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Best climbing/mountaineering quotes

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 matthewbromley 16 Dec 2012
If the conquest of a great peak brings moments of exultation and bliss, which in the monotonous, materialistic existence of modern times nothing else can approach, it also presents great dangers. It is not the goal of grand alpinisme to face peril, but it is one of the tests one must undergo to deserve the joy of rising for an instant above the state of crawling grubs. On this proud and beautiful mountain we have lived hours of fraternal, warm and exalting nobility. Here for a few days we have ceased to be slaves and have really been men. It is hard to return to servitude.

Lionel Terray, Conquistadors of the Useless
 Jack B 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.”

-George Mallory
 Jerry67 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
"Don't cut the b****y ..."
J Simpson
 Lukem6 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: first we get down alive, then we come down still friends, and last we get to the summit.


Something like that.
 jacobjlloyd 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: 'there's belaying, and there's fecking belaying isn't there!' or something like that (?) - Jonny Dawes after nearly decking from the top while on top rope
 Exile 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

It doesn't have to be fun to be fun - Mark Twight I think
 Andy Farnell 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: Come on arms, do your stuff. Big Ron.

Andy F
 AdrianC 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: "...we so far forgot ourselves as to shake hands on it."
 Morgan P 16 Dec 2012
In reply to Jerry67: I'm trying to think of a swearword that works for your "Don't cut the b****y..." quote, the only thing I can think of is bitchy which doesn't make sense. Put me out of my misery?

"I climb just as hard as anyone. I just do it on easier routes."

"I don't want to write about climbing; I don't want talk about it; I don't want to photograph it; I don't want to think about it; all I want to do is do it." — Chuck Pratt.
needvert 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

Sometimes fast and light turns out to be frozen and f**ked


The mountain doesn't know you're an expert
- John Porter


If you fall to your left, you fall 8,000 feet into Nepal. If you fall to your right, you fall 12,000 feet into Tibet. It’s probably better to fall into Tibet because you’ll live a little longer. Either way, you’ll fall for the rest of your life
- Ken Kambler on the final part of the South Col route on Everest


What can this rock give you?. . . . Nothing. . . . and what will you hold in your hands on the Summit? I can tell you now: nothing. It’s all lunacy
- Reinhard Karl


[Mountaineering is] the conquest of the useless
- Lionel Terray


Climbers have no sense of smell
— Conrad Anker's mother.
In reply to matthewbromley:

"Because it's there" - George Mallory



I know there's some dubiousness about it's authenticity but i like it.
In the mountains there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can't.

Rusty Baillie

These are all really great, keep them coming everyone!
 Ramblin dave 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
"Everything around me, motionless and still, was unaware . And so I instinctively asked again “Why ?”. There was no answer and maybe there never will be one.” - Giusto Gervasutti

Less serious:
"Climbing's a bit like masturbation - it's quite fun while you're doing it but no-one really wants to hear you talk about it or look at pictures of you doing it." - Andy Kirkpatrick (who else?)
 Nathan Adam 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: "It was like having sex with death." - Barry Blanchard on attempting Nanga Parbat.
 Ramblin dave 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
And there's a lovely bit at the end of Tom Patey's account of the first winter traverse of the Black Cuillin about returning to "a world of colour and contrast", "a little older in wisdom and a little younger in spirit..."
 Jamie B 16 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"You know, going to the right place at the right time, with the right people is all that really matters. What one does is purely incidental."

Colin Kirkus to Alf Bridge on the summit of Sgurr Alastair in the Cuillin.
 BMrider 16 Dec 2012
In reply to Morgan P:
It was funny! J Simpson....? A rudely curtailed attempt to say: "don't cut the bl**dy rope!"

Look carefully to every step, and think from the first what may be the outcome......
(or something like that...)
 Legionreturns 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
"the best climber is the one having the most fun"
needvert 17 Dec 2012
In reply to BMrider:
> Look carefully to every step, and think from the first what may be the outcome......
> (or something like that...)

Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.
- Edward Whymper, Scrambles Amongst the Alps


One can't take a breath large enough to last a lifetime ; one can't eat a meal big enough so that one never needs to eat again. Similarly, I don't think any climb can make you content never to climb again.
- Woodrow Wilson Sayre.
 moac 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: A lovely quote from Jim Perrin's book "The Villain" about Don Whillans during the descent from the failed South West face of Everest in 1971. The quote is by John Cleare.

" I watched Dougal come down the fixed ropes and stagger towards us down the Cwm. He was zonked. He looked like a Belsen victim and dragged his feet tyhrough the snow. Pemba rushed out to meet him with a big kettle of hot friut juice. Dougal flopped in the snow to drink it, and then, supported on Pemba's shoulders, he swaggered into camp - shot."

"Ten minutes later Don swung off the bottom ropes. He strode down the trodden path humming a tune and dribbling a snowball at his feet. Pemba ran out with the kettle and Don dismissed the friendly little Sherpa with a friendly slap on the shoulder: "Thanks, Pemba, but I'll have what's left of the real stuff". He reached inside his down suit, pulled out what was left of a half-bottle of Glenfiddich, amd knocked it back in one gulp. Then he chucked the bottle over his shoulder and strode on down to the accompaniment of a loud belch."
 pwo 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: Forgot who but :"Experience is something you desperately need just before you get it"
 thomb 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

“Mountains seem to answer an increasing imaginative need in the West. More and more people are discovering a desire for them, and a powerful solace in them. At bottom, mountains, like all wildernesses, challenge our complacent conviction - so easy to lapse into - that the world has been made for humans by humans. Most of us exist for most of the time in worlds which are humanly arranged, themed and controlled. One forgets that there are environments which do not respond to the flick of a switch or the twist of a dial, and which have their own rhythms and orders of existence. Mountains correct this amnesia. By speaking of greater forces than we can possibly invoke, and by confronting us with greater spans of time than we can possibly envisage, mountains refute our excessive trust in the man-made. They pose profound questions about our durability and the importance of our schemes. They induce, I suppose, a modesty in us.”
― Robert Macfarlane
 GrahamD 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Legionreturns:

