"In the inner workings of his brain, he had tagged it a happy, rewarding place. (Ali: the opposite is also true)" — Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"The longer the time lag between taking a risk and feeling its consequences, the more likely we are to ignore the risk." — Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"The miracle was that each moment in our lives connected in a long chain to make a unique story, that it was all mystery, that we could shudder in the face of death and also laugh, that we could share burdens with each other, that a succulent could grow in a crack in the midst of all this stone and release oxygen in to the world so that I could live, that love remained waiting. There is wonder in noticing and contemplating and being a part of instead of separate from. In knowing that a thing, if done right, is filled with truth. I climbed. At the top of the wall was the start of my return to Michelle—another place to begin. Right here is also a place to begin, I thought." — Matt Spohn Alpinist Magazine, Issue 65, "Ground Up"
"The best thing about climbing with other women was we shared the lead. Most of my partners were guys who were stronger climbers than me, who liked to take me climbing, not just go climbing. But following was like being the passenger instead of the driver." — Jan Redford End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood
"Women are invited to join the party at base and advanced base to assist in the cooking chores. Special rates are available. They will not be permitted to climb, however. … Women are not strong enough to carry heavy loads. And the high altitude—women aren’t emotionally stable enough to handle it." — Unknown Told to Arlene Blum when she asked to join a Denali expedition
"Climbing is not inherently racist, however, conventional climbing from the beginning—like big wall climbing at Yosemite and stuff like that—it was born during a system of racism, so, therefore, it’s impacted by it, right? Black people were banned from national parks up until I think it was like the mid-fifties or something like that. That’s already a barrier that’s already been set and that has already impacted who is allowed to control the narrative within this certain sport, and who continues on with it. So, it’s like, no wonder black people haven’t really been getting into it—because we weren’t even allowed to get into it in the first place. … And frankly, when a lot of these big wall accomplishments were going on, black folks were trying to get the right to vote. They weren’t worried about hammering in pitons into cracks and stuff like that—they were trying to just have basic rights. So, who gets to control that narrative from the beginning really has an impact on how things are carried out today. You see it in tech, you see it in climbing—politics. It’s everywhere. ...Because the entire time I’m watching Valley Uprising and I’m like 'Oh, this is cool. This is neat—but, come on, man. Without your heightened status within this country, it wouldn’t have been a possibility whatsoever. You know, you had the opportunity to do this because of your legal status within the country at the time.'" — Brandon Belcher For the Love of Climbing, Episode 17, "What We Know"
"And in a lot of areas, if you’re wanting to get into climbing, you have to go outside of your neighborhood—which can already have its own sort of loaded historical trauma, depending on the neighborhood and stuff like that. You’re going into a space where, primarily, it’s a lot of white people handling ropes. Emily Taylor has always highlighted this: there’s a lot of loaded historical trauma with that imagery." — Brandon Belcher For the Love of Climbing, Episode 17, "What We Know"
