Anatoli Boukreev Quotes

Meeting Australian mountaineer and author Tim Macartney-Snape when I was 16 in 1994 had a big impact on me. His ascent of Everest from sea to summit captured my imagination.

In the West, the art of rock climbing is growing because it has to do with less risk, good muscles. But the people seeking high goals in high places are in Eastern Europe, and they reach their goals because they are willing to suffer more.

I don't need to come back to Everest.

I always wanted to try Mt. Everest since I was a kid. I never thought I would be able to do anything like that.

- Why do you want to climb Mt. Everest, Sir? - Because it is there.

Climbing is unadulterated hard labor. The only real pleasure is the satisfaction of going where no man has been before and where few can follow.

While on top of Everest, I looked across the valley towards the great peak Makalu and mentally worked out a route about how it could be climbed. It showed me that even though I was standing on top of the world, it wasn't the end of everything. I was still looking beyond to other interesting challenges.

I wanted something different; I wanted something that challenged me and that pushed me further. Then this idea of climbing Mount Everest came to my mind. It stuck in my head for days. Someone told me I couldn't do it, and that really annoyed me.

My Antarctic expedition is just about doable, just feasible and that's what is exciting to me. If I knew it was possible, if I knew I could do it without too much bother, I wouldn't be interested.

The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this; What is the use of climbing Mount Everest? and my answer must at once be, it is no use. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever.

I don't have any hidden talents but if you dare me to do something I'll go after it big time.

I was scared many times on Everest, but this is all part of the challenge. When I fell down a crevasse, it was pretty scary.

If I know I make this much trouble, I never climb Everest.

I think that people need an adrenalin rush. Folks need something aspirational; they need to do something that is hard. That's what ignites the imagination.

When I took on Everest, I'm not there for the views.

Men climb mountains, scale heights, venture into the unexplored to prove to other men it can be done.

The art of climbing is the art of survival. The best climber is the man or woman going in the most crazy places but surviving.

You can, maybe, do something like Annapurna once in a lifetime. Then don't try to do it again.

There are parallels between filmmaking and climbing mountains just in terms of the commitment it requires, absolute devotion, and the belief that you are going to make a film and that the film is going to be OK, as well as the risks you have to take. You are never going to climb anything great if you don't take risks.

Because it is there [famous explanation for wanting to climb Mount Everest].

We look up. For weeks, for months, that is all we have done. Look up. And there it is-the top of Everest. Only it is different now: so near, so close, only a little more than a thousand feet above us. It is no longer just a dream, a high dream in the sky, but a real and solid thing, a thing of rock and snow, that men can climb. We make ready. We will climb it. This time, with God's help, we will climb on to the end.

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

You won't find reasonable men on the tops of tall mountains.

Stay hungry, stay foolish.

If it is a shame to be the second man on Mount Everest, then I will have to live with this shame.