The repetition of the really great alpine routes seemed to us much more interesting than discovering obscure little climbs in remote corners. Like ugly girls, many of the ridges and faces which preserved their virginity until comparatively recently did so more from lack of attraction than from intrinsic difficulty.

Lionel Terray in "Conquistadors of the Useless" (the book title itself is a great quote)

Ich will nicht schwer klettern. Ich will leicht klettern. Also schon schwer, nur dass es eben leicht aussieht.

I translate this to:

I don't want to climb difficult. I want to climb easy. Well, difficult but it should look easy.

Bernd Arnold

The repetition of the really great alpine routes seemed to us much more interesting than discovering obscure little climbs in remote corners. Like ugly girls, many of the ridges and faces which preserved their virginity until comparatively recently did so more from lack of attraction than from intrinsic difficulty.

Lionel Terray in "Conquistadors of the Useless" (the book title itself is a great quote)

Ich will nicht schwer klettern. Ich will leicht klettern. Also schon schwer, nur dass es eben leicht aussieht.

I translate this to:

I don't want to climb difficult. I want to climb easy. Well, difficult but it should look easy.

Bernd Arnold

Have we vanquished an enemy? None but ourselves. Have we gained success? That word means nothing here. Have we won a kingdom? No... and yes. We have achieved an ultimate satisfaction... fulfilled a destiny... To struggle and to understand - never this last without the other; such is the law...

and

People ask me, 'What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?' and my answer must at once be, 'It is of no use.'There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behaviour of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron... If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. 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 live. That is what life means and what life is for.

both from George Mallory in "Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Mallory"

The repetition of the really great alpine routes seemed to us much more interesting than discovering obscure little climbs in remote corners. Like ugly girls, many of the ridges and faces which preserved their virginity until comparatively recently did so more from lack of attraction than from intrinsic difficulty.

Lionel Terray in "Conquistadors of the Useless" (the book title itself is a great quote)

The repetition of the really great alpine routes seemed to us much more interesting than discovering obscure little climbs in remote corners. Like ugly girls, many of the ridges and faces which preserved their virginity until comparatively recently did so more from lack of attraction than from intrinsic difficulty.

Lionel Terray in "Conquistadors of the Useless" (the book title itself is a great quote)

Ich will nicht schwer klettern. Ich will leicht klettern. Also schon schwer, nur dass es eben leicht aussieht.

I translate this to:

I don't want to climb difficult. I want to climb easy. Well, difficult but it should look easy.

Bernd Arnold