Everything we make pollutes. The most responsible thing we can do is to make each product as well as we know how so it lasts as long as possible.

One thing I did not want to change, even if we got serious, work had to be enjoyable on a daily basis. We all had to come to work on the balls of our feet and go up the stairs two at a time.

Is climbing, as a passion and as a sport, better off now than it was in the past? We can do harder climbs now in faster times - techniques are more refined and equipement more sophisticated - but are we really any better off?

Growth isn't central at all, because I'm trying to run this company as if it's going to be here a hundred years from now. And if you take where we are today and add 15% growth, like public companies need to have for their stock to stay up in value, I'd be a multi-trillion-dollar company in 40 years. Which is impossible, of course.

Real adventure is defined best as a journey from which you may not come back alive, and certainly not as the same person.

Traveling is my form of self-education.

Once you educate yourself, you're left with choices.