Rock Climbing Quotes

“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

“To be a climber one has to accept that gratification is rarely immediate.”
― Bernadette McDonald

“White people love rock climbing almost more than they love camping. This is
because the activity affords them the opportunity to be outside, to use a carabiner for something other than their keys, and to purchase a whole new set of expensive activity-specific clothing and accessories.”
― Christian Lander, Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions

“The point, of course, is that the people who spent days and sweated buckets could also have taken an aircraft to the summit if all they’d wanted was to absorb the view. It is the struggle that they crave. The sense of achievement is produced by the route to and from the peak, not by the peak itself. It is just the fold between the pages.” The avatar hesitated. It put its head a little to one side and narrowed its eyes. “How far do I have to take this analogy, Cr. Ziller?”.”
― Iain M. Banks, Look to Windward

“Climbing may be hard, but it's easier than growing up. (Thanks Ed Sklar!)”
― Stewart M. Green

“Down here the world is filthy, but up there the snow purifies all!”
― Shin'ichi Sakamoto, The Climber, Vol. 1

“Even if he survived the Sorcerer, there would always be another Sorcerer, bigger and more dangerous than the last. It was just a matter of time until he died the kind of gruesome death that was the very reason people had paralyzing phobias of heights.”
― Megan Westfield, Lessons in Gravity

“Whenever we came to a rocky escarpment, she and all her sisters would stop, not at all eager for the challenge. But we had camel drivers with sticks accompanying us; they employed the latter to urge the camels up the rocky escarpments, and the camels reluctantly complied. If the camels were reluctant to climb up the rocky escarpments, they were loath to go down them. In fact, I came to surmise, the reason camels were reluctant to go up the rocky escarpments was because they were loath to go down them. Figuring that the only reason a camel would be loath to go down a rocky escarpment would be fear of slipping and falling, I, too, was loath to go down the rocky escarpments.”
― Richard C. Francis, Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World

“Tomaz believed that 80% alpinism was mental and spiritual and that his third eye vision & openness of his mind to the language of the walls were critical”
― Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar

“Every mountain has its soul... if the mountain does not accept you & you don't submit to her will, she will destroy you.”
― Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar

“In contrast, his parents considered climbing a completely useless and dangerous activity.”
― Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar

“Life is beautiful, but only if you live it fully!”
― Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar

“Fear is a funny unpredictable thing.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Himalayan Heist: an Alex and James wildlife adventure in Nepal

“How are you not winded,' he panted, hauling himself onto the flat top.

I shoved back the hair that had torn free of my braid to whip my face. 'I trained.'

'I gathered that much after you took on Dagdan and walked away from it.'

'I had the element of surprise on my side.'

'No,' Lucien said quietly as I reached for a foothold in the next boulder. 'That was all you.' My nails barked as I dug my fingers into the rock and heaved myself up. Lucien added. 'You had my back- with them, with Ianthe. Thank you.'

The words hit something low in my gut, and I was glad for the wind that kept roaring around us, if only to hide the burning in my eyes.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“The incline and height of the rocks increased sharply, making his climb more difficult. He needed his other hand totally free, as he knew his pursuers would as well. He holstered his pistol. He'd gotten more than three- quarters of the way to the top when even two free hands were barely enough to continue upward. The steps be- gan sloping on top, so that there was less and less to stand on. His legs pushed, toes searching for holds, arms pulling, fingers clutching, each new ascent more difficult than the last as the steps began to disappear altogether, until he found himself clinging to a nearly vertical slab of granite. Still he pushed upward, his chest and stomach in constant contact with the rock beneath, his hold growing more tenuous each moment. He looked up. Rock walls soared above him on both sides. He prayed there was somewhere to keep going, because he couldn't see it now. Up and up he climbed, every so often finding a small outcropping to grasp, but having to stretch more for each one, his legs almost dangling free as his boots sought purchase in the rock niches. Several times small rocks he tested for support broke free and clattered down the mountain. They fell, hit, split apart, and hit again, until they made a distant thud at the bottom. He shut his eyes, thinking he might sound like that, only softer. If it got any steeper, he knew, he couldn't hold on any longer.”
― David Ball, Empires of Sand by David Ball

“Holy everything that’s holy and even some not-holy things thrown in. There were no
words for how vast this big rock of El Cap was. Or that big rock—there was Middle
Cathedral Rock. Or that one over there— Sentinel, the Prow, Half Dome. The hugeness of the place ate my brain. I plopped down right there in El Cap Meadows and, mind exploding and now a believer in The Valley, I let it all soak in.”
― Tami Knight, Secret Plans: Vol. III: 40+ Years of Cartoons for Climbers

“Almost at once, however, I had my qualms about the project. Ever since my “epiphany” in Chad, I’d agonized over the environmental impact of my climbing. To fly the three of us down to Mexico—not to mention other crew members to operate automated drones to capture footage high on the wall—would be to leave a sizable carbon footprint. Could I really justify burning all that jet fuel and using pricey high-tech hardware just to capture my several hours of play on Portrero Chico?”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“One of my favorite aspects of soloing is the way that pain ceases to exist”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“To me, that is soloing at its finest: to be nearly disconnected from the wall with the air all around. There's a certain purity to that kind of movement that can’t be found with a rope and gear.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“I've tried to approach environmentalism the same way I do my climbing: by setting small, concrete goals that build on each other. That was the idea behind starting the Honnold Foundation. | also worked on smaller projects, such as setting up my mom’s house with solar panels and giving up meat in an effort to eat lower on the food chain. In some ways it might seem silly even to make the effort, since the environmental problems facing our world are so much bigger than any one person's actions. But some walls also seem so huge and impossible that it appears pointless to work toward them. The beauty of climbing has always been the reward of the process itself.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall