I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer.

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.

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

Antarctica is a very alien environment, and you can't survive here more than minutes if you're not equipped properly and doing the right thing all the time.

<...> though he found that if you are stupid enough to bury a camera underground you won't be taking many pictures with it afterwards. Thus the story has no picture book for the period May 10, 1991 - January 7, 1992. But this is not important. It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it's great to be alive! Thank you. Thank you.

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

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