleness that is involved in the Everest expedition. Steve Fossett

I thought climbing the Devil's Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams. Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery. John Ruskin, British art critic and writer

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. George Leigh Mallory

You never climb the same mountain twice, not even in memory. Memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes, remakes all the moves. Lito Tejada-Flores

Mountains teach that not everything in this world can be rationally explained. Aleksander Lwow

To those who have struggled with them, the mountains reveal beauties that they will not disclose to those who make no effort. That is the reward the mountains give to effort. And it is because they have so much to give and give it so lavishly to those who will wrestle with them that men love the mountains and go back to them again and again. The mountains reserve their choice gifts for those who stand upon their summits. Sir Francis Younghusband

Its not the Mountain we conquer, but ourselves

In the mountains there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can't. Rusty Baille

The mountains are exceptional places for, as the natural environment is concerned, they are the concentration of the wildest possible variety of all natural phenomena and forms. They are somehow a concentration of the truth of nature or even I'd say its essence. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

I send my warmest congratulations to you and to the other members of the Italian team, who have achieved such a splendid mountaineering feat on Mt McKinley. President Kennedy to Riccardo Cassin in 1961

For us the mountains had been a natural field of activity where, playing on the frontiers of life and death, we had found the freedom for which we were blindly groping and which was as necessary to us as bread. Maurice Herzog

Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous. Reinhold Messner

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

Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. Anonymous

Mountains were once my big adventure but is is over since a long time; I still dream from the wonderful days sometimes, read also a few pages from a mountain book. But the thought of doing again active mountain climbing has faded. Fritz Zwicky

A man does not climb a mountain without bringing some of it away with him and leaving something of himself upon it. Martin Conway

If Everest is the cake, Trango is the topping. Anonymous

Doubly happy, however, is the man to whom lofty mountain tops are within reach. John Muir

The mountain is nothing without people on it. Often you part expedition exasperated, but a year or two later you go back with the same partners knowing there's potential in this human relationship. Greg Child

Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was. Dag Hammerskjold

The mountains have done the spiritual side of me more good religiously, as well as in my body physically, than anything else in the world. No one knows who and what God is until he has seen some real mountaineering and climbing in the Alps. Rev F. T. Wethered, 1919

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as the sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms teir energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. John Muir about Yosemite

Inspirational climbing quotes

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

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. G.K. Chesterson

If there is such a thing as spiritual materialism, it is displayed in the urge to possess the mountains rather than to unravel and accept their mysteries. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

For me an adventure is somethin that I can take an active part in but that I don't have total control over. Peter Croft

I think anything that you put your life's energy into becomes part of your identity. It would be difficult for the Rolling Stones to not play rock and roll anymore, because that's their image of themselves. When you've convinced everybody that that's who you are, that's who you are. Jim Bridwell

There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. Sir Rannulph Fiennes

I think anything that you put your life's energy into becomes part of your identity. It would be difficult for the Rolling Stones to not play rock and roll anymore, because that's their image of themselves. When you've convinced everybody that that's who you are, that's who you are. Jim Bridwell

The most beautiful experiences I've had climbing are when everything is simplified. Free soloing is the simplest thing, until you learn to fly or to walk on air - which I feel is all possible. Dean Potter

 

When I climb, concentration must pe present. With it, there is familiarity and sometimes possibility to look deep down into your soul. Because there, there are no more lies. There is only truth. Beat Kammerlander

Identifying and overcoming natural fear is one of the pleasing struggles intrinsic to climbing. Alex Lowe

What is behind you is forgotten. You can't remember danger and difficulty when it is behind you Wanda Rutkiewicz

Naturally, the top does not automatically make us better. Like the samurai frequented ordinary cutthroat, so sometimes extreme mountaineer can be self-centered, mythomaniac or crook to each yourself and the environment. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Many years ago, I climbed the mountains, even thought it is forbidden. Things are not as they teach us; the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky. From a dying Star Trek character

A sense of uncertainty that is potentially fatal is what makes climbing an adventure. Anything less is just working out. Jim Bridwell

I just have a dream mountain under the eyelids, this is my breath, my life. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

I think climbing is less a sport and more a hobby, and as such, I think everybody's a beginning climber. Alex Lowe

