The key is to really have tremendously high expectations and to teach kids how to be self sufficient and confident and give them the skills that they need to succeed.

You can't have self confidence without some real skills that enable you to be successful.

I have a variety of friends I climb with. But the common thing is I trust all of them. They're solid climbers, the sort of people I trust to know what they're doing.

When I'm following someone, I'm listening to a bear bell strapped to their packs. When I'm leading on a climb, like on a rock, I like to feel my way through it on my own, so I know the tricky moves and where to place gear.

I found climbing to be a very tactile sport. There's no ball that is zipping through the air ready to crack you in the head. It is just you and the rock base.

People have the inner resources to become anything they want to be. Challenge just becomes the vehicle for tapping into those inner resources.

I think that it is everyone's obligation they owe to themselves and to their lives to figure out their own way up their own mountain.