57 of the Best Inspiring Rock Climbing Quotes
Ever since the first human climbed a rock, there has not only been historic ascents but inspiration words spoken by those rock climbers who has meticulously shaped and pushed the climbing industry. From the world class sport climbers to the bravest alpinist to the legendary athletes that has laid the path for future rock climbers and adventurers, here are a list of the top inspiring quotes ever to be said in the outdoor climbing community.
Rock Climbing Quotes
“The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal.”– Killosophy
“There are two kinds of climbers, those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest.”– Alex Lowe
“The best part of climbing is when it all clicks and gravity ceases to exist.”– Chris Sharma
“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.”
– No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks
“Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.”– Greg Child
“I don’t think I would become a climber if I were young man now… What is freedom to a bird if it is in the middle of a flock?”– John Gill
“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”– Jack Kerouac
“There are a dozen reasons for climbing, some bad, and I’ve used most of them myself. The worst are fame and money. Commonly people cite exploration or discovery, but that’s rarely relevant in today’s world. The only good reason to climb is to improve yourself.”– Yvon Chouinard
“One does not climb to attain enlightenment, rather one climbs because he is enlightened.”– Zen Master Futomaki
“Never did I explore life as intensively in its beautiness, as while hanging on two fingertips freely over the deep hollow.”– Wolfgang Güllich
“It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.”– Barry Blanchard
“For a climber, saying that you are stopping by Everest is like saying that you are stopping by to see God.”― Roland Smith from his book Peak
Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.– Dag Hammarskjold
“It’s always further than it looks. It’s always taller than it looks. And it’s always harder than it looks.”– Reinhold Messner
“In climbing you are always faced with new problems in which you must perform using intuitive movements, and then later analyze them to figure out why they work, and then learn from them.”– Wolfgang Gullich
“I’ve climbed with some of the best climbers in the world, more importantly, to me, they are some of the best people in the world. That’s another reason why I climb.”– Jim Wickwire
“Climbing is as close as we can come to flying.”– Margaret Young
“As I hammered in the last bolt and staggered over the rim, it was not at all clear to me who was the conqueror and who was the conquered. I do recall that El Cap seemed to be in much better condition than I was.”– Warren Harding
“You have to climb the hill to reach the summit, thinking won’t get you there.”― Marty Rubin
“I’m not thinking about anything when I’m climbing, which is part of the appeal. I’m focused on executing what’s in front of me.”– Alex Honnold
“If people want to go do some big outdoor thing for their ego, have them climb snowy mountains rather than shoot animals.”– Conrad Anker
“It goes, boys!”– Lynn Hill after the first free ascent of The Nose
“Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.”– David McCullough Jr.
“Mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”– Ed Viesturs
“To touch the sky, you just have to get that little bit closer.”― Anthony T. Hincks
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”– Edmund Hillary
“Turn your brain off and send”– Chris Sharma
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.”– John Muir
“In order to climb up the mountain I must first climb out of my fear of climbing.”― Craig D Lounsbrough
“The man who climbed from the bottom to the top and then fell to the bottom again feels as if he has lived the lives of hundreds of people!”― Mehmet Murat ildan
“With the best equipment in the world the man with poor judgment is in mortal danger.”– Royal Robbins
“I’d rather be in the mountains thinking of God, than in church thinking about the mountains.”– John Muir
“In this short span between my fingertips and the smooth edge and these tense feet cramped to a crystal ledge, I hold the life of a man.”– Geoffrey Winthrop Young
“Peter Croft once explained the feeling you get from free soloing as a heightened type of perception. A little edge that you need to stand on looks huge—everything comes into high relief. That’s just what happens to your body and your mind when you’re focused intensely on the feedback you’re getting from the environment and there are no other distractions. You become an instinctive animal rather than a person trying to do a hard climb, and that perception doesn’t immediately go away when you get to the top. It dulls over time, but for a while it feels like you almost have super senses. Everything is more intense—the sounds of the swifts flying around or the colors of the sun going down. A lot of times I don’t want to go down, I don’t want it to end.”― Mark Synnott from the book The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life
“Climbing is not a battle with the elements, nor against the law of gravity. It’s a battle against oneself.”– Walter Bonatti
“Climbing is unadulterated hard labor. The only real pleasure is the satisfaction of going where no man has been before and where few can follow.”– Annie Smith Peck
“Technique is no substitute for power.”– Ben Moon
“The best climber in the world is the one having the most fun!”– Alex Lowe
“Stand at the base and look up at 3,000 feet of blankness. It just looks like there’s no way you can climb it. That’s what you seek as a climber. You want to find something that looks absurd and figure out how to do it.”– Tommy Caldwell
“A man does not climb a mountain without bringing some of it away with him and leaving something of himself upon it.”– Sir Martin Conway
“Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.”– Hermann Buhl
“Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.”― Barry Finlay from the book Kilimanjaro and Beyond
“The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal.”– Chris Sharma
“In the mountains there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.”– Rusty Baille
“Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.”– Reinhold Messner
“In rock climbing, people get strong enough, and then they pick goals they can do with their strengths at that moment.”– Tommy Caldwell
“With climbing you can go to the most beautiful places on the planet and practice. Anywhere there is rock, you can climb.”– Chris Sharma
“Doubly happy, however, is the man to whom lofty mountain tops are within reach.”– John Muir
“Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long.”– George Bernard Shaw
“There is probably no pleasure equal to the pleasure of climbing a dangerous Alp; but it is a pleasure which is confined strictly to people who can find pleasure in it.”– Mark Twain
“Everybody wants to reach the peak, but there is no growth on the top of a mountain. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life’s next peak.”– Andy Andrews
“A few hours mountain climbing turns a rogue and a saint into two roughly equal creatures. Weariness is the shortest path to equality and fraternity – and, liberty is finally added by sleep.”-Friedrich Nietzsche
“I don´t want to climb hard, I want to climb easily. It should of course be hard, but it should look easy.”– Bernd Arnold
“The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.”
“Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long.”– George Bernard Shaw
“A first ascent is a creation in the same sense as is a painting or a song.”– Royal Robbins
“The mountains are calling and I must go.”– John Muir
Which Rock Climbing Quote is your favorite?
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