Like it or not taking risks, by a total commitment to the mountain and the vagaries of the weather, is essential for the greater satisfaction to be derived from mountaineering.

Pucky lads, a wee bit over their heads.

If you want to climb it badly enough, you will. So... why bother ?

Milton, when he went blind, declared that he could now begin the real work of his life. Similarly, with the merciless passage of time reducing my phisical strengh, I find myself less able to explore the outer world, but better prepared to explore the inner.

Nothing substitutes a large apprenticeship, a heap of experiences which converts into the base of intuition.

At its finest moments climbing allows me to step out of ordinary existence into something extraordinary, stripping me of my sense of self-importance.