I thought climbing the Devil's Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams.
Jon KrakauerThe trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the word, an epic journey that would change everything.
Jon KrakauerThe only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.
Jon KrakauerAbove the comforts of Base Camp, the expedition in fact became an almost Calvinistic undertaking. The ratio of misery to pleasure was greater by an order of magnitude than any mountain I'd been on; I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain. And in subjecting ourselves to week after week of toil, tedium and suffering, it struck me that most of us were probably seeking above all else, something like a state of grace.
Jon Krakauer