The Climb: Tragic Ambitions On Everest Quotes
"In ancient Buddhist scriptures the Himalaya are referred to as the 'storehouse of snow'."
"The mountaineers had been caught in the Death Zone, the elevations above 8,000 meters where extended exposure to subzero temperatures and oxygen deprivation combine and kill, quickly."
"In the dark and the screaming howl of the storm the climbers began to bargain. My fingers for my life? Fair enough; just let me live."
"Anatoli Nikoliavich Boukreev made a decision, one that some would later call suicidal."
"It is extremely difficult for high-altitude climbers to support their climbing careers without going commercial in some way or another."
"I thought Scott had great potential as a high-altitude climber."
"There is not enough luck in the world. That night I got somebody's share."
"It was an insult, I thought, that what many of them had died for was now suffering its own slow death."
"I enjoyed the measured, regular schedule and the rhythms of the work, and every evening the physical fatigue was so great that sleep came easily."
"Fischer had embraced Lopsang as a friend and as his protégé."
"In his responses to Bromet’s questions Fischer emphasized the 'good mix' of his choice of guides."
"Boukreev, Fischer introduced as his 'head climbing guide' and extolled his achievements as a high-altitude climber."
"The logistics of this whole effort boggle the mind."
"Fischer’s strength was elsewhere, according to Bromet. It was in his ability to take his expertise and natural abilities to perform in the mountains and to share that with his clients."
"Boukreev’s and Fischer’s problem: if Mountain Madness directed their Sherpas’ efforts to establishing Camp III on April 25 and then sent them to Base Camp to rest on April 26, they would have no Sherpas to contribute to the effort."
"Boukreev, dedicated to his own formulas, had the discipline of an Olympic athlete and the intense focus of a test pilot."
"The eternity and power of the mountains penetrated me."
"The art of acclimatizing is not something that can be held to a rigid schedule, dependent as it is upon events, circumstances, and personal physiologies."
"We had much to catch up on, and I asked him how it had gone with Pete Schoening. Scott told me that it had gone well enough."
"I was sure that my plan of rest and rehabilitation would allow me to gather my strength."
"You have to pace yourself. It’s not who gets up first; it’s who gets up."
"I understood from my body that I had acclimatized well, and I made plans to descend to the forest zone for an extended rest."
"I met with Scott after breakfast because he had stayed behind to get everyone off, and I asked him if I needed to be with the clients."
"I thought about my attempt to convince Scott to take our clients down to the forest zone to rest prior to our summit bid and his unwillingness to consider the proposal."
"In the quiet, without the distractions of day-to-day operations and routines, Boukreev had some time to consider what he’d seen of the climbers before they departed."
"It was as if the mountain was beckoning with a finger and speaking softly, ‘Come on. Come on.’"
"The last trip through, if they were lucky, would be in a mood of celebration and thanks. They would have made the summit and would be headed home."
"When I was at the summit, there was a strong wind. I didn’t feel it intensify, but I didn’t see any evidence personally of snow or deteriorating weather."
"I felt the sense that we were late on the summit, not because I was told that we had a deadline on the summit, but because I was aware."
"Before I decided to go up over the Hillary Step, I noticed a whiteout coming from the valleys, and I saw the wind pick up over the summit."
"The worst thing is happening; I know that… I’m the strongest, so I gave her my oxygen, which is basically very stupid."
"Somewhere, I must have been awhile because I was extremely cold pretty shortly after that."
"I couldn’t see! … It was probably the worst moment of my life."
"I don’t know how long I was in the tent after I returned from my first attempt to find our climbers."
"I am one person and this is three people, and I saw Yasuko very close, maybe two meters from people."
"I think about five o’clock in the morning I wake up, and he’s back in, and it’s light, and again no words."
"I am a sportsman; I will never think of the summit of a mountain as an achievement worth the sacrifice of a life."
"I feel like the American Alpine Club has gone to great effort to understand a man from another culture."
"The mountains have the power to call us into their realms and there, left forever, are our friends whose great souls were longing for the heights."
"I honestly do. I am not a superman. In that weather, we all could possibly have died."
"I have climbed mountains for more than twenty-five years, and only once on an assault of an 8,000er did I ever use it."
"It is a lonely and a strange life, inexplicable to some, but for me it is my home; it is my work."
"In my mountaineering career I had never seen so much interest in an event in the Himalaya."
"In the history of my career, as I have detailed it above, it has been my practice to climb without supplementary oxygen."
"I would like to explore the limits of my capability."
"Honestly, I do not experience fear in the mountains. On the contrary … I feel my shoulders straightening, squaring, like the birds as they straighten their wings."
"A heavy load of unconsolidated snow caused them to alter the planned assault route, but they were encouraged by the prospect of improving weather."
"It was a longer, more arduous route than the one they had originally chosen, but the thought was that they could reduce their exposure to the threat of avalanche."
"In the three seconds before the leading edge of the avalanche hit him, Moro had only the time to look down the couloir and yell one word, 'Anatoli!'"
"Boukreev, who was at approximately 5,650 meters, and Sobolev, who was just below him, looked toward the cry of warning and saw a wall of ice and snow cascading down."
"Moro was swept down the mountain by the freight-train force of the avalanche."
"A helicopter was summoned, and Simone was flown to Kathmandu for medical attention."
"The news reached Santa Fe, New Mexico, late on the evening of December 26."
"The hope was that, somehow, they had been able to dig themselves out of the debris field and make their way to the Camp I tent."
"In the last days of December several attempts were made to reach the site of the avalanche by helicopter, but cloudy weather prevented a search team from getting anywhere near Camp I."
"I imagined that he would be found sitting cross-legged in his tent, sipping a freshly brewed cup of tea."
"I don’t personally think it’s a wise thing to start out climbing after a big storm, because it’s not a good sign that you’ll have stable weather."
"I heard from Scott Fischer about this plan: start at twelve o’clock; I need to be with group and see group; Neal will, with some Sherpas, will fix line."
"The night we arrived at the South Col, it was blowing heavily, and it kept on blowing until some point in the evening."
"If I will use oxygen and oxygen will finish, it will be much more difficult. Because it is physiology."
"Everybody, before we even started out toward the summit bid, was talking about that Lopsang was extremely sick."
"I’m not sure that any message—any English message—would get through."
"You need to trust yourself, trust yourself, trust yourself, because I haven’t heard anything about this."
"I was either here at Rob Hall’s camp, because Rob Hall’s camp had better communications."
"There was a pretty intense fear and high adrenaline at that time because of the clearing."
"I wasn’t filled with fear or adrenaline. I was at no point convinced that we were going to die."
"I didn’t realize that Lene was totally under control." - NEAL
"It didn’t seem like it was that far at all." - SANDY
"There appeared to be two other people somewhere above the hard ice." - NEAL
"It is okay. Look like good visibility, not very strong wind." - ANATOLI
"When I talked with Tashi and Lopsang and Lopsang’s father and these people told me he didn’t walk." - ANATOLI
"I get very cold, very tired. So is my night at the South Col, but I survived it." - ANATOLI
"His eyes like closed and go down. I tried to open; impossible, frozen." - ANATOLI
"I believe I can to help for Scott because I saw this one guy from Rob Hall expedition came back; he survived this night." - ANATOLI