Summit Attempt Quotes

I think Mount Everest is gorgeous, too, but that doesn’t mean I have any intention of trying to climb it

We took a straight course up the great snow ridge.

But now that I was finally here, standing on the summit of Mount Everest, I just couldn't summon the energy to care.

Everest in his slippers. That's what he was like.

Think about climbing a mountain. If you decide you're going up Everest, you don't start with a sprint. You'll never make it out of base camp if you do that. The secret is two fold: make sure your approach is consistent and steady so that you can maintain the progress you're making as your journey continues.

I cannot say to be glad or not glad to be on Everest. It is my life. I have opportunity to be here, so I am here.

We spent a few days up Ben Nevis, which is the biggest mountain in the U.K., and there was one day when we had to make a decision whether we were going to go to the summit or not. It was already getting dark, but we made the call to go and made the summit, but as soon as we got there, this blizzard just hit.

I said to Scott that the ascent seemed to be going slowly and that I was concerned descending climbers could possibly run out of oxygen before their return to camp IV.

I explained I wanted to descend as quickly as possible to camp IV in order to warm myself and gather a supply of hot drink and oxygen in the event I might need to go back up the mountain to assist descending climbers.

Gradually, very gradually, we saw the great mountain sides and glaciers and aretes, now one fragment and now another through the floating rifts, until far higher in the sky than imagination had dared to suggest the white summit of Everest appeared.