"To the oldest part of our brain, the experience of climbing is interpreted as an act of survival and survival is stressful work...We fight with our conscious and subconscious minds alike and the whole game is learning to manage the stress response and ultimately work in tandem with our brain and body in pursuit of a goal. In that way, it becomes an act of mindfulness because in order to survive, we’re forced to distill order from chaos and focus on the now. The discomfort of it all is offset by the highs that come with it. It’s beautiful and breathtaking and life-affirming in a way that few other sports can ever be." — Cory Richards The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
"I secure a short length of rope in a coil over my neck and look up the slope until the light fades into a black question mark." — Cory Richards The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
"Words amidst tragedy rarely if ever touch the void of grief, let alone fill it. The need to speak is an attempt to bring something back...to undo something that can’t be undone. And platitudes aren’t all that comforting. Regardless, someone always says something like “At least they died doing what they loved.” The search for a silver lining, the stumbling to make sense of death, doesn’t make loss any less painful...Say what you can and mean what you say and when there are no more words just let the silence speak. For a moment, let the silence scream." — Cory Richards The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
"It’s not about a list. It’s about the experiences. The list just gets you out there." — Brendon Leonard Semi-Rad, "The Point Of Doing Pointless Things With Your Friends"
"Let us not throw up our hands when it’s time to roll up our sleeves." — Vice President Kamala Harris Speech, January 6, 2024
"Was I the person, the climber, that I believed I had been? Those events shaped who I was, and now they were receding into the distance." — Chris Jones Climbing Fitz Roy, 1968
"But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The journey you travel on your feet is less important than the distance you cover in your head." — Mishka Shubaly
"If you cultivate your ability to create Adventure, wherever you are, you will feel alive." — Paul Ramer Backcountry Magazine, Issue 2, "Where's the Adventure?"
"Maybe it’s the sun’s first light on these ancient cliffs, or the heavy current of the river, the feeling that this place exists outside of human time. But here, I start to feel like myself again." — Hilary Oliver She Explores, Episode 3, "Being Here: How the Outdoors Make Us Feel"
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." — John Burroughs
"The pilgrim contents herself always with looking along and inwards to mystery, where the mountaineer longs to look down and outwards onto total knowledge." — Nan Shepherd The Living Mountain
"To pit oneself against the mountain is necessary for every climber: to pit oneself merely against other players, and make a race of it, is to reduce to the level of a game what is essentially an experience… the mere setting up of a record is of very minor importance. What he values is a task that, demanding of him all he has and is, absorbs and so releases him entirely." — Nan Shepherd The Living Mountain
"I believe that fear is the most powerful and detrimental emotion in life and the biggest culprit keeping us from our dreams...Fear can keep you alive, but it can also keep you from living." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"The journey is the reward...Embracing the journey, focusing on things in my control, accepting what I have no control over, acknowledging missteps, doing the best with the hand I am dealt, and focusing on the process not the end result—this is the essential mindset." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"There's usually a great outcome if you train your mind to look for one." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"Focusing on safety, or security, is the biggest inhibition to having a new adventure... To hide from the exposure of our circumstance is also to hide from the beauty of it." — Lucas Roman Alpinist Magazine, Issue 81, "Exposure"
"I couldn't reach this moment any sooner than now, because I've needed all my knowledge and experience to be standing here." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward." — Oscar Wilde
"...each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself...To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top." — Robert M. Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
