Tamara Covacevich

“The race across the mountain continued, but the mountains still glowed when it was their time to glow. They still cried when it was time for rain. And they still told you stories, if you only knew how to listen to them. But I was no longer one of those who knew how to listen … who knew how to laugh and cry with them … I was an athlete … I was an alpinist. I spoke of walls and overhangs. I ran and trained and counted my ascents. I fell prey to the folly of categorization, adding up points, comparing myself to others and making myself poorer and poorer. I was turning into a shallow and stupid craftsman. All I saw were numbers, summit heights, sizes of walls, estimations of difficulty. I only saw Roman and Arabic numerals, commas and plus and minus signs. My hands and legs were strong and unstoppable but my head became empty and my heart no longer beat faster because it was being overwhelmed by beauty – only because of physical effort. My path was rapidly turning downhill while the curve of my success continued to rise. One climb became indistinguishable from another. I functioned like a well-oiled machine that will continue to run on empty if no one stops it. And thus the wheels of my machine kept turning without purpose, faster and faster, until my children reminded me that the birds in the forest were still singing.”

Excerpt From: Bernadette McDonald. “Alpine Warriors.”
― Nejc Zaplotnik, Pot

“...books possess an ounce-of-weight to minute-of-entertainment ratio that compares quite favorably to intoxicants.”
― Jon Krakauer, Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”
― John Muir, The Mountains of California

“You have to be honest with yourself that in the end no one really cares—you do it for yourself. Everyone must decide for him or herself how much risk he or she wants to take. Risk is not measurable and is always dependent on the individual. You need to know that it is impossible to indefinitely push your limits: higher, faster, better. Eventually you reach a peak and then it goes back down. I believe it’s important that you don’t lose your passion and that you enjoy the outdoors and challenging yourself, no matter what your level is.”
― Steve House, Training for the New Alpinism: A Manual for the Climber as Athlete