> "the best climber is the one having the most fun"

...must be one of the most trite, smug and incorrect quotes that keeps getting regurgitated on these threads.

needvert 17 Dec 2012
In reply to GrahamD:

Incorrect?
 GrahamD 17 Dec 2012
In reply to needvert:

I'm sure the quote is correct, the sentiments expressed are incorrect.
 Wainers44 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: "the people found huddling around a summit cairn in the rain are all optimists, pessimists never get to the top of anything " (or something like that)
AW
In reply to GrahamD:

Agreed. To talk about any great challenge in life, particularly a potentially dangerous one that uses vast amounts of adrenaline, simply as 'fun' is a wildly inadequate and misleading description.
 Rob Exile Ward 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: Here's two that always inspire me:

'Happily for us, the great brown slabs bending over into immeasurable space, the lines and curves of the wind-moulded cornices, the delicate undulations of fissured snow, are old and trusted friends, ever luring us to fun and laughter and enabling us to bid a sturdy defiance to all the ills that time and life oppose'

Mummery

and

'Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail'

John Muir


Probably they both appeal because I'm getting older!
 Hat Dude 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"Would you take in slightly faster than I'm climbing" by an unknown struggling second.
 Ramblin dave 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:
The latter reminds me a bit of a Wainwright quote (from the afterword of the last of the Pictoral Guides):
'The fleeting hour of life of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is still time will be blessed both in mind and body.'
 Rob Exile Ward 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Ramblin dave: Never been that fond of Wainwright tbh but I'll forgive him a lot for that quote.
 krikoman 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
> (In reply to GrahamD)
>
> Agreed. To talk about any great challenge in life, particularly a potentially dangerous one that uses vast amounts of adrenaline, simply as 'fun' is a wildly inadequate and misleading description.

May be you don't need a "great" challenge to be a climber. Maybe having "fun" is the most important part of climbing for some people.
 3 Names 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Legionreturns:

"the best belayer is the one having the most fun"

JohnJohn on this forum
 krikoman 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: “No matter what level you climb at you can get the same amount of enjoyment, fear, excitement and challenge from it. The person pushing his limit at E6 is not better and is not getting anything more than the person pushing their limit at VS. That’s the beauty of climbing, like no other sport, the absolute beginner can empathise and experience the same feelings as the expert or seasoned climber.”
"There are old climbers and there are bold climbers, but there are no old bold climbers."
 Sir Chasm 17 Dec 2012
In reply to krikoman: It's still wrong, E6 climbers are better at climbing than VS climbers, it's not a comment as to who enjoys it the most but they're still better.
 GrahamD 17 Dec 2012
In reply to krikoman:

> Maybe having "fun" is the most important part of climbing for some people.

Of course and thats fine. But these are the climbers that are "having the most fun". They are not necessarily the "best climbers".

Hell, you don't want to be operated on by the surgeon having the most fun do you ? you want the best one.
 krikoman 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Sir Chasm: missed a word out, soory.

“No matter what level you climb at you can get the same amount of enjoyment, fear, excitement and challenge from it. The person pushing his limit at E6 is no better person and is not getting anything more than the person pushing their limit at VS. That’s the beauty of climbing, like no other sport, the absolute beginner can empathise and experience the same feelings as the expert or seasoned climber.”
In reply to krikoman:
> (In reply to Gordon Stainforth)
> [...]
>
> May be you don't need a "great" challenge to be a climber. Maybe having "fun" is the most important part of climbing for some people.

I guess I was always a little bit too scared on any climb, unless it was totally unchallenging, to find it 'fun' pure and simple. Yes, it was a rather unusual kind of fun, but it was always a lot more than that, because on any climb worth talking about you are actually putting your life at risk. Remember that a lot of tragedies happen at unlikely moments, on apparently easy ground, or in doing an apparently routine abseil, etc etc. So most sane people will be treating it as something very serious and fun at the same time. That's what a lot of the banter was about 'in the old days', as I remember it. It was the absurd incongruity of the dialogue that made is such ... well, fun.

 krikoman 17 Dec 2012
In reply to GrahamD:
> (In reply to krikoman)
>

> Hell, you don't want to be operated on by the surgeon having the most fun do you ? you want the best one.

Yes, that might well be true, but I might not pick him to go for a pint with either.
 GrahamD 17 Dec 2012
In reply to krikoman:

Me neither - especially if he was about to operate on me !
In reply to krikoman:
> (In reply to GrahamD)
> [...]
>
> [...]
>
> Yes, that might well be true, but I might not pick him to go for a pint with either.

Why not? I've met several surgeons who can be really quite fun in the pub,

In reply to matthewbromley:

Conquistadors of the Useless is also the best title for a climbing book.
 krikoman 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Ok then, I was trying to point out that the "best" person might not be the most fun to be with (socially), they might be, but they might not be.
 Andes 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Hat Dude:
"I thought you'd be climbing faster" by an inexperienced belayer when I looked down and pointed out that I didn't really need so much slack rope lying on the ground in front of the belay plate!
 neuromancer 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Sir Chasm:

Begging the question.

You're implying that the only aim of climbing is to climb the most difficult routes. You're either wilfully missing the point, or you just don't get it.

Even if you interpret "Better" as meaning "More skilled", which is certainly a large leap and not one that is necessary at all, one is begging the question again. Skill is a measure of proficiency at achieving an aim.

What's the aim, bud? What's the aim?

Fun sounds like a good aim to me. In fact, I can't think of any finer.

This is not even to begin to mention, that the quote says "Better person", and not "better climber".
 Brass Nipples 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Northern Climber:
> "There are old climbers and there are bold climbers, but there are no old bold climbers."

