Jimmy Chin Quotes

Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.

I enjoy every climb - maybe it's because it's a literal dance between life and death.

I like to scare myself and throw myself off the deep end.

I suppose the most daring thing I've ever done is try to water ski. And that was not successful.

I spent the night on a sliver of rock high up on the east face of Long's Peak, climbing with Tom Frost, and slept at the icy feet of the Dru, listening to the lightning crack above me and the thunder roll down. I only did it to write about it. I would never go up on the Grotto Wall for fun.

The danger sensation is exciting. The challenge is to find new dangers.

If there was the opportunity to climb a mountain, or to go ballooning, or some adventurous activity, I would always be keen to do it. I loved the countryside.

I am immediately disinterested when I hear mountain-climbing stories.

I'm kind of a challenge junkie, I think.

Today, to find a challenge is really hard. In the Alps, everything is done. The new lines, almost all of them are finished. So to find a new challenge, it's all beginning to go to speed.

I'm the kind of guy who, if you tell me you can't do something, like, 'Brian, you can't do a backflip off that two-floor building,' and I'm going to give it a shot.

There is something addictive in space that makes you want to go back - like the mountain climbers who want to go back to the Himalayas although their fingers were cut by frostbite.

I think that's when I have the most fun: when things are on the line.

I like having a new challenge to tackle because that gives me an adrenaline rush.

Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing.

Danger is to adventure what garlic is to spaghetti sauce. Without it, you just end up with stewed tomatoes.

I never was content unless I was trying my skill...or testing my endurance.

I wonder if it's like this for mountain climbers, he thought. You climb bigger and bigger mountains and you know that one day one of them is going to be just that bit too steep. But you go on doing it, because it’s so-o good when you breathe the air up there. And you know you'll die falling.

Adventure and danger can be good for your heart and soul.

When you're challenged, you're totally alive and totally dealing with reality, particularly if it could be dangerous. And that excites me!

Enjoyment, on the other hand, is not always pleasant, and it can be very stressful at times. A mountain climber, for example, may be close to freezing, utterly exhausted, and in danger of falling into a bottomless crevasse, yet he wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Sipping a piña colada under a palm tree at the edge of the turquoise ocean is idyllic, but it just doesn't compare to the exhilaration he feels on the windswept ridge.

Life is dangerous. That's what makes it interesting.

The adrenaline and stress of an adventure are better than a thousand peaceful days.

The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself "Oh now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home. And the sign that something's wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure.

Because it's there. (when asked why he wanted to climb Everest)