In climbing, having confidence in your partners is no small concern. One climber's actions can affect the welfare of the entire team.

If you want a blank spot on the map, you gotta leave the map behind.

Children can be harsh judges when it comes to their parents, disinclined to grant clemency.

It was titillating to brush up against the enigma of mortality, to steal a glimpse across its forbidden frontier. Climbing was a magnificient activity, I firmly believed, not in spite of the inherent perils, but precisely because of them.

Most climbers aren't in fact deranged, they're just infected with a particularly virulent strain of the Human Condition.

The thing that is most beautiful about Antarctica for me is the light. It's like no other light on Earth, because the air is so free of impurities. You get drugged by it, like when you listen to one of your favorite songs. The light there is a mood-enhancing substance.

The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.