10 Powerful Mountain Climbing Quotes That Explain the Call to Climb

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Excerpt: “The mountains are calling and I must go!” It really is like that. These mountain climbing quotes (and meditations) help to explain why.

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Introduction:  Meditations from the Adirondack Mountains

Just a few short hours away from my home are the beautiful and vast Adirondack Mountains.  These mountains have served as places of escape for countless people—especially those near and dear to the region.

When you escape into the wilderness you’re given an opportunity to unplug and recharge from the constant connection, chatter, and busyness of modern life.  And it’s within those moments of immersion that the magic of nature sinks in. 

For me, when venturing alone in the vast wilderness two amazing things happen: one, is an uncanny pouring out of the soul (or relaxing and clearing of the mind?) matched with two, periods of complete and utter present mindedness (no thought at all).  It’s unlike anything I experience in the city and it’s quite addicting.

This, in my estimation, is why so many people feel the “pull” to venture into nature—especially those who have experienced nature’s healing qualities before.  Maybe you’ve seen the shirt? “I’m sorry, but the mountains are climbing and I must go.” It really is like that!

Moreover, when you add mountain climbing into the picture, or any other form of intense physical activity in nature for that matter, you get even more value for your time spent.  Now, not only do you get the recharge and mental cleansing, but you get the added variable of spirit building.

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I know for me, the first time I set out to climb a mountain, I was quickly humbled.  My pace was rushed (almost cocky) and I set out wildly underprepared.  The mountains will keep you in check for sure.

But, like anything else, with discipline, proper planning, and patience, the mountains can be conquered.  And when they are, what you realize is that it was never about the mountain at all.

What you’re really conquering, is yourself.  And that, for me, is why the mountains have become such a special place.

Below, you will find 5 meditations that emerged as a result one of my weekend trips to the Adirondack Mountains.  These thoughts came pouring out and brought great value to me, so I thought I would share them with you.

After my meditations, you’ll find some of my favorite mountain climbing quotes as well.  I hope you enjoy and I hope you answer the call from the mountains soon, too.  They’re waiting. ~ Matt

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5 Meditations from the Adirondack Mountains:

1)  What is it that you’re working for?  Beyond being able to make enough money to provide for a relatively comfortable lifestyle for your family and yourself – what is it that you imagine yourself doing when (if) you retire?  Do you imagine yourself buying property by the water so you can read, relax, and drink wine?  Do you image yourself traveling the world?  Do you want to buy a boat that you can use to sail across the worlds’ oceans?

The parable of the fisherman and the MBA businessman and the book, The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss changed my mind about this. They both got me thinking that waiting until retirement to do what you really want to do is silly.

Better would be the idea of taking more mini-vacations throughout your lifetime.  By the time you retire, as you can imagine, you won’t have the same energy and vitality that you had in the earlier parts of your life.

And when it’s time to look back on your life, you want to make sure you have something to look back on and be proud of.  Spreading your dreams out across your life is a serious thought worth pondering and an action worth considering.

2)  When presented with an obstacle and you don’t have a goal/ plan, you tend to give up pretty easily.  As I was hiking to the top of Giant Mountain I experienced several challenges/ setbacks.

First, I ran into a family early into my hike that suggested it was too late to climb Giant.

Second, I saw the sun setting pretty quick and I could’ve easily turned back so that I didn’t get stuck on a trail in the Adirondack darkness.

Third, my legs were fatigued and wobbly.  Without hiking poles the work is solely done with your legs – making it an intense lower body challenge when all you’re doing is going up for close to 2 hours.

Yet, despite these challenges, I carried on.  Why?  Because I had the goal already set in my mind that I was going to climb Giant Mountain – no negotiation.  I was doing it.  And so I carried on and overcame the obstacles that were on my path. I believe the same is true for goals in life.

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3)  Never take your body and your ability to move for granted.  I drove my car 200+ miles, climbed 3 of the Adirondack’s 46 highest peaks, and ventured into Lake Placid, by myself because of the freedom and strength that my body provided me.

At one point on my hike down Giant, I felt an overwhelming emotion of gratitude that I was able to do all of that.  In contrast, I thought about those who have ALS and similar body neutralizing diseases and found myself at a loss for words at the thought.

This adventure was an absolutely incredible experience for me and there are many people who are confined to a wheelchair and are losing control of their body with each successive day.

I found myself compelled, especially as a result of this adventure, to go out of my way to help those people and lend a helping hand.  I donated to the ALS organization near my area and hope that you will find it in your heart to do the same.

