Profound silence would brood over the valley, even weighing down our spirits with indefinable heaviness. There can be no other place in the world where man feels himself so alone, so isolated, so completely ignored by nature, so incapable of entering into communion with her.

Working on the summit of Mauna Kea was comparable to working on the hospital pulmonary ward with sick people sucking on oxygen cylinders.

Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion.

My mind is in a state of constant rebellion. I believe that will always be so.

If you ignore the mountain, doesn't mean mountain will ignore you too..

Mountaineers are one of the few groups to celebrate before the finish line. More mountaineers die on the descent than on the ascent.

Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.

As de Saussure said, risk-taking brings with it its own reward: it keeps a 'continual agitation alive' in the heart. Hope, fear. Hope, fear - this is the fundamental rhythm of mountaineering. Life, it frequently seems in the mountains, is more intensely lived the closer one gets to its extinction: we never feel so alive as when we have nearly died.

Mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

Open the window of your mind. Allow the fresh air,new lights and new truths to enter.