There are odd climbers and there are bald climbers, and there are plenty odd bald climbers....

 Sir Chasm 17 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer: Drivel, read the quote I replied to. If you can climb e6 you are better at climbing than if you top out at vs. It's not a pejorative statement or even controversial.
And the aim? Whatever you want it to be.
 GrahamD 17 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:

Fun and Better are both laudable things in climbing. They just don't measure anything like the same thing and saying that someone is a "good climber" because they are having "fun" is just bollox - as it would be when applied to just about any other sphere of endevour.
 Brass Nipples 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

More seriously I like the Hillary quote which I have on one of my tshirts

"It is not the mountains we counquer, but ourselves"

Concise, simple, and captures the essence.
 Rog Wilko 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: Short exchange overheard at Shepherd's Crag many years ago:
Leader, slightly tetchily, belaying struggling second: "Come on, use your head."
Second, after slight pause: "How?"
 neuromancer 17 Dec 2012
In reply to GrahamD:

>having "fun" is just bollox - as it would be when applied to just about any other sphere of endevour.

Ho hum.
 Bulls Crack 17 Dec 2012
In reply to GrahamD:
> (In reply to neuromancer)
>
> Fun and Better are both laudable things in climbing. They just don't measure anything like the same thing and saying that someone is a "good climber" because they are having "fun" is just bollox - as it would be when applied to just about any other sphere of endevour.

Was it ever meant to be taken serioulsy rather than semi-ironically? I think not!
 GrahamD 17 Dec 2012
In reply to Bulls Crack:

Well plenty of people seem to ...
 Carless 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

Live your life like a thrown knife - Todd Skinner (I think)
 krikoman 17 Dec 2012
In reply to GrahamD:I think your profile says a lot, Best Climbing Experience :first VS, E1, E2.


Maybe we're just different, you seem to be goal orientated, so I might like “fun” a bit more than an achievement.

 Sam Beaton 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"It wasn't the summit we came for, but the struggle to attain it"

can't remember who said it but I think that what I achieve in life is less important than how I go about achieving it
 chris fox 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

Aid Burgess to Doug Scott "Any advice for Denali"

Doug's reply "Pack an extra sweater"
 Tom Valentine 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

The crag will be there tomorrow.
ice.solo 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

'maybe you should spend more time training than weighing up your granola into little bags'.
- scott backes

'life is so good in your country. why would you come all the way to our poor dirty country to climb mountains?'
'its not about that...'
- my mate tim in china
 Bulls Crack 17 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

'Obviously not English'

Said by a member of a club I used to be in on hearing someone screaming as they took a fall on Shepherds Crag

they may have been paraphrasing Aleister Crowley
karinb 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
A poem that captures the feeling...

To whom the mountains stillness is a song
More sweet and strong
Than all by human art and rapture poured
From voice or chord
An ecstasy that thrills and fires the blood
Half understood...
Made them aware that a great mountain, nearer,
Deeper and clearer,
Into our mystic cadence brings
The Soul of things.

S Herford (from an Edwardian Rock Climber)
 robw007 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

'Hang on a minute Chris - I'll just get a five pound note to dangle over the top' - Livesey to Bonnington as CB set off to second Footless Crow on Rock Athlete
 Bruce Hooker 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"The mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too." Hervey Voge

Loads more here:

http://www.windmillweb.info/climbing/Climbing-related%20quotes.htm

In reply to matthewbromley:

"I don't want to be the best - just the oldest. You can lead this one"

My mate Stu!






I've shamelessly trotted it out it on many occasions myself!
 GeoffRadcliffe 18 Dec 2012
In reply to robw007:
> (In reply to matthewbromley)
>
> 'Hang on a minute Chris - I'll just get a five pound note to dangle over the top' - Livesey to Bonnington as CB set off to second Footless Crow on Rock Athlete

I think Pete also quipped the winch has run out of petrol.
CB Tight, tight, tight, ...
 GeoffRadcliffe 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: From memory... "I had this dream. I was falling upwards in a shaft of light." Rock climbers in action in Snowdonia by John Cleare. I think the route was Pellagra.
 gonggashan 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

Better to live like a tiger for a day than like a sheep for a lifetime

in Neil Gresham's book face dancing (but orig from someone else)
In reply to GeoffRadcliffe:

Your memory is correct. Another great figure caption in that classic book is : "You go, you commit yourself and it's the big effort that counts".
 Reach>Talent 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
There were no holds so I had to use skill.

 GridNorth 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: Can't remember who it was, it may have been Don Whillans. Being on the short side he was asked what he did if he could not reach a hold. He replied "I climb up to it."
 Rob Exile Ward 18 Dec 2012
In reply to John Stainforth: I have just bought a copy of Rock Climbers in Action, which now makes my climbing collection complete! (Apart from Fiva, of course, which must be on its way...) Virtually every route was a must do in the late 60s, I'm amazed how many we did in the early 70s in the same style - jeans, peg hammer in back pocket (or even trailing behind, whoever thought THAT was a good idea?) and in rubbish black and white weather!
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

I too did the majority of the classic routes in that book between '68 and '71. The weather was not always that bad - way better in fact than this lat summer, which no modern digital photography could redeem!
 Kean 18 Dec 2012
"Don't let the birds shit on your gear. You never know when you'll have to put it in your mouth". Sound, solemn advice given to me by my first mentor...

"meglio un coniglio che tromba, che un leone morto" Quaint local Italian variation on previous quote..."Better to be a rabbit that f**ks, than a dead lion".

"Summiting is optional, getting down is mandatory". Ed Viesturs.

