“I’ve had enough. I’m giving up. I quit.”
Climbing is a sport, but climbing in the mountains, like ocean racing or crossing a desert takes place in different conditions from those of common sports.
A climb is not a sort of game that can be stopped at any time.
Even if you are at the limits of endurance, if your feet are like lead, if nothing but extreme effort of will keeps you going, even if lightning is flashing across the sky, you cannot sit down and say, “I’ve had enough. I’m giving up. I quit.”
And even when you do get to the top, the rock is still not half finished.
This is undoubtedly the hardest of rules to accept, but it is nevertheless an attraction:
On every crest the climber must ride his whole self.
Author unknown
