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.

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

Our ability to respond positively to setbacks, fuels our creativity and lays the foundation for future successes.

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.

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

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.

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