…every type of evil we’ve got in us is the result of that one true illness of the human mind - that is, of being self-centered. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

This obsession is a curious thing. Sometimes wonder about the merits of devoting so much of myself to a singular climbing objective. Much of the time it beats me down, leaves me hanging my head in despair. But then there are the moments that bring me to life. When excitement wells up inside my chest in a way that doesn’t happen in every day life. Today my fingertips were cracked and bleeding. I made no progress despite great conditions. Now I am on the ground and can hardly contain my excitement to get back on the wall. It’s a crazy rollercoaster and I owe my family and partners a great deal for encouraging me through it all. Tommy Caldwell

The most significant dimension of freedom is the freedom from one’s own ego - in other words, from the feeling that I am the center of everything Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka) 

The closer to the top, the more grew in me the belief that it might be fulfilled, which most dreaming. Jerzy Kukuczka

A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top

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 your 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

Climbing is what I do. Anatoli Boukreev

Classic mountaineering grows out of a traditional romantic imagination. Its heart is the "feeling", its path is "blood, sweat and tears", and its restriction is God. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

We are missing some fine routes by not being light enough to climb clouds. Wade Mills

It is very important for women to climb with other women. Zoe Bundros

But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live. Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom. Only a person who risks is free. The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; and the realist adjusts the sails. William Arthur Ward

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go T. S. Eliot

I don’t like egocentricity, which is something that I have arduously battled in myself my entire life. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Apparently the mountain death is an integral part of mountain life Aleksander Lwow

Widok spod szczytu Noszaka

View from Noszaq to west. Fot. Andrzje Zawada

You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place ? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know. René Daumal

Doubt is the enemy of success. Jim Bridwell

Great effort, fear and suffering sweet all the worthless chaff out of us. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

It's the journey toward doing these harder climbs that really gives value to the whole activity of climbing. Alex Lowe

I looked back at the summit of the mountain, which seemed but a cubit high in comparison with the height of human contemplation, were in not too often merged in the corruptions of the earth. Petrarch, Italian Poet, on the summit of Mt Ventoux in 1335

Whenever a climber leaves the known paths, he enters an area without rules or routines... The only advice comes from deep inside the self. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

When you ride your bike, you're working your legs, but your mind is on a treadmill. When you play chess, your mind is clicking along, but your body is stagnating. Climbing brings it together in a beautiful, magical way. The adrenaline is flowing, and it's flowing all the time. Pat Ament

Climbing is a great effort, but the extraordinary pleasure". Jerzy Kukuczka

Climbing is often group activity and it's always inspiring to see how other people, who share your passions, do things. Fred Nicole

Consider what you want to do in relation to what you are capable of doing. Climbing is, above all, a matter of integrity. Gaston Rébuffat

I like to have a connection with the elements and the earth. Rock is the skin of the planet, and you can learn something from the rock, but you need to communicate with element. You have to be part of the element, not fight it. Fred Nicole

Courage is grace under pressure. Ernest Hemingway

Other extremely alluring traits (in people) are simplicity and naturalness. Simplicity and naturalness are never painfully obvious qualities, and yet which I come across them in a person, I get this sense of a firm foundation and of a direct access to truth. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

How could the adventure seeker of today find satisfaction with the level of performance that was a standard set more than 40 years ago ? Anatoli Boukreev

Beauty is the door to another world… Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

They say you can't do it, but sometimes it doesn't always work. Casey Stengel

<>In life it is just really important, what's crazy, but under one condition - you have to survive this madness. Aleksander Lwow

You will climb only as high as your mind lets you. Robyn Erbesfield

Climbing is unadulterated hard labor. The only real pleasure is the satisfaction of going where no man has been before and where few can follow. Annie Smith Peck

The essence of adventure is being put in an unknown position from which you don’t know what will happen. The unknown is the essence of adventure. And on Trango Tower the aspect of adventure was not so great as on Gasherbrum IV or on the Broad Peak traverse, because we fixed 500 meters of rope for the descent. The ropes were there, so it was not a position of being completely unknown. This possible escape eliminated an aspect of adventure. But another aspect of adventure is facing up to the unexpected, and this happened a lot on Trango Tower. We never knew what the next pitch would be or if the weather would hold. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka) [Wojciech Kurtyka, The East Face of Trango’s Nameless Tower, AAJ 1989; Trango Extremes, Mountain 1989. May/June, No 127]

