The way Everest is guided is very different from the way other mountains are guided, and it flies in the face of values I hold dear: self-reliance, taking responsibility for what you do, making your own decisions, trusting your judgment – the kind of judgment that comes only through paying your dues, through experience.
Climbing Everest is so big now, with so much money involved, and the Sherpas are not stupid. They see this, and they want to take over the business and kick out the westerners. This is a big fight.
Climbing Mount Everest was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life. I wish I’d never gone. I suffered for years of PTSD and still suffer from what happened. I’m glad I wrote a book about it. But, you know, if I could go back and relive my life, I would never have climbed Everest.
I don’t need to come back to Everest.
Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.
Adventure books are my personal favorites. ‘The Endurance,’ a story about Ernest Shackleton’s legendary Antarctica expedition, or ‘Into Thin Air,’ Jon Krakauer’s personal account of the 1996 disaster on Mt Everest, are two notables.
It’s amazing that more people have climbed Mount Everest than have broken the 4-minute mile.
I climbed Mount Everest. I don’t quit.
I’ve been a really big fan of climbing. I really got into it when I watched the show ‘Beyond the Limit’ about climbing Mount Everest.
I know I’m never going to probably see the Taj Mahal or, you know, climb Mt. Everest, but I can still maybe influence peoples’ way of thinking by a story that I do, by something I learn about the world.
I wanted to be an explorer, but gradually found the world had been explored and that there was nowhere left, really. Once they climbed Everest in 1953, when I was 10 years old, I thought, ‘Well, that’s pretty much it now.’ But the idea of travelling and exploring and adventure was very strong.
You can’t call it an adventure unless it’s tinged with danger. The greatest danger in life, though, is not taking the adventure at all. To have the objective of a life of ease is death. I think we’ve all got to go after our own Everest.
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 it is a shame to be the second man on Mount Everest, then I will have to live with this shame.
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