"There are more Annapurnas in the lives of men". Maurice Herzog



 Rob Exile Ward 18 Dec 2012
In reply to kean: 'Come back alive, come back friends, come back having got to the top - in that order.' Roger Baxter-Jones (I think).
 BCOXF 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion...I go to them as humans go to worship. From their lofty summits I view my past, dream of the future and, with an unusual acuity, am allowed to experience the present moment...my vision cleared, my strength renewed. In the mountains I celebrate creation. On each journey I am reborn.
In reply to matthewbromley:

For succinctness, 'The Taugwalders and I have returned' has few equals.
 Seocan 18 Dec 2012
'It is better not to know where we are, and being conscious of this, than to believe with confidence where we are not'

... but then, I'm not a climber, I'm just a mountain go-er.

This is a great forum topic compared to the opionated whingeing that usually goes on in here.
Removed User 18 Dec 2012
In reply to GridNorth:
> (In reply to matthewbromley) Can't remember who it was, it may have been Don Whillans. Being on the short side he was asked what he did if he could not reach a hold. He replied "I climb up to it."

Joe Brown
 MikeTS 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

'Always put your bananas in the top of your pack'

Greg Child
 sgiand 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: How about "On and on we go enchanted by everything we see" from one of Poucher's old guidebooks - never used except ironically on the crappiest of days.

Or, with apologies for any spelling mistakes, "Es gehts Melchior, Es gehts". "Ja, es gehts, aber ich gehen nicht", allegedly said by the old Alpine guide Melchior Anderegg to a clint towards the end of a long day on a new route. Seeing the way clear ahead the client said "it goes, Melchior, it goes". "Yes, replied the older and more cautious guide, it goes, but I'm not going".

Probably my only German apart from ordering beer but very useful as I get older and more cowardly.
 MB42 18 Dec 2012
‘Only a hill; but all of life to me, up there between the sunset and the sea’
Geoffrey Winthrop Young

‘If I’d known I wouldn’t have bloody bothered’ and ‘You may be going a lot higher than you think’
Both Don Whillans

There was a one along the lines of ‘The more I climb, the more I think it’s not about what you climb but who you climb it with’ I think probably from one fairly early climbers. Sure I read it in a N Wales guidebook of some sort but can’t remember which.
 Sean Kelly 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: Ancient entry in the PyG logbook:
"Ascended the Crazy Pinnacle in minutes. Found the rock easy"
Below this entry was scrawled...
"Descended the Crazy Pinnacle in seconds. Found the rock very hard!"
 James B 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"Like a beautiful psychopathic woman"
- Johnny Dawes about Indian Face
 DerwentDiluted 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

'there's a nip in the air tonight'

 whispering nic 18 Dec 2012
In reply to moac: Brilliant! Hail the Villan...
 whispering nic 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
Jery Moffat; 'There are only three people who can climb this route; Me, Myself, and I.'
 scottie390 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: " WHAT THE FCUK IS TAKING HIM SO LONG!" muttered by every winter belayer on a cold belay
In reply to scottie390:

I quite liked Mike Lates's comment shouted down to me when I was stuck behind a camera in Coire Lagan being eaten alive by midges while taking pictures of him on Sron na Ciche. 'What's going on, Gordon? The midges are hell up here ...!'
 birdie num num 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
"Ich kann nicht mehr"
 Dom Whillans 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
"well, we knocked the bastard off"
some kiwi bloke who walked up a big hill, forget his name, mates with Tenzing though

"i'd rather be in the mountains, thinking about god, than sat in a church thinking about mountains"
generally attributed to some american bloke who invented national parks
 Robert Durran 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"It will go, but I'm not going"

An early Swiss guide (forget name) about a ridge (Viereselgrat?) of the Dent Blanche. A very useful quote.

 Robert Durran 18 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without endurance, and that a momentary pump may destroy the happiness of a day's cragging. Do nothing in haste; look well to each rep; and from the beginning visualise sending the redpoint.
- Edward Whymper
 Robert Durran 18 Dec 2012
In reply to gonggashan:
> (In reply to matthewbromley)
>
> Better to live like a tiger for a day than like a sheep for a lifetime
>
> in Neil Gresham's book face dancing (but orig from someone else)

On Alex Macintyre's memeorial below Annapurna, but possibly originating elsewhere (?)>

In reply to Robert Durran:

Dare I suggest that the end of the quote could be improved by 'and from the beginning think what may wreck your tendons' ?
 Robert Durran 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
>
> Dare I suggest that the end of the quote could be improved by 'and from the beginning think what may wreck your tendons' ?

Arguably, but you would need to clear it with Ed.

 Robert Durran 19 Dec 2012
In reply to BMrider:
> (In reply to Morgan P)
> J Simpson....? "don't cut the bl**dy rope!"

I thought that was Croz on the Matterhorn.

 Robert Durran 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:
> (In reply to Gordon Stainforth)
>
> Arguably, but you would need to clear it with Ed.

Ed has just blogged his final version:

Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without endurance, and that a momentary pump may destroy the happiness of a day's cragging. Do nothing in haste; look well to each rep; and from the beginning think what may blow the send.
- Edward Whymper (AC Athlete)





 ezzpbee 19 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: "if your avalanche shovel is better than your mates swap with him because he will need it to dig you out " forgot with book i read it in.
 Kean 19 Dec 2012
On my first climbing trip to the Dollies. Raaather green. My lead. On belay, bringing up 2 seconds on Tofane. One of them an ornery, grizzled older club member. Muffled cry from below...."What's that?" I holler down. Another muffled cry. "Can't hear you! You'll have to speak up!" I holler again.
Cry comes up from depths...clearer now...
"Take IN you TOSSER!"