If I have learned one thing in my 54 years, it is that it is very good for the character to engage in sports which put your life in danger from time to time. It breeds a saneness in dealing with day to day trivialities which probably cannot be got in any other way, and a habit of quick decisions. Neville Shute

The ancient Greeks asked oracle for answers; Native Americans fasted in the desert; I go climbing. Steph Davis

Like a drop of water falls from the summit, that's the line I shall take. E. Comici

Difficult struggle in mountaineering is our rise above himself, is the voice of freedom. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

I look at climbing not so much as standing on the topo as seeing the other side. There are always other horizons in front of you, other horizons to go beyond and that's what I like about climbing. Chris Bonington

The world is a better place to live in because it contains human beings who will give up ease and security in order to do what they themselves think worth doing. They do the useless, brave, noble, divinely foolish, and the very wisest things that are done by Man. And what they prove to themselves and to others is that Man is no mere creature of his habits, no automaton in his routine, but that in the dust of which he is made there is also fire, lighted now and then by great winds from the sky. Walter Lippmann, journalist

The essence of climbing is not limited to those out there making a name for themselves. Lois LaRock

When you are totally defeated you begin again to enjoy the small things around you. Just going to the mountains, not for victory or glory, but to enjoy nature or enjoy fine people. If you always succeed you enjoy the admiration of many people. Being defeated means being limited to the basis existential choices of life. If you can enjoy the quiet evening hours it is beautiful; a hero who always succeeds may not have time to enjoy such things. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Today is your day ! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way. Dr. Seuss

There are two worlds: the world where nothing is sacred except money, an the other world, where everything is sacred. Ron Kauk

To live for some future goal is shallow. It is the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Robert Pirsig

In nature there are no rewards or punishments, there are consequences. Mick Halligan

<>The thought of approaching action aroused strange and contradictory emotions in me. I felt an immense pity for all the little men who toiled on in the prison which society has succeeded in building against the open sky, who knew nothing and felt nothing of what I knew and felt at that moment. Yesterday I was like them, and in another few days I would be like them again. But today I was a prisoner set free; and tomorrow I would be a lord and master, and commander of life and death, of the stars and the elements. Giusto Gervasutti

Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb. Greg Child

Climbing is this long term, lifelong journey. It’s really important to just take your time with it and keep it fun. I’ve seen a lot of people burn out because it starts becoming this job for them. It stops being fun. For me, it’s been really important to keep it enjoyable. Listen to your motivation. Chris Sharma

Fear... the right and necessary counterweights to that courage which urges men skyward, and protects them from self-destruction Heinrich Harrer

I like to describe Himalayan climbing as a kind of art of suffering. Just pushing, pushing yourself to your limits. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

In a sense everything that is exists to climb. All evolution is a climbing towards a higher form. Climbing for life as it reaches towards the consciousness, towards the spirit. We have always honored the high places because we sense them to be the homes of gods. In the mountains there is the promise of... something unexplainable. A higher place of awareness, a spirit that soars. So we climb... and in climbing there is more than a metaphor; there is a means of discovery. Rob Parker

The best climber in the world is the one who's having the most fun. Alex Lowe

The man coming back from the hard mountain trip is a wiser being, calmer and radiating inside. I'd say momentary liberated. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

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. But soon we have to start the descent. Suddenly I feel sad and despondent. I am well aware that a mountaineering victory is only a scratch in space But in spite of this, how sad I feel at leaving that crest ! 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

Stupidity is falling pray to your own illusions. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Climbing is my lifelong journey. And in the same way you go running and you have days where you really feel in tune, you have some days where you don’t feel that good. It’s this never-ending process. Accepting that and enjoying that for what it is, that’s really where the life of climbing is. Chris Sharma

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. Nelson Mandela

Naturally, the mountains does not automatically make us better. Like the samurai frequented ordinary cutthroat, so sometimes extreme mountaineer self-centered, mythomaniac or crook to each other and the environment. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

I don't think I would become a climber if I were young man now [...] What is freedom to a bird if it is in the middle of a flock ? John Gill

