Free Climbing Quotes

I didn't want to hike to the top of El Capitan and rappel down the route, and start fixing lines. For me it was really important to try to climb it from the ground up at first.

The Dawn Wall is so obviously the hardest big-wall climb in the world, so that was the challenge.

I like the skill set required to be an outdoorsman - to cook food over fire and to climb rocks without ropes, to move around using nothing but yourself and maybe some rudimentary tools.

The Slovenians are the very best climbers in the world.

Seven years ago, when I started free soloing long, hard routes in Yosemite - climbing without a rope, gear or a partner - I did it because it seemed like the purest, most elegant way to scale big walls. Climbing, especially soloing, felt like a grand adventure, but I never dreamed it could be a profession.

I think it's possible to climb the Dawn Wall in a single day. No matter what, it would be really, really hard.

I climbed brick facades as a kid. You'd kind of stick your fingers in there.

Climbing is more of an art than a sport. It's the aesthetics of a mountain that compels me. The line of a route, the style of ascent. It is creative.

To anyone writing about #dawnwall, this is not an effort to 'conquer.' It's about realizing a dream.

It would be really easy to write off the Dawn Wall as impossible. In terms of climbing technique, I'm learning a new language on this granite.