Mountaineering Quotes Quotes

“All my life, I have never felt as happy on Earth as when I'm getting closer to the sky.”
― Erhard Loretan

“The mountain greets me with respect and guides me to traverse the rocks and crevices of its body! He is strong and vigorous and he appreciates my stamina and toughness.”
― Avijeet Das

“A night on the mountain is better than a thousand nights in the city because you meet the universe on the mountain!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“The greatness of a mountain comes neither from its height nor from its massive mass; but his greatness comes from the calm of his stance against the harsh conditions of life!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“The best way to make smaller a big mountain is to climb that mountain; the best way to shorten a long road is to travel on that road! Anything that looks big or long to you is actually because you didn't go to it, because you didn't live it!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“You think more about the mountain you climbed when you are at the foothills, not when you are at the top! What you think at the top is the things you left below!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“In mountaineering, those who think that it is a terrible tragedy to fail when close to the top and come back are people who are so naive as to be completely unaware of those who reached the top and never came back! Sometimes the best way to reach a goal is to give up on that goal for a while!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Keeping in mind the old mountain adage that the longer you take to set up your bivy site, the shorter the bivy you have to endure, we ended up taking two hours to dig the snow cave.”
― Erhard Loretan

“Interviewer: What helps to sustain you while you're climbing? Is there a particular Bible verse, or, song or song verse? Poem maybe?

Mekael: That's a good question. Thoughts of my three sons, are my constant companions. Thoughts of them, help to keep me focused. As for other sources of inspiration....I'm a music lover. I think all Mountaineers and Poets are music lovers, so, when I'm climbing, I'm either in a Tupac zone, or I may be in a Linkin Park or Creed zone.

Interviewer: Any song or verse in particular?

Mekael: When during a climb, everything has aligned, Creed's 'Higher' pops into my head. I dig the part in the chorus when they sing.....

'Up high
I feel like I'm, alive for the, very first time
Set up high, I'm strong enough
To take these dreams
And make them mine”
― Mekael Shane

“As you climb down the mountain, a disturbing emotion emerges in your soul! This is a sense of emptiness that comes from seeing that climbing to the top is not a great victory that glorifies or raises man!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“The peaks of the highest mountains are very frightening, but in the spirit of a mountaineer there is something that constantly feeds his courage: An endless desire to succeed!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“When you climb up to the highest point of a mountain, the mountain will climb down to your lowest point!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Going to the top of a high mountain to conquer it is a primitive thought! If you go up the mountain to touch him, to understand him, to feel what he's going through and see what he sees, then you're a good and an uncommon mountaineer!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“If you have seen a mountain that invites you to its summit, know that it is a beautiful mountain and its invitation is already that beauty itself!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Those who feel sorry for not being able to get to the top of a high mountain should remember as a consolation that the top of the mountain will always be there!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“From the top of the highest mountains, the world seems to be left behind and far below, but in fact the world is always with us, in our head, even if we go into space!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“A thousand people may have climbed to a very difficult summit, but none of them can achieve the honor of the first person to reach it!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“The steeper the trail, the nearer we’re to the top.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya

“Mountains are for me, a conservatory. It's there, that I am able to exist in the presence of transcendent sentient and symbiotic beings. From the mountains to the flora and fauna that lives on the mountains, I am both an awed witness to, and a humble beneficiary of their sprits. Sprits which are filled with life enriching light.”
― Mekael Shane

“It was during my first expedition on Everest, that I first experienced the Puja. The word Puja is a Sanskrit word, Pūjā, and it means, "The worship of a particular God or Goddess." In our case, our Puja was in honor of Sagarmatha. Sagarmatha is the Nepalese name for Everest. We were beseeching her, asking her for not just a safe climb, but thanking her for allowing us an audience. Not trying to sound clichéd, but it was a transcendently beautiful experience.”
― Mekael Shane

“The night presents its most magnificent gifts to the mountaineers who endure the biggest troubles!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“When you climb to the top of a mountain and still thinking about your own little problems rather than major universal issues, then you haven't climbed that mountain, you're still in the lower valleys!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“When the clouds are under you, do not be arrogant and think that you have climbed too high, because you are still far under the stars!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“It's not just your skills that get you to the top of a tough mountain! Can you reach the top if a violent storm suddenly breaks out? What if rocks broke off from the mountain and landed on you? What if lightning hits you? You see, luck must be on your side to be able to reach the top! When you reach the top, don't forget to thank your luck!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“It is very tough to climb a mountain. However, it is not as tough as convincing yourself that you can climb it.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya

“We cannot climb the mountain with a desultory heart.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya

“Some people think that with nowhere higher to climb, reaching the top of Everest is the end. But it is just the mid-point. The real journey begins in the long, dangerous descent that lies ahead.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya, Our Nepal, Our Pride

“I would climb the mountains frequently to tune in my nature with theirs.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya

“Even Mount Everest cannot replicate the mountains of the mind. They’re very tricky to negotiate and so tough to conquer.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya

“We had left camp in early morning darkness and moved across the barren, high-altitude desert like ghosts. Mostly we travelled in silence, broken only by the sound of mountain winds and the cracking of glacial ice echoing up the valleys. We used the gorges to gain our ground, scampering over boulder fields and countless glacier run-offs as we ascended mountainsides of shale and snow. We passed crumbling stone chortens marking trails long forgotten, and the ruins of shelters whose inhabitants had long since vanished. We'd watched a large herd of bharal sweep down the hillside before us like a grey tidal wave, their hooves delicately brushing over the ground as though they were part of the earth. Everything moved to a different beat out here, and, like the remnants of the primordial structures we passed, it felt as though we, too, were suspended in time, with the rest of the world oblivious to our existence.”
― Michael Schauch, A Story of Karma: Finding Love and Truth in the Lost Valley of the Himalaya