many mountains
It’s not uncommon to hear about a hiker’s ambition to conquer a mountain, to not let the mountain gain victory over their desires to summit.
What is this “conquer the mountain” idea and where did it come from! No. This is not the way to approach it. The mountain is fine, whether we climb it or not. It couldn’t give two shits. It’s us who have to do the deed, and we’ll only do the deed if the mountain lets us. And if our own dedication lets us.
Edmund Hillary is the first non-sherpa guy to climb to the top of the world, Mount Everest. He should know. Clearly he knew what mountain climbing was about. “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
If you pause for a moment or two, you will understand that the mountains are a sacred, profound place. I’ve climbed a few mountains, I’ve written a few words. And yet, there is nothing I can write that begins to compare with what the experts have said. So I will shut up and get back to climbing up the next mountain.
Behold…
The mountains are calling, and I must go.
— John Muir, “John of the Mountains, killer beard, all kinds of naturalist, outdoors guy, preservationist, once got lost in New York City
What are men to rocks and mountains?
— Jane Austen, author, liberal feminist
The last word always belongs to the mountain.
— Anatoli Boukreev, Himalayas guide, perished in an avalanche on Annapurna at the age of 39, his body never found
Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.
— Anatoli Boukreev
We cannot lower the mountain, therefore we must elevate ourselves.
— Todd Skinner, fostered the birth of “free climbing” in Yosemite National Park, lost his life when he fell 500 feet while rappelling down Leaning Tower in Yosemite, at the age of 47
The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.
— Conrad Anker, seriously hot shot climber, topped out Mount Rainier at the age of 16 and has since summited Mount Everest three times
The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.
— Robert Pirsig, writer and philosopher, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: “It’s not really about motorcycles. It’s really about everything else,” middle name of Maynard, believed we all could see the Buddha in a well-maintained carburetor
Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was.
— Dag Hammerskjold, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Peace Prize winner, president of the Swedish Alpinist club
Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.
— Greg Child, world-class rock climber, mountaineer, author, filmmaker wrote about necessary mountain climbing issues: urinating, defecating, vomiting, coping with bugs and parasites and encrustations of frozen mucus
Climb [the mountain] so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.
— David McCullough Jr, educator, famous for speech “You Are Not Special”
There’s no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It’s experiencing the climb itself — in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak and fatigue—that has to be the goal.
— Karyn Kusama, filmmaker, former boxer
Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.
— Andy Rooney, journalist, essayist, curmudgeon, staggering eyebrows
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
— T S Eliot, Thomas Stearns, inspirational poet, fluent in five languages, placed whoopee cushions on the seats of visiting authors, offered them exploding cigars, wrote a poem called The Triumph of Bullshit, the first use of the word bullshit
I like the mountains because they make me feel small. They help me sort out what’s important in life.
— Mark Obmascik, Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental journalist, obsessive birdwatcher
Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion.
— Robert Macfarlane, writer on nature, people and place, as a child refused to take the dog for a walk
He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra, outstanding mustache and yet, not great fun to be with
Only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.
— Richard Nixon, politician, made an appearance on Laugh In, favorite tune was Hail to the Chief
Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.
— Hermann Buhl, taken prisoner by the U S in World War II, first successful solo climb of the extremely difficult Nanga Parbat, known as Killer Mountain, died in an avalanche on Chogolisa among the highest peaks in Pakistan at the age of 32
If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.
— Lyndon Baines Johnson, politician, advocated civil rights, would conduct “staff meetings” while sitting on the toilet
Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.
— Steven Wright, comedian of peculiarities, Boston Red Sox fan
Take it easy, but take it.
— Woody Guthrie, folk singer, songwriter (more than 3000 songs,) formed of the soil of the midwest, inspiration for destitute migrants
Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
— Confucius, peace-loving philosopher, said many things
We don’t go anywhere. Going somewhere is for squares. We just go!
— Marlon Brando as Johnny in The Wild One, brooding, truculent
In some ways, going to the mountains is incomprehensible to many people and inexplicable by those who go. The reasons are difficult to unearth and only with those who are similarly drawn is there no need to try to explain.
— Joe Tasker, mountaineer who died at the age of 34 while climbing Mount Everest, body never found
Those who pursue outdoor sports get to be in nature, see its beauty and experience its raw power and utter indifference to our struggles.
— Molly Absolon, mother, wife, writer, skier, climber, teacher, environmentalist, triathlete, housewife, editor, author
We lived for days on nothing but food and water.
— W C Fields, actor, comedian, juggler, writer
Open those eyes. there’s so much around you, and give this world a chance to save you.
— R M Drake, author, street artist
[Mountaineers 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, educator, trauma-informed board-certified autism specialist
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.
— Edward Abbey, environmental author (The Monkey Wrench Gang, Desert Solitaire,) critic of public land policies, anarchist, curmudgeon
Anything rather than the ultimate horror: death in a hospital bed, surrounded by the engines of medical technology and technicians making notes.
— Ed Abbey
Beyond the mountains, more mountains.
— Haitian proverb
Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.
— Jack Kerouac, writer, hung out with Allen Ginsberg and William S Burroughs, extraordinary run-on sentences
That’s what I have to say about “conquering” a mountain. Don’t be silly.