Don Whillans on the Central Pillar after taking massive whipper on the crux...
"I've lost me 'at!"
In reply to matthewbromley:

My favourite in recent times, from a friend experiencing some difficulty in the Verdon:

"F*ck it, I'm wrong-handed on the quickdraw".

jcm

 Trangia 19 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"It'll go, but I won't"- Michelle Croz

"The best mountaineering expedition is the one planned on the back of a cigarette packet"- Bill Tilman

"I've never been lost, just mightily confused for several days"- Bill Tilman
 Only a hill 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Trangia:
> (In reply to matthewbromley)
>
> "It'll go, but I won't"- Michelle Croz

I thought "Es geht, aber Ich gehe nicht" was attributed (anecdotally, anyway) to Christian Almer?
Wiley Coyote2 19 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
Fifteen minutes on the thin red line is worth an awful lot of ordinary living - Al Rouse on soloing The Boldest
 jonnie3430 19 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"When stuck, think feet."
Wiley Coyote2 19 Dec 2012
In reply to jonnie3430:
> (In reply to matthewbromley)
>
> "When stuck, think feet."

Telling a struggling climber to use his feet is like telling a drowning man to use his arms - Anon

 Bruce Hooker 19 Dec 2012
In reply to GrahamD:

>> "the best climber is the one having the most fun"

> ...must be one of the most trite, smug and incorrect quotes that keeps getting regurgitated on these threads.

Seems reasonable enough to me, it's only a hobby after all... if it's not fun, overall, there may be unfunny moments, then what's the point of doing it? Masochism?
 Robert Durran 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker:
> (In reply to GrahamD)
>
> >> "the best climber is the one having the most fun"
>

> Seems reasonable enough to me.

No it's not just unreasonable; it is factually obviously incorrect. You might just as (in)correctly say "The best climber is the most intelligent one".
 Tom Briggs 19 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"Gogarth... the lead role in this 'real life' drama, slips into darkness, strangely inscrutable."

Ed Douglas from his narration of Al Hughes' film, "Gogarth".

From a similar era...

"There was a ladybird on the hold and in my heightened state of mind I had to kill it. That really upset me a lot".

Dawes talking about the first ascent of Gaia in the film "Stone Monkey".
 John Alcock 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Tom Briggs:
"I like leading. it means I can fall further" Pete Crew
And that was in the days before belay plates, harnesses and bolts!
 Hugh Cottam 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Tom Briggs:

Or:

There was a slug on the hold. In my lowered state of energy I had to eat it. That really upset my tummy a lot.
 Bruce Hooker 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:
> (In reply to Bruce Hooker)

>
> No it's not just unreasonable; it is factually obviously incorrect. You might just as (in)correctly say "The best climber is the most intelligent one".

You could say that if you thought it was true, but who would? On the other hand many think that the most important thing in climbing is the pleasure they get from it, the fun, so they could think that for them the statement was true. It's not for you or I to tell others what they should get from climbing and how they should make qualitative judgements.

You don't agree because you have different criteria of being good at climbing, maybe based on technical ability, or style, ethics, whatever, but the fun element is legitimate too, in my view.... as it is for whoever made the quote first - probably in reaction to yet another photo of a muscle-bound athlete climbing a holdless wall on a line of bolts and an eulogy to his talent. Each to his own.
 Robert Durran 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
>
> You could say that if you thought it was true, but who would? On the other hand many think that the most important thing in climbing is the pleasure they get from it, the fun, so they could think that for them the statement was true. It's not for you or I to tell others what they should get from climbing and how they should make qualitative judgements.
>
> You don't agree because you have different criteria of being good at climbing, maybe based on technical ability, or style, ethics, whatever, but the fun element is legitimate too, in my view.... as it is for whoever made the quote first - probably in reaction to yet another photo of a muscle-bound athlete climbing a holdless wall on a line of bolts and an eulogy to his talent. Each to his own.

Utter nonsense. The best climbers are the ones climbing the hardest routes. You wouldn't say that Usain Bolt wasn't the best sprinter in the world because someone else was having more fun sprinting. Am I a better sport-climber that Adam Ondra because I'm having more fun? Of course not. Ridiculous.

 DaveHK 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Tom Briggs:
> (In reply to matthewbromley)
> "There was a ladybird on the hold and in my heightened state of mind I had to kill it. That really upset me a lot".

Or as one of my mates said: "Ladybird? If it had been a f*cking baby on the hold I'd have knocked it off!"
Removed User 19 Dec 2012
In reply to MB42:

Seems to be many quotes attributed to Whillans......wonder how many are genuine. I always liked the one when Germany had just beaten England at football- German says "we beat you at your national sport" - Whillans replies "Aye but we beat you at yours twice"
 GrahamD 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker:

The climber having the most fun is the climber having the most fun. I'm happy for them. The chances of them ALSO being the best climber are probably 1 in a million.
 Bruce Hooker 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:

I think you have a rather limited view of what climbing is all about, it's not just technical ability. For example, what technical rock climbing ability would Tilman or Hillary have had?
 DaveHK 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
>
> I think you have a rather limited view of what climbing is all about, it's not just technical ability. For example, what technical rock climbing ability would Tilman or Hillary have had?

But they weren't really rock climbers.
 Robert Durran 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
>
> I think you have a rather limited view of what climbing is all about, it's not just technical ability.

That is a laughable accusation. My view is not at all limited. Feel free to change the use of language to suit your agenda as long as you don't mind everyone else assuming you are just talking bollocks.

 NJSharp 19 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"You've either got the spirit or you don't, if you've got the spirit you rock and if you don't... You're a sport climber"

Leonard Coyne


"Don't eat bean-shoots and train in a gym, just do the business and climb hard yeah"

Anon
 John_Hat 19 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

I forget the individual, or the exact quote, but

"I have heard tell by others that I "conquered" the mountain. To tell the truth, when I hauled myself to the top, I am not sure who was the conqueror and who was the conquered. I did note, however, that the mountain appeared in much better shape than I was".

and the New Model Army quote, very applicable..

"Hey, Hey, I listen to you pray, as if some help will come"
 neuromancer 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:

See my above post. You are logically and syntactically incorrect.

The statement you are trying to make is, "The climber having the most fun is not necessarily the climber with the highest level of technical ability and/or achievement".

