Big mountains are a ...

Big mountains are a completely different world: snow, ice, rocks, sky, and thin air. You cannot conquer them, only rise to their height for a short time; and for that they demand a great deal. The struggle is not with the enemy, or a competitor like in sports, but with yourself, with the feelings of weakness and inadequacy. That struggle appeals to me. It is why I became a mountaineer.
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 Anatoli Boukreev

Quotes from the same author

Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.
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 Anatoli Boukreev
Honestly, I do not experience fear in the mountains. On the contraryI feel my shoulders straightening, squaring, like the birds as they straighten their wings. I enjoy the freedom and the altitude. It is only when I return to life below that I feel the world's weight on my shoulders.
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 Anatoli Boukreev
Mountains are cathedrals: grand and pure, the houses of 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 unusual acuity I am allowed to experience the present moment. My strength renewed, my vision cleared, in the mountains I celebrate creation. On each journey I am reborn.
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 Anatoli Boukreev
Mountains have the power to call us into their realms and there, left forever, are our friends whose great souls were longing for the heights. Do not forget the mountaineers who have not returned from the summits.
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 Anatoli Boukreev
How could the adventure seeker of today find satisfaction with the level of performance that was a standard set more than 40 years ago ?
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 Anatoli Boukreev