I've always had those little goals that I've worked toward-They add up.

Everest wasn't like any other mountain. Only one of ten climbers who attempt the mountain stands on the summit. And for every three climbers who do scale the mountain, one dies trying. The facts aren't welcoming. But you don't plan a trip to Everest believing those facts will apply to you.

I've always had those little goals that I've worked toward-They add up.

If you see yourself as trying to beat the mountain, eventually the mountain will win. You don't conquer mountains, you cooperate with them.

Reaching that windswept perch, I decided, would cleanse my spirit and heal my wounds. More than that, it would send me home with a title: The First American Woman to Climb Everest.

that's exactly what climbing is to me. ... Expression. What a painter does on a canvas, what a writer can do with the twenty-six letters in the alphabet. It's the key that unlocks my spirit, the clearest representation of who I am. When I'm focused, climbing is almost an unconscious act for me. I don't have to drive myself, I'm already driven.

For those moments when it's just you and the rock and the ice and the snow, life always makes sense.