And at the very least, show your body a little extra love today for giving you the blessing of movement before you go to bed tonight.

4)  Don’t wait until you have ‘enough’ money before you start donating and giving back – start giving back in percentages.  When will ‘enough’ be ‘enough?’  How much money will you have to make before giving back becomes a priority?

Here’s my thought:  Donate a percentage of what you make.  It could be 10%, 5%, even 1% – whatever you feel makes sense for you.  The idea is rooted in the age old idea of tithing – if you always donate a percentage of what you make, you will always know that you have contributed as a result of your life’s work.

On the other hand, if you wait until you make ‘enough’ money, you very well may end up never donating or only donating in random spurts which will amount to significantly less than what you might be fully capable of contributing to the world.

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5)  Break free from the distractions and focus on the now.  Periodically, I find myself day-dreaming into the future and imagining how pretty soon, an event or a date is going to pass and it’s quickly going to be merely a memory of the past.  I had a moment like this on my hike.

I recorded myself thinking about how pretty soon, I’m going to be looking back on this recording and editing it and reflecting on it and it’s going to simply be a memory.  And here I am, typing and reflecting on it now.

Wake up and take a look around because this moment, this exact moment that you’re in right now, will never happen again and will quickly become a memory of your past.  Do you want that memory to be a blurry, distracted, gossip filled memory – or a crystal clear, vivid, gratitude filled memory?

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The List:  10 Powerful Mountain Climbing Quotes That Explain the Call to Climb

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“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

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“The majesty of the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas made his heart beat faster and, for one long moment, took his breath away.  He felt a oneness with his surroundings, a kind of kinship that two old friends might enjoy after many years spent listening to each other’s innermost thoughts and laughing at each other’s jokes.  The fresh mountain air cleared his mind and energized his spirit.  Having travelled the world many times over, [he] had thought he had seen it all.  But he had never seen beauty like this.  The wonders of which he drank at that magical time were an exquisite tribute to the symphony of nature.  At once he felt joyous, exhilarated and carefree.  It was here, high above the humanity below, that [he] slowly ventured out of the cocoon of the ordinary and began to explore the realm of the extraordinary.”

Robin S. Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

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“Mountains seem to answer an increasing imaginative need in the West. More and more people are discovering a desire for them, and a powerful solace in them. At bottom, mountains, like all wildernesses, challenge our complacent conviction – so easy to lapse into – that the world has been made for humans by humans. Most of us exist for most of the time in worlds which are humanly arranged, themed and controlled. One forgets that there are environments which do not respond to the flick of a switch or the twist of a dial, and which have their own rhythms and orders of existence. Mountains correct this amnesia. By speaking of greater forces than we can possibly invoke, and by confronting us with greater spans of time than we can possibly envisage, mountains refute our excessive trust in the man-made. They pose profound questions about our durability and the importance of our schemes. They induce, I suppose, a modesty in us.”

Robert Macfarlane

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“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”

John Muir

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“For life–which is in any way worthy, is like ascending a mountain. When you have climbed to the first shoulder of the hill, you find another rise above you, and yet another peak, and the height to be achieved seems infinity: but you find as you ascend that the air becomes purer and more bracing, that the clouds gather more frequently below than above, that the sun is warmer than before and that you not only get a clearer view of Heaven, but that you gain a wider view of earth, and that your horizon is perpetually growing larger.”

Endicott Peabody

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“The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, “What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?” and my answer must at once be, “It is no use.” There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It’s no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.”

George Leigh Mallory

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“In a sense everything that is exists to climb. All evolution is a climbing towards a higher form. Climbing for life as it reaches towards the consciousness, towards the spirit. We have always honored the high places because we sense them to be the homes of gods. In the mountains there is the promise of… something unexplainable. A higher place of awareness, a spirit that soars. So we climb… and in climbing there is more than a metaphor; there is a means of discovery.”

Rob Parker

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“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place ? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”

Rene Daumal

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“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

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“Remember that time spent on a rock climb isn’t subtracted from your life span.”

Will Niccolls

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Bonus Quote on Mountain Climbing as it Relates to Present-Mindedness:

“The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities, such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on, although they may not be aware of it, is that it forces them into the Now—that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality.  Slipping away from the present moment even for a second may mean death.  Unfortunately, they come to depend on a particular activity to be in that state.  But you don’t need to climb the north face of the Eiger.  You can enter that state now.”

Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 51)

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