Top 89 Quotes & Sayings by Famous Rock climbers

The best climbers have the will to hold on. They won't give up and keep trying over and over.

When people say, "It can't be done," or "You don't have what it takes," it makes the task all the more interesting.

Trying to connect to the moment, that move, that breath - this is what I have been striving for; finding the oneness that can exist with all the things around and inside me.

When you ride your bike, you're working your legs, but your mind is on a treadmill. When you play chess, your mind is clicking along, but your body is stagnating. Climbing brings it together in a beautiful, magical way. The adrenaline is flowing, and it's flowing all the time.

A sense of uncertainty that is potentially fatal is what makes climbing an adventure. Anything less is just working out

Every day I go out and climb, like a dancer who works on his dance. He probably has some goals, some pieces he would like to perform, but his main goal is to work on his dance. This is how he expresses himself. Both he and I are interested in the same thing. It’s the dance that counts.

There are two kinds of climbers... smart ones and dead ones.

You can't turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.

Man may be doomed to loss, sorrow, and desolation, but if he tries his strength and will, however briefly, upon the indifferent vast hostility of the elements, he rages against futility and asserts his right of being

Climbing is often group activity and it's always inspiring to see how other people, who share your passions, do things.

If you don’t almost fail, then it wasn’t hard enough

I find that rock climbing is the finest, most healthiest sport in the whole world. It is much healthier than most; look at baseball, where 10 000 sit on their ass to watch a handful of players

Climbing is an artistic, creative thing; it's about being spontaneous, traveling, seeing the world, hanging out. It's a balance of setting goals while enjoying the process, being ambitious without being too competitive.

Climbing is individual thing, it's a reflection of yourself. When you put up a route you're looking at yourself. If you chisel holds, it's your responsibility, nobody else's.

The strongest climbers aren’t always the happiest or nicest to be around; neither are some of them coming from the purest motivation. Climbing another V17 is not going to save the world! This activity of 'rock climbing' is merely one of many ways to exist, pass the time, and evolve and grow from one moment to the next. That’s all.

I really learned to approach climbing not just with a pure athletic mentality, but also to appreciate all these beautiful places we get to go to.

I don't think of myself as a grading barometer and I doubt if any climber could be one.

I have done a fair bit of meditation practice, but I think through climbing it's definitely an easier way for me to tap into that mental state of being present and in the moment, very in tune with your body. But not in an intellectual way. Just really responding to the moment, where you don't have time to think.

John Wayne never wore Lycra.

We search out the most perfect pieces of rock. It's so amazing that these formations are so perfect for climbing on. It's almost as if they were created for climbing. You're taking these random rock formations and you're bringing to it this interaction. It transforms it from being this random rock into almost this piece of art. It's almost like a sculpture or something. Just by finding the handholds, finding that line up the rock. Every climb is different, has its own unique set of movements and body positions. Climbing and my appreciation for nature are totally intertwined.

I accept the consequences of all that I do. No matter what we do with our lives, our bodies are temporary. We're all going to die, and I'd rather die climbing than doing anything else.

Climbing is this lifestyle activity that really works every muscle in your body.

Magic is the only way to describe it, climbing pitch after pitch of the most perfect, beautifully sculpted granite in the world.

Relaxation, acceptance, and keeping open mind are key. First of all, peak performance isn't possible if one is not relaxed, and if one is going to stay relaxed they must simply accept problems when they arise and decide to solve them. If I can't do a move I merely accept that I haven't discovered the right sequence, instead of trying the same sequence over and over or just quitting. I will try to do it 20 or 30 different ways, making subtle changes in body position and fot placement, until I find something that does work. That's what I mean by keeping an open mind.

Everybody free-solos. When you walk to the store, you're free-soloing. It's just a matter of the difficulty of the route.

There's a balance. Time and place for everything.

Vy can't ve chust climb !

There are two worlds: the world where nothing is sacred except money, an the other world, where everything is sacred.

I had a bad knee injury when I was about seventeen. I wasn't able to climb for about six months. It was kind of like a transformative time for me, because it was really hard for me not to be able to climb. It forced me to appreciate things without just climbing.

Doubt is the enemy of success.

