Rannoch Mountaineering Club 

www.climbrannoch.co.uk

Dying

"Live to lie about it."    — Lowrey's first law of climbing.

"As my own life began to slip away, I was stuck with an overwhelming sense of how wonderful it is to be alive."    — Art Davidson, during a winter attempt on Denali.

"Men's resources in energy in the face of death are inexhaustible. When the end seems imminent, there still remain reserves, though it needs tremendous willpower to call them up."    — Maurice Herzog.

"Dying seems to me a bigger failing than not improving as fast as humanly possible."    — Theresa Ho.

"— Mommy, mommy, a man just fell off the cliff !
— What did Daddy say ?
— AAAaaaahhhhhhhhh !"

"Was that 'on belay' or 'off belay' ?"    — Common climbing last words.

"I'd feel better if we had some crampons. Oh, what the hell, let's go for it..."    — Common climbing last words.

"Yes, I'm sure this hold/belay/anchor/rope is good."    — Common climbing last words.

"Interesting."    — Common climbing last words.

"Oh that pitch... it's a piece of cake."    — Common climbing last words.

"If you die, we split your gear."    — Seen on a T-shirt.

"If you're ever killed mountain climbing, then all that you've worked for is gone"    — Jim Whittaker.

"That which does not kill you will make you stronger."    — F.N.
"That which does not make you stronger might be lots of fun before it kills you."    — D.U.

"The client is trying to kill you, the client is trying to kill himself and the client is trying to kill the rest of the clients."    — The 3 rules of mountain guiding.

"Different kinds of climbers:
Novice — Someone (often dead) who should be kept off the mountains at all costs.
Experienced climber — Someone whose death was unavoidable.
Alpine Club Member — Someone who never dies but slowly fades away."

"Well, you might live longer, but at least I'll die with a full rack."    — Craig Smith, arguing about rappel anchors with his partner who wanted to leave another stopper.

"You only die once, but you're maimed forever. So if you're going to fall take a big one."

"Train hard and fight easy or train easy and fight hard — and die."

"Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you can survive the odds beating you..."

"Remember not to have a fatal accident, because the community will think climbing is a dangerous thing, your friends will be bummed... and you'll be dead."    — Kitty Calhoun closing remarks at an American Alpine Club lecture.

"There is a time and a place for every drug on the market (and some that ain't...), but mixing distance from the nearest emergency room and speculation on what effect this or that chemical has on the body (especially at altitude...) can cause serious financial difficulties for your surviving relatives..."    — Michael Riches.

"It hurts to admit you've made a mistake. But if it's a big enough mistake, the pain won't last long..."

"Luck can't last a lifetime unless you die young."

"I hope I die before I get old."    — The Who.

"You are not going to be famous unless you get down alive."    — Ed Webster to Stephen Venables after reaching the summit of Kangshung without oxygen.

"Summit or death, either way I win."    — Rob Slater, before dying on K2.

"Death is nature's way of telling you that you failed."    — SAS Commando.

"There are two kinds of climbers... smart ones and dead ones."    — Don Whillans.

"Ich kann nicht mehr."    — Toni Kurz last words while within touching distance of the rescue team, north face of Eiger, 1936.

"The mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too."    — Hervey Voge.

"We stand on a mountain pass in the midst of a whirling snow and blinding mist, through which we get glimpses now and then of paths which may be deceptive. If we stand still we shall be frozen to death. If we take the wrong road we shall be dashed to pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any right one. What must we do ? Be strong and of good courage. Act for the best, hope for the best, and take what comes... If death ends all, we cannot meet death better."    — James Fitz.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. To front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."    — Henry David Thoreau.

"Death is not behind the mountains, it is behind our shoulders."    — Russian saying.

"Evolution will be served, one way or another."

"If someone dies trying to emulate a car commercial, how is that needless ?"    — Tim Stich.

"Don't try to impress anybody out there. It's your own blood that you bleed man."    — Roy Lowry.

"The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war."

"Living with the immediacy of death helps you sort out your priorities in life. It helps you to live a less trivial life."    — Sogyal Rinpoche.

"I think a lot about climbing still, but not during the daytime. I think about it mostly at night, and on special occasions. I think about climbing when I am fed up with life in general. When I whish I could go over to the rocks or the trees. I enjoy my dreams about climbing."    — Fritz Wiessner after a stroke at 87.

"From death in valleys, deliver me O lord !"    — A Mountaineer's Prayer.

"Having disposed of my material possessions, I now turn to those items I hold in great esteem but which are without material value in this life. To all of my children I leave the most important things of my life: The sparkle of sunlight on the snow in the cool sunlight of the early morning after a new snowfall, the blue of ice in a serac poised against the blue sky, the clean firm grip of good rock, the music of a tiny stream in an alpine meadow, the smell of heather in bloom, the graceful tilted head of an avalanche lily, the clink of pitons and carabiners, singing of a primus in darkness at high camp, the flicker of flashlights in the pre-dawn climb, and the indescribable beauty of an Alpine dawn from high on a mountain. The feel of comradeship as the team moves swiftly up the face, the moments when fingers of fear clench at your insides on exposure, and perhaps moments of terror, the knowledge that life and death are sure, swift, and true. But above all, I leave to you my beloved children, those few short moments of attainment and peace on the summit, secure in the knowledge that you have conquered not the mountain so much as yourself. Those few moments in the sunlight you share with God, who has written his signature all about you as you sit in the magnificent cathedral in the sky created by God, for God, and which we mortals share but a brief time. Where you must accept the ultimate truth that we have but one end to our short life, before you descend again the burdens of the world, to shoulder the cross of responsibility to the family.
I know not whether or not you, my children, will follow in my steps to the Alpine world, and yet, knowing all too vividly the mountain dangers, I also fear that you will. But whether you go to the high places or view them from afar off as the sunset paints a crimson glory across and as the light slips from the mountain meadow, remember the restless spirit of your father amid the moss and heather seeking ever his eternal rest with God."    — Paul M. Williams, the Mountaineer's Will.