This is not the same as "The climber having the most fun is not the best climber".

 mr mills 19 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

`Well you can f**k me with a spanner`

Big Ron Fawcett after sending `Lourdes` back in 91`
 neuromancer 19 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:

For more detail, you are 'begging the question'.

You're implying that the only aim of climbing is to climb the most difficult routes. Even if you interpret "Better" as meaning "More skilled" or "having achieved climbs of greater difficulty", which is certainly a large leap and not one that is necessary at all, one is begging the question again. Skill is a measure of proficiency at achieving an aim.

If you're incapable of understanding that fun could be the aim of climbing, then you're a lost soul.
 Robert Durran 19 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
> The statement you are trying to make is, "The climber having the most fun is not necessarily the climber with the highest level of technical ability and/or achievement".

Yes.

> This is not the same as "The climber having the most fun is not the best climber".

No, because they might be (though it is unlikely).

I've absolutely no idea what your point is.
 Robert Durran 19 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:
> (In reply to neuromancer)

> You're implying that the only aim of climbing is to climb the most difficult routes.

No I am not.

> Even if you interpret "Better" as meaning "More skilled" or "having achieved climbs of greater difficulty"....

I am, because that is what almost everyone agrees it means (apart from a perverse minority).

> If you're incapable of understanding that fun could be the aim of climbing, then you're a lost soul.

Of course I am capable of understanding that. I've no idea why you might think otherwise.



 Si dH 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Jack B:
> (In reply to matthewbromley)
>
> "What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.”
>
> -George Mallory

+1 (see my profile!)
 Rob Exile Ward 19 Dec 2012
In reply to John_Hat: Warren Harding was the culprit, I think. A bit later he was a physical wreck and Chouinard (I think) remaked 'That's what you get from too much pussy.'

Choinard it was who also said 'Remember when climbing was dangerous and sex was fun? Now climbing is fun and...'
In reply to MikeTS:
> (In reply to matthewbromley)
>
> 'Always put your bananas in the top of your pack'
>
> Greg Child

Which reminds me - "typical Aussie, mad as f*ck and rougher than a bear's arse" (someone on GC, but I can't remember who).

In reply to MB42:

>‘If I’d known I wouldn’t have bloody bothered’ and ‘You may be going a lot higher than you think’
Both Don Whillans

And, much better, "don't worry, lad, I was coming anyway" (Don to Brian Nally, deflecting thanks for rescuing the latter from the Eiger instead of pursuing his own summit attempt).

jcm
 neuromancer 19 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:

> I've absolutely no idea what your point is.

Really? It's not that hard.

P1: Better means "more skilled"
P2: "Skilled", means more proficient at achieving "the aim".
C1: The better climber is the one that is more proficient at achieving "the aim".

If we were to assume

P3: "the aim" = "climbing the most difficult routes"

Then we could conclude that

C2: The better climber is the one that is more proficient at climbing the most difficult routes.

But you yourself said

> no, i am not

If, on the other hand, you are able to accept and it sounds like from

> of course I am capable of understanding that

that you do understand

P4: "the aim" = "having fun"

then the conclusion is

C3: the better climber is the one that is most proficient at "having fun".

http://i.imgur.com/4stAX.gif
In reply to neuromancer:

Good grief, are you still here?

They really should adapt the software that stops one writing Wastw*ter so that the minute it sees the words 'the best climber is the one having the most fun' a separate thread is automatically started so that people like you and t'other fellow can bore on about it without getting in the way.

jcm
 ericinbristol 20 Dec 2012
In reply to John_Hat:

Love that: 'the mountain appeared in much better shape than I was'. I can think of a fair few grit routes that applied to in my case as well...
cb294 20 Dec 2012
Yer´ gonna DIIIEEE!

 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
> Really? It's not that hard.......

So everyone can claim their own aim, however obscure, and then declare themselves to be the best climber in the world.

You are being ridiculous and I am sure you know it. So please shut up. Those are my last words on the matter.
 GrahamD 20 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:

Can I ask you whether you would rather be operated on by the 'best' surgeon or the surgeon 'having the most fun' or doesn't it matter ?
In reply to GrahamD:

That's what's known as a 'knock-down' argument.
 neuromancer 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Actually, that's known as a Straw-Man argument.

And it's a ludicrous analogy, not least because it isn't the rock that's choosing which climber climbs it and a weaker climber doesn't threaten the rock's existence.

> So everyone can claim their own aim, however obscure, and then declare themselves to be the best climber in the world.

It really does sound like fun is a pretty obscure concept for you.
 Alex Slipchuk 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: this may work better http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C1dB1H2RAgo#
In reply to neuromancer:
> (In reply to Gordon Stainforth)
>
> Actually, that's known as a Straw-Man argument.
>
> And it's a ludicrous analogy, not least because it isn't the rock that's choosing which climber climbs it and a weaker climber doesn't threaten the rock's existence.
>
> [...]
>
> It really does sound like fun is a pretty obscure concept for you.

You make assumptions. It so happens that just a few minutes ago I had a lovely phone call from Johnny Dawes, no less, saying he's just finished reading my book 'Fiva', and what a fun read it is. That was the exact word he used - several times.

 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:
> > So everyone can claim their own aim, however obscure, and then declare themselves to be the best climber in the world.

> It really does sound like fun is a pretty obscure concept for you.

It was me, not Gordon, who said the above, so I shall reply:
No it is not, and I have given you absolutely no reason to believe so. You are, quite frankly, coming across as being downright stupid.

 neuromancer 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Sorry Gordon, it wasn't aimed at you - I had quoted Robert, I just wasn't sure how to quote two people in one post.

Robert; I said fun was the aim, you said you may as well assume any ludicrous or obscure aim.

