Ueli Steck Quotes

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

I told them, you can succeed - it's not likely the first time, maybe 25 per cent, but you CAN succeed. You can also die. By April 16 they had already been to camp III, well ahead of most teams.

I used to climb mountains a lot; I decided to go to Pakistan to climb K2, the world's second-highest mountain. I didn't get quite to the top.

I have climbed Everest from the Nepal route and the China route. The other routes are too hard for me. So I don't think I can climb Everest again.

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.

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

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 want to ski down Mount Cho Oyu in the Himalayas when I am 85, descending from a height of 8,201 meters.

The Sherpas play a very important role in most mountaineering expeditions, and in fact many of them lead along the ridges and up to the summit.

The way to Everest is not a Yellow Brick Road.

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

I'm kind of obsessed by Everest and all those men that mountaineer and take themselves to extreme limits.

It takes a lot of resources to climb Everest, and a lot of other people. But you should go do it.

I became famous for the fact that I would break many, many limits. People said, 'He does all these crazy things.' But oddly it was a crazy thing only because scientists and climbers said, 'Everest and the 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen - impossible. Messner is becoming sick in his head.'

There is no joy involved in climbing mountains, there is simply the challenge, the self-invented challenge, the play.

Some day I'm going to climb Everest.

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

As a professional climber, that's the question you always get: Why, why, why? It's an ineffable thing; you can't describe it.

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.

There's no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It's experiencing the climb itself - in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak, and fatigue - that has to be the goal.

To me, it's just not that important whether someone climbs the Eigerwand in ten hours or in three.

Annapurna was a special situation. It was a lifetime dream to finish that route. When I started climbing the South Face, I really expected not to come back alive.

I want to do things not many have done.

I'm never going to go and test myself on Everest, but I sort of understand the psychology of people who might want to.

When I'm in Kathmandu, I go out into the hills and go trekking.