Breathless Quotes

"It’s always hard when there’s an accident like this. A tragedy. Even when it’s not your team, you know? But we have to keep going. Alain wouldn’t want you to give up your dream."

"It’s the mountains themselves – not the summits – that teach me so much."

"I have been practising this for many years now. Immersing my body in the cold helps awaken my senses, readying my body and my mind for what is to come. Keeps me sharp. You need all your wits about you for an eight-thousander."

"But if I don’t make the summit, I try to be relaxed. It will be there still next year."

"It is always hard when there’s an accident like this. A tragedy. Even when it’s not your team, you know? But we have to keep going."

"It’s not like it was someone from our team. You can bet this won’t stop Charles. And I have to be on the mountain and acclimatized before he arrives."

"Mountaineering’s dangerous by nature. Anyone who spends time in the high peaks knows that."

"The mountains know how to hold their secrets."

"But the freedom to choose your own routes, to make your mark on these wild frontiers – he was living the mountaineer’s dream."

"Mountaineering is a sport that thrives on mentorship. It’s part of my duty to give back."

"In the mountains, we’re all one team. If someone is in trouble, and we have the means to help, I believe it’s our duty to try."

"For me, it is not about the 'check'. It is about seeing what I can achieve."

"The mountain is dangerous enough, without inventing problems."

"Anything could happen to her, and who would care?"

"You take people at their word that they reach the summit, that they don’t use O2, or touch a rope on a risky ascent."

"The only person who can get you up the mountain is you."

"The mountains are in my blood. But to be honest, I love the challenge. This environment will throw everything it has at you, testing all your faculties. Over the years, I’ve learned how to not just survive in this environment, but actually thrive. It makes me feel powerful."

"By staying aware and managing my risk. My dad would always say the same thing to me: ‘be bothered’. So that’s my mantra out here. Be bothered. Be bothered to check my equipment. To store my lipsalve in the same pocket every time so I know exactly where it is. To retie my laces the moment I notice they’re loose. So often fatigue – mental and physical – will stop you from caring, and small issues quickly turn into life-threatening ones in the mountains. The moment you stop caring is the moment you’ve lost your ability to climb."

"I’ve known enough good friends – some of the best mountaineers in the world – who haven’t made it back alive, to know that nothing is certain on the mountain."

"I’m still taking steps forward each time. So if I don’t make the summit, guys, don’t be sad for me. I’ve already accomplished way more than I thought I possibly could."

"The mountain will always be there. Getting back down alive is the priority."

"The mountain changed people. It tested all your faculties, the hardship and suffering stripping emotions bare."

"The mountain was killer enough; no human could compete."

"Coming here, to a place like this, put your life at risk. There was no getting round it."

"Every day is pushing my limits – physically, mentally and emotionally. And I’m still going."

"There is no man better at guiding than Doug Manners. He has the utmost respect for the mountain."

"Up there, it’s life and death. Does it get bigger than that?"

"Keep calm and carry on’ is the preferred attitude."

"The mountain was its own universe. It was hard to remember what it was like back home."

"This wasn’t Everest, where walking past frozen corpses was almost part of the experience."

"There was only one way that anyone ever got up a mountain: by putting one foot in front of the other."

"These things didn’t have to exist at the opposite end of the scale, but rather they could be held together, one in each hand, and each could bear its own weight, just as the right hand is the mirror image of the left."

"The only place she was going to find out what that was, was on the mountain itself."

"The mountain will always be there. You can try again another time."

"She could feel he was tense too, the anticipation of the summit push infusing them all."

"What must it be like to feel so at home in such a hostile environment? To stride along the line between life and death, rather than tiptoe?"

"She could die if she didn’t learn to breathe with the oxygen mask."

"The wind rushing through the plastic of these ghost tents created an eerie symphony."

"She knew Doug wouldn’t let Charles down when it came to climbing logistics, so she had to trust him."

"She was the closest to the heavens it was possible to be on two feet."

"The path she’d come up was empty, not a soul to be seen."

"Her heart raced inside her chest, a jackhammer."

"She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t keep the mask on. It was a claw, gripping her face."

"The air was there. It just wasn’t doing what it was supposed to."

"Worry about him later. Worry about survival now."

"Her heart pounded as she gently turned Elise’s head."

"But then a brainwave hit her: Elise’s camera."

"She wanted to scream, but the sound was muffled by her buff."

"She knew that every metre they descended, the stronger he’d get."

"Her hands were numb. The damp in her glove had frozen."

"That man was weak. Too weak to be where he was."

"Her bones turned to water. She was the only one who knew the truth: Charles was a killer."

"Her survival meant little if their stories were lost, buried beneath the ice."

"There was no blame there, but Cecily couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with grief."

"He concentrated hard on rigging a set-up that would allow him to lower Zak to the next level."

"She wished she knew why the mountain had spared him."

"Elise had realized in the last second what was about to happen."

"This would be the new biggest story in mountaineering history."