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I'm one of those people who always needs a mountain to climb. When I get up a mountain as far as I think I'm going to get, I try to find another mountain.

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

I'm the sort of person who needs a big mountain in front of me to climb.

There's intense personal gratification in finding a mountain and becoming inspired by the aesthetics of an unclimbed line on that mountain, especially if that line has been tried by a lot of people who couldn't do it, and you get to set yourself up against the history of it.

It's a heavy burden to look up at the mountain and want to start the climb.

Stand at the base and look up at 3,000 feet of blankness. It just looks like there's no way you can climb it. That's what you seek as a climber. You want to find something that looks absurd and figure out how to do it.

I'm always looking for a new challenge. There are a lot of mountains to climb out there. When I run out of mountains, I'll build a new one.

I climb mountains.

Climbing is what I do.

When I climb a building, I've been there already, and carefully planned how to start the climb as well as how to do it.