Bouldering is the synthesis of all skills needed for climbing

I love finding something. For me it's not just about the athletic challenge, it's about finding new things. When I'm not doing that in climbing, it manifests itself in other ways. There's the athletic side of it, but it is very much an artistic thing.

When you do hard routes, you have to try hard. They're not easy routes. You have to give everything you have. You have to get totally animalistic. When you're super pumped, I have to yell to bear down. [...] It's like martial arts. When Bruce lee threw a punch, he had to mean it. Haahhh! Like that. When you're doing a hard move, there is this excess energy you have to let out. Air explodes out of you.

In climbing, a fundamental thing is to want to do something you've never done before. That's the beauty of climbing, whether you're a girl or boy, seasoned veteran or beginner. You're not sure you'll be able to do this, but you try, and discovering you are capable is an amazing experience and an amazing feeling.

I've been climbing for almost twenty years now. I'm more inspired and more motivated. I feel stronger than I ever have. I feel like that's worked up until now.

In particular, with climbing, we're climbing on these surfaces that Mother Nature has created. We search out the most perfect pieces of rock. It's so amazing that these formations are so perfect for climbing on. It's almost as if they were created for climbing.

When the pursuit of natural harmony is a shared journey, great heights can be attained.

One thing to remember on the Eiger, never look up, or you may need a plastic surgeon.

Climbing is so fun and such a good experience, that I think it's important not to take it too seriously. It's not the end of the world - or the entire world either.

Many of the women who I've taught to climb have a better sense of balance than the men. I think it has to do with being a little more sensitive to it rather than relying on strenght. It's also a reflection of a passive attitude - balancing your way up the rock, rather than attacking it.

The whole idea of comparing climbers is ludicrous. It would be like sitting Van Gogh down with Rembrandt and saying, Ready, get set, go.

One of the things that separates climbing from other sports is how independent and personal it is. With most sports, you either win or lose, but climbing is about your own personal experience.

Climbing is an amazing, unique sport, and I want to share that with as many people as possible. I want to be an ambassador for the sport and raise the profile. I try to take advantage of any opportunity to share climbing with the world.

Now I approach climbing differently. I have learned less effort and energy, less obsession, and more feeling, as with piano, more emphasis and less frenzy.

They kind of go hand-in-hand. Following your motivation, resting when you need to rest, and going for it when you feel inspired.

Riding a bike works your legs but not your brain. Playing chess works your mind but not your body. Climbing brings it all together.

My best vacation is your worst nightmare.

Newspapers ascribe the word "climber" to any person who falls in the mountains or off a rock. To refer to anyone who falls in the mountains as... a climber... is as factual as to say that anyone who sits down at a piano is a pianist.

You guys going up? Yes, yes, we go up. You may be going a lot higher than you think!

I think I got him hooked on climbing when I gave a slide show at Darmouth. So there's probably another mother out there who hates me.

I'm a rock climber. I really specialize in doing first ascents, and finding new routes outside, as opposed to doing competitions. I focus my energy on going out into nature and finding these new climbs. For me, it's not just this athletic pursuit - it's a really creative, artistic thing of finding these amazing formations out in nature, and mixing that with this high level of athleticism.

I think I'm a pretty creative person. I love building things. I love working on my house. Landscaping, stuff like that.

For me now, I feel that climbing is a part of who I am. It's my way of life. It's my way of expressing myself. My way of being in the world. In the past, I questioned it a lot. Now it's obvious. This is who I am. This is what I do.

Every climb is different, has its own unique set of movements and body positions. Climbing and my appreciation for nature are totally intertwined.

For me, the most relevant factor in my ability to perform well on the rock has to do with my love of climbing. After nearly thirty years of climbing, I still love to do it whenever possible!

The rock still has something to teach me.

The best way to offset tension is with physical activity.

When I stripped myself completely of pressure and thoughts of sponsors and realized I only love to climb, that's the day I did it.

I'd been a child during the 1960s when women burned their bras and hundreds of thousands gathered in protests against the Vietnam War. As a climber, I've felt connected to a similar nonconformist culture, one opposed to society's increasing materialism, pollution and corruption. Our approach to the rock—clean, traditional climbing, with the least dependence on equipment—was an extension of this ethical viewpoint.

I'm going to be climbing for my whole life.