The events of the past day have proven to me that I am wholly alive, and that no matter what transpires from here on in, I have truly lived. Anonymous climber

Climbing is the lazy man's way to enlightenment. It forces you to pay attention, because if you don't, you won't succeed, which is minor — or you may get hurt, which is major. Instead of years of meditation, you have this activity that forces you to relax and monitor your breathing and tread that line between living and dying. When you climb, you always are confronted with the edge. Hey, if it was just like climbing a ladder, we all would have quit a long time ago. Duncan Ferguson

One does not climb to attain enlightenment, rather one climbs because he is enlightened. Zen Master Futomaki

Climbing is not a spectator sport. Mark Wellman

Isn’t a person who can live on nothing much stronger?  I try to nurture that transformation in myself. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Every move is a creation,
Maintaining the delicate balance is a creation,
The line is a creation,
Survival is a creation,
Freedom is a creation. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all. Queen Elisabeth I

I would like to be myself in life – my real self. My ego, though, is powerful and not necessarily working in my best interest all the time. Even when climbing I can’t escape the clutches of my ego. The reason why I started climbing was because I could be free from myself. Chris Sharma

If in normal conditions it is skill, which counts, in such extreme situations, it is the spirit, which saves. Walter Bonatti

Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. Doug Lawson

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

There are so many aspects to the sport. It never gets boring because you always do something different. Wolfgang Gullich

Each fresh peak ascended teaches something. Sir Martin Convay

How to get the best of it all? One must conquer, achieve, get to the top; one must know the end to be convinced that one can win the end - to know there's no dream that mustn't be dared. . . Is this the summit, crowning the day? How cool and quiet! We're not exultant; but delighted, joyful; soberly astonished. . . Have we vanquished an enemy? None but ourselves. Have we gained success? That word means nothing here. Have we won a kingdom? No. . . and yes. We have achieved an ultimate satisfaction. . . fulfilled a destiny. . . To struggle and to understand - never this last without the other; such is the law. . . George Mallory, Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Mallory

To me, climbing is like eating or drinking. I have to do it; it's part of my life. Alain Robert

One cannot climb at all unless he has sufficient urge to do so. Danger must be met (indeed it must be used) to an extent beyond that incurred to normal life. That is one reason men climb; for only in response to challenge does one man becomes his best. Ax Nelson

In this way the climber faces his second deadly threat. The first is naturally the risk of killing, the second is immersed in the deceitfulness of mental and believing that you are worth as much as the public image. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Bolts are the murder of the impossible. Reinhold Messner

Climbing is as close as we can come to flying. Margaret Young, aviator and alpinist

I see one single suitable role for my life’s work: for it to be a gift to others. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out — it's the grain of sand in your shoe. Robert Service

Climbing may be hard, but it's easier than growing up. Ed Sklar

I agree to the fight. The award, which is getting for these hardships, it is exorbitantly large. It is the joy of life. Jerzy Kukuczka

For me now, I feel that climbing is a part of who I am. It’s my way of life. It’s my way of expressing myself. My way of being in the world. In the past, I questioned it a lot. Now it’s obvious. This is who I am. This is what I do. Chris Sharma

Enslavement to your own weakness - be it an addiction to alcohol, or to a woman or to fame - it’s degrading, and it means losing your dignity and your freedom. Voytek Kurtyka (Wojciech Kurtyka)

One can't take a breath large enough to last a lifetime ; one can't eat a meal big enough so that one never needs to eat again. Similarly, I don't think any climb can make you content never to climb again. Woodrow Wilson Sayre

Funny climbing slogans

ABC! = Average Boulderer Climbing!

ABC= Always Be Climbing

Aider Bailer

Are You Bould Enough

Best belay in town

Climb 'em, don't smoke 'em

CNN = Climb Now or Never?

Crack Addict

Crimpin' aint easy

Edging skills or hostpital bills

Happiness is a nice crack and a large rack

I belay you can fly

I didn't choose jug life, jug life chose me

I've got 99 problems and a pitch ain't one

I have no friends and my nuts are too small

No mistake or flat pancake

rock out with your chalk out

Spread your legs and trust the rubber

We like big jugs and love nice racks

When in doubt, run it out!