I'll drop it, but I'm only quoting your own posts. There's no need to get offensive.
 nufkin 20 Dec 2012
I’ve always assumed the quote about the best climber being the one having most fun was either Alex Lowe’s (?) way of flippantly replying to a tedious question, a bit like the Mallory ‘because it’s there’ answer, or his way of obliquely suggesting that he thought there was more to climbing than the sheer difficulty of the route.

Presumably the ‘fun doesn’t have to be “fun”’ view was Mark Twight’s take on the latter, putting himself in a superior category to those who climb purely for the experience. Which point of view is ‘correct’ depends on how you choose to look at things, I suppose.


Anyway, back to the original theme; I’m going to offer Guy Henry Bullock, camping at 20,000ft on Everest:

‘Having only brought one coat, which was wet, spent the night in a sweater. Luckily I had two.’

Top that, Twight, you big softie
 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:
>
> Robert; I said fun was the aim, you said you may as well assume any ludicrous or obscure aim.

> I'm only quoting your own posts.

Misquoting. I didn't use the word ludicrous.

> There's no need to get offensive.

I'm not being offensive. I am just stating a fact. I repeat: you come across as being downright stupid.

 neuromancer 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:

> ludicrous

My mistake, you used the word obscure to describe fun.
 MikeTS 20 Dec 2012
In reply to johncoxmysteriously:
> (In reply to MikeTS)

> Which reminds me - "typical Aussie, mad as f*ck and rougher than a bear's arse" (someone on GC, but I can't remember who).

Greg Child is one of my heroes. Writes like dream. I've looked in awe at his routes at Araps. He's done extreme stuff on El Cap. And been on big mountains in the Hinalayas.

 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
>
> My mistake, you used the word obscure to describe fun.

Mistaken again. You're not doing very well here are you?

rgbritton 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

I enjoyed being told by a European chap at a bouldering wall that

"The trick is not to fall off the wall"

But I also enjoyed Walter Bonatti's

"The climb was impossible, then I did it, so it was possible"

Possibly paraphrased it a little but it's a good way to go about things I thing.
 ericinbristol 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran and neuromancer:

Any chance of you ending the hijack of what was an enjoyable thread?

To the OP and others:

"the moment we think we have attained the goal, we lose it. Success is empty. The sum of all our luck, judgements, lessons learned and heeded, elevation gained and lost, our fitness and skill is zero". Steve House
Pinged 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:

Its quite clear to me that you are a bit of a dick.

 Taurig 20 Dec 2012
In reply to ericinbristol:

Did anyone else see that video of Steve House, 'Shattered' I think it was called? An absolute barrel of laughs, I wanted to slit my wrists at the end of it.
 ericinbristol 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Taurig:


Someone on here did a hilarious satire of quotes in it 'I reached down inside myself and found Mark Twight circa 1975' or something like that.
 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Pinged:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
>
> Its quite clear to me that you are a bit of a dick.

Perhaps you would have the politeness to explain why you think that.

 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to ericinbristol:
> (In reply to Robert Durran and neuromancer)
>
> Any chance of you ending the hijack of what was an enjoyable thread?

Apologies. You can always just skip our posts. I just feel unwilling to let neuromancer get away with his nonsense.
 ericinbristol 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:

I do understand - it can be hard to let some things pass. But you have made your point (even if it is not accepted). So it would be appreciated if you would leave it there. Or start another thread and keep going.
 Ramblin dave 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran:
http://xkcd.com/386/
Mouseover text particularly apposite.
 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Ramblin dave:
> (In reply to Robert Durran)
> http://xkcd.com/386/
> Mouseover text particularly apposite.

xkcd Brilliant as always! I suppose I'll just have to let neuromancer keep being wrong......it's his loss after all.

As the instigator of this thread I would like to add my weight to Ramblin Dave's sentiment and ask anyone entering into the above pointless and irrelevant argument to kindly "Foxtrot Oscar".

This thread is about great quotes. Excellent work to everyone else, I'v really enjoyed reading these. Keep it up!
 Bruce Hooker 20 Dec 2012
In reply to neuromancer:

> It really does sound like fun is a pretty obscure concept for you.

I think you may have hit the piton on the head there!
 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker:
> (In reply to neuromancer)
> I think you may have hit the piton on the head there!

FFS

 Bruce Hooker 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

Sorry, I had posted my remark before reading down to your quite reasonable request. To attempt to make up for it, although perhaps over serious, is this one found in Scott's diary:

"We took risks. We knew we took them. Things have come out against us. We have no cause for complaint."

A sentiment which few seem to respect these days, there's always got to be somebody else to blame

 ericinbristol 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker:

Good quote!
 subalpine 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: where da white women at?
 trivett 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

Came across this one recently and quite liked it:

“People who have never been in the mountains will probably never understand the attraction: the stakes are high but the rewards are higher. True, it’s a dangerous and selfish sport, but it has a lot to offer. They say that climbing the Eiger can change your life and, to an extent, I agree. Little things like stacking Rob’s car on the way home just didn’t seem important...”

Brendan Murphy
 subalpine 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker: i bet you took a few risks in your youth, eh?
 Bruce Hooker 20 Dec 2012
In reply to subalpine:

Did a few stupid things, if that's what you mean, but not only climbing. Nothing to be proud of.... On the other hand I don't think Scott's death was a cause for pride either, as he said, "they made mistakes" and "payed the price".
 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to trivett:
>
> “People who have never been in the mountains will probably never understand the attraction: the stakes are high but the rewards are higher. True, it’s a dangerous and selfish sport, but it has a lot to offer. They say that climbing the Eiger can change your life and, to an extent, I agree. Little things like stacking Rob’s car on the way home just didn’t seem important...”
>
> Brendan Murphy

How true. I remember just standing shrugging in the rain on the autoroute next to my poor crumpled car while an agitated and gesticulating gendarme said something about "danger de mort". We carried out repairs with some prussiks and continued on our way.

