Between A Rock And A Hard Place Quotes
"Mountains are the means, the man is the end. The goal is not to reach the tops of mountains, but to improve the man." - Walter Bonatti
"This is the most beautiful place on earth. There are many such places."
"The only true act of an environmentalist would be to shoot himself in the head. Otherwise, he's still contaminating the place by his mere presence."
"Mountains do not live only in the imagination of the beholder, but in the mind of the earth itself."
"I wasn't scared, I was absolutely terrorized by the notion of moving to Colorado."
"It was a look that said, 'If you have to ask, it's against my better judgment to tell you.'"
"Feeling aligned in my body and head rejuvenates my spirit."
"My biggest worry isn’t that my legs will get tired—I know they will, and I know how to handle it—but rather that my, uh, undercarriage will become too sensitive to allow me to ride."
"Alone in a situation that could very shortly prove to be fatal."
"Sometimes, when I get high-minded about it, I think solo hiking is my own method of attaining a transcendental state, a kind of walking meditation."
"In places, this differential erosion creates hoodoos, freestanding rock towers and tepees, and tall dunes of colored stone that dot the upper reaches of the canyon’s cliffs."
"It looks goofy—I stop in the open canyon and take a picture of my shadow with the feather."
"Anxiety has my brain tweaking; searing-hot pain shoots from my wrist up my arm."
"The decision to get objective with my situation and stop rushing from one brutish attempt to the next allows my energy to settle down."
"I’m not out trying to climb a high peak in the middle of winter, I’m just taking a vacation."
"I’ve felt pretty connected looking at petroglyphs before; it’s a good feeling."
"The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure."
"The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences."
"I discovered that if I waited for the weather, I’d never do anything."
"I was certain it was the last picture anyone ever took of me, silly or otherwise."
"I wasn’t up for kicking steps, hammering in snow pickets, and carrying the psychological burden of being in front."
"I fell into a cycle of motion, a waltz that I danced with the mountain for an enchanted hour."
"I had gained a significant amount of experience that prepared me for a full slate of winter fourteener ascents."
"The entire time I was crawling and fighting for my balance."
"I joined my family that evening with a ridiculous purple brow."
"The band played continuously from midnight until dawn, nearly eight hours, in an incomparable marathon set."
"Shrugging off the accident as a brief delay."
"I learned about the concept of deep play, wherein a person’s recreational pursuits carry a gross imbalance of risk and reward."
"Suffering, cold, nausea, exhaustion, hunger—none of it meant anything, it was all part of the experience."
"Expectations generally led to disappointment, but being open to whatever was there for me to discover led to awareness and delight."
"My achievements were greater than the numbers—I was consistently creating for myself new experiences that no one else in the world was having."
"I felt a sense of ownership of these cold high mountains, these buried alpine tarns, these sound-dampened forests."
"I found that I could not set out with the intent of having a particular experience—my goal instead was to be open to what that day was giving me and accept it."
"To me, it was the experience of taking the picture."
"Climbing fourteeners in the winter by myself wasn’t just something I did; it became who I was."
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
"I was altogether burned out on working in a large corporation."
"I’ve been looking for adventure, and I’ve found it."
"Discomfort with elevated risks was not a weakness to overcome, but a signal for me to process a decision until I could either move forward safely or choose to come back another day."
"Avalanches can travel at speeds around 100 mph, with a density four times that of air because of the suspended snow, which hits with the energy of a 400-mph wind."
"As puffs of crystalline snow drifted through the valley, I chose a campsite in the trees at the farthest edge of the older debris and formulated a plan for my ascent."
"At three in the morning, I awoke and put on my cold-weather clothes, gathered my water and food, kicked my feet into my boots, and strapped on my crampons."
"Climbing on my front points in the isolated bubble of my headlamp, I was halfway up the gully when a bowling ball of ice came shooting out of the inky heavens down the tightly walled corridor and whizzed past my head."
"Reversing my climb back down the mixed ice and rock dihedral would lead to a death fall. I couldn’t go down; I couldn’t stay. I had to go up, as improbable as it seemed."
"It was as hard as any 5.8 rock-climbing move I’ve ever done, making it the most difficult free solo maneuver I’d ever attempted."
"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant."
"The sound waves hit me on a time delay. Splintering crashes punctuated the bellowing growl of the snow as it pounced from the upper cliffs onto eighty-foot-tall trees that snapped under the devastating momentum."
"I took a long break, reenergizing with some food bars and water, then set off up the fourth-class slabs and snowfields to the summit of South Maroon, which I reached with hoots and smiles at eight-fifteen A.M."
"I’m ready for the next step. I take my multi-tool and switch it from the battered file to the longer of the two knife blades, forgetting my plans to use the sharper one."
"Breath after breath fills the rope bag with moist air as I focus on exhaling against the waterproof liner."
"The last mouthful of my water supply has become a sacred element."
"Nothing compares to the anguish of my thirst: unslakable…unquenchable…unsatisfiable…insuppressible…inextinguishable."
"I find myself wishing to get this all over with simply to bring relief to the thirst."
"I’m not sure whether the beauty of the canyon in the morning light inspires my tenacity or erodes my resolve."
"It’s as though I’m too dejected even to waste my energy on tears."
"Stabbing yourself with a contaminated knife—that was true genius, Aron."
"Hell is indeed a deep, chthonic hole, but hot? No. It is a bitterly dark and unbearably cold place of lonely solitude."
"Despite my elevated heart rate, my circulation has slowed over the last three days as my blood has thickened."
"I recall the sheep’s eyeball that stared back at me from the stainless-steel pan in ninth-grade physical science class."
"The real test of any choice is, 'Would I make the same choice again?'"
"I love you both for being understanding, and supportive, and encouraging."
"Do great things with your life—that will honor me the best."
"My eyes are sunken and dry—I avoid looking at myself in my video-camera episodes because of the gaunt stretch of skin over my cheekbones."
"I know it’s all theoretical, but even in theory, it sounds like a multi-day ordeal once I’m located."
"I’ve developed several signs that tell me dehydration has already set upon me."
"I am gasping for breath between sentences and decide that I’ve had enough stimulation for now."
"Time has lost its meaning. Counting up the hours and days is now simply record-keeping."
"Suddenly, I have a new idea—what about using a rock as a wrecking ball to smash into the chockstone?"
"I wonder how long my beard will be by the time I’m found—it’ll keep growing for a day or two after I die—maybe a half inch or more?"
"I can’t speed it up or slow it down; I can only absorb the surreal impressions that swirl in my head."
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."
"It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything."
"You’ve got to love the life you live, and live the life you love."
"Of course I do, silly; I’ve only got one now."
"I had lost forty pounds and a liter and a half of blood."
"I cried with my parents as it became clear that I wouldn’t make it to Texas."
"I cried at her beauty until I finally passed out."
"I figured out how to tie my shoelaces and even tie a necktie one-handed."
"I distributed the cremated ashes of my hand."