Quotes from Anatoli Boukreev

I explained I wanted to descend as quickly as possible to camp IV in order to warm myself and gather a supply of hot drink and oxygen in the event I might need to go back up the mountain to assist descending climbers.

I offer my expertise and experience for hire in order to help a group of people reach the summit.

Climbing is what I do.

This year my role is clear: I am a coach, a coach to sportsmen.

Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.

I respect Everest very much.

I travel to Jakarta, I see what an important country it is. I've been working with them for a year.

I respect Everest very much.

I want this book to be facts, to be important, to be history.

I told them, you can succeed - it's not likely the first time, maybe 25 per cent, but you CAN succeed. You can also die. By April 16 they had already been to camp III, well ahead of most teams.

I cannot say to be glad or not glad to be on Everest. It is my life. I have opportunity to be here, so I am here.

Mountains are not Stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.

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.

Big Mountains are a completely different world. You can not conquer them, only rise to their height for a short time; & 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 & inadequacy. That struggle appeals to me. It is why I became a mountaineer.

I had been hired to prepare the mountain for the people instead of the other way around.

The longer I live, the more certain I am that there are no accidents in life. There are no chance meetings; everything happens according to a plan, regularly and in order.

as had been the situation on other commercial expeditions, I had been hired to prepare the mountain for the people instead of the other way around.

There is not enough luck in the world. That night I got somebody's share.

It was possible that when the climbers were ready, the mountain wouldn't be

The end of every road is only the beginning of a new one, even longer and more difficult

Writing about a person invariably honors them or devalues them. Both Boukreev and DeWalt err on the side of honoring those attempting Everest, while Krakauer draws his reader toward tabloid-style assumptions that erase heroism from the Himalaya as surely as modern journalism erases greatness from the presidency.

Sinceramente, no siento miedo cuando estoy en las montañas. Por el contrario… siento cómo mis hombros se yerguen, se ensanchan; como los pájaros cuando extienden las alas, disfruto la libertad y la altitud. Sólo cuando vuelvo a la vida del llano siento el peso del mundo sobre mis hombros

Mountains are not stadiums where I statisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice 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 an unusual acuity, am allowed to experience the present moment.... my vision cleared, my strength renewed. In the mountains I celebrate creation. On each journey I am reborn

Think of it as a blind date. All you initially have in common at the bottom is the reason you're there, the top of the mountain.