Wiley Coyote2 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
"Confrontation with the moment...commitment...a cliche, but such moments are not unique, they're all sickeningly alike" Dave Cook writing in Hard Rock about the crux of the North West Girdle at Almscliffe and a thought that goes through my head every time I don't want to do a move but am desperate to have done it.
Wiley Coyote2 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
Two non-climbing quotes that I apparently bring into play when the protection is more spare than I would like (which by ojective standards in probably not all that sparse).

"You've gotta be cool, relaxed..." Freddie Mercury

and

"Everything dies baby, that's a fact..." Bruce Springsteen.

Not sure if it's the sentiments or the singing my partners object to.
 subalpine 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker: "In this short span between my fingertips and the smooth edge and these tense feet cramped to a crystal ledge, I hold the life of a man."
 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to subalpine:
> "In this short span between my fingertips and the smooth edge and these tense feet cramped to a crystal ledge, I hold the life of a man."

Geoffrey Winthrop Young?

Here are two more:

"...high hills....set our feet on curves of freedom bent
to snap the circles of our discontent."

"I hold the heights, I hold the dreams I won"

Awesome stuff.

Removed User 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"life is what happens while you are making other plans" - John Lennon

Not a climbing quote, but very accurate anyway......


 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

"Like a drop of water falls from the summit, that's the line I shall take."

Comici


"I am the best climber in the world"

Moffat (not necessarily having the most fun though)
 birdie num num 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
'Yowch! I thought this was diff?' (birdie num num on TPS 1996)
 whispering nic 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Bruce Hooker: Nicely put Squire! Just so long as we're all having fun then....
 BIG BAD JOHN 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Robert Durran: Taken literally and out of context, the quote about the best climber does not really stand up to scrunity, so you are correct on that front. However, I don't think it was meant to be taken so literally, and as stated elsewhere the original quote by Alex Lowe was an ironic reposte to continual questions about being the best climber on the planet. Lowe is also quoted as saying ''I sort of steer clear of the whole whorlds best climber stuff, its a sort of hype really, and climbing just doesn't lend itself to that. There might be a fastest runner or a highest jumper, you can measure that, but climbing is different, its just subjective. And its a lifestyle, not a sport''. Can we now make it the end of this argument and get back to the original thread, but if anybody wants to appologise for calling other people stupid I am sure it would be most welcome.
 subalpine 20 Dec 2012
In reply to Removed User: "all you need is love" - Lennon
 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to BIG BAD JOHN:
> (In reply to Robert Durran) Taken literally and out of context, the quote about the best climber does not really stand up to scrunity.

Obviously.

> However, I don't think it was meant to be taken so literally, and as stated elsewhere the original quote by Alex Lowe was an ironic reposte to continual questions about being the best climber on the planet.

That makes perfectly good sense. The trouble is that necromancer was absurdly claiming that it does make literal sense. However, what really pissed me off was the way he persisted with such crap as "fun being an obscure concept" to me; he was either just making this up to be deliberately unpleasant or was incapable of working out that it didn't follow from anything I said (which would have been obvious to any intelligent person).

> Can we now make it the end of this argument and get back to the original thread.

I hope so

 Puppythedog 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: Can anyone (Al if he's watching) remember the quote for Don Whillans talking about how he copes with being short and reaching high holds, 'I climb up to them'
 Robert Durran 20 Dec 2012
In reply to puppythedog:
> (In reply to matthewbromley) Can anyone (Al if he's watching) remember the quote for Don Whillans talking about how he copes with being short and reaching high holds, 'I climb up to them'

That's an excellent one to throw back at whinging dwarves!

 Thomaslynchuk 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
If you lack skills or confidence to be out in white out conditions, stay home you have no business being on the hills in winter conditions
 Ramblin dave 20 Dec 2012
In reply to BIG BAD JOHN:
> (In reply to Robert Durran) Can we now make it the end of this argument and get back to the original thread,

Yes, let's get back to the best climbing/mountaineering quotes.

Which are the ones that are having the most fun, obviously...
 morsy 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:
patey: "there's a boot up here"
whillans: "is there a foot in it?"
Wiley Coyote2 20 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley:

Whillans to brace of Keen Young Lads setting off uphill late in the day: "Where are you two going?"
KYL: "We're off to practise bivvying"
Whillans: "Ya daft b*ggers. Practising bivvying is like practising breaking your leg."
See no beta, hear no beta 21 Dec 2012
In reply to GrahamD:
> (In reply to krikoman)
>
> [...]
>
> Of course and thats fine. But these are the climbers that are "having the most fun". They are not necessarily the "best climbers".
>
> Hell, you don't want to be operated on by the surgeon having the most fun do you ? you want the best one.

Think you're being a bit pedantic, but agree with the surgeon comment, great reply!
 afshapes 21 Dec 2012
In reply to matthewbromley: climbing a lovely slab this summer . I have nicknamed "foot to hand " as " arse to mouth " ! So I'm shouting up to my mate , " right ! Arse to mouth ! No, arse to mouth!" He shouts down " but I keep slipping" , I shout " right spit on it and rub it until it squeeks! " I suddenly become aware of what this could sound like to a passer by and start laughing so hard I started to cry, my mate collapsed into fits of hysterics and couldn't climb ! That is my quote/s of the year
 Kean 21 Dec 2012
Not climbing related, but have just discovered it. And it's so profoundly inspirational, one could argue that it is indeed climbing related. Not me, though. I'm far too dim-witted to enunciate the climbing connection. But it MUST be in there somewhere...I can feel it in me water...

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
 Kean 21 Dec 2012
In reply to kean: Maybe the climbing connection comes undone at the phrase "worthy cause..." Ho hum
 Robert Durran 21 Dec 2012
In reply to See no beta, hear no beta:
>
> Think you're being a bit pedantic, but agree with the surgeon comment, great reply!

And here is one of the best climbers evidently not having much fun! (note to thread police: almost quotable)
http://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/play.php?i=1413


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