Quotes from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“K2 is not some malevolent being, lurking there above the Baltoro, waiting to get us. It's just there. It's indifferent. It's an inanimate mountain made of rock, ice, and snow. The "savageness" is what we project onto it, as if we blame the peak for our own misadventures on it.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“That’s leadership: lead by example, lead from the front, inspire people to follow your lead.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“Any “story” can be told in dozens of different ways. For that very reason, I believe, every time you go back and reexamine an important chapter in your life, you learn something new about it.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“There’s an old and honored tradition in exploration literature that you don’t air your dirty laundry in print. Whatever bickering, name-calling, grudge nursing, and dark funks really took place on the expedition, they’re nobody else’s business.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“By now, a significant portion of the whole Sherpa economy depends on the spring and fall seasons on Everest.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“It reminds me of a very wise saying about mountaineering that my wife, Paula, repeats often: “Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, you don’t.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“Morally, however, we had had absolutely no choice but to abort our summit try to help Thor and Chantal get down the mountain. That’s why I find it so hard to stomach all the accounts in recent years—especially on Everest—of climbers ignoring others in trouble for fear a rescue effort would sabotage their own summit bids.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“After two hours of the hardest”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“the men placed willow wands every 50 feet or so to mark their route—as I did in 1992, but as no one bothered to in 1986 or 2008, an oversight that contributed to both tragedies.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

“Mountaineering will never be a safe activity and would not be worth doing if it were.”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

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“Драги Тео,

Струва ми се, че работата в един кабинет с Гоген е грешка. Той е обременен човек. Много пие.Направих му забележка за това, а той се разбесня и смъкна от стената зъболекарската ми диплома. Когато се успокои, го убедих да се опита да пломбира зъби на открито и започнахме да работим на една поляна, заобиколени отвсякъде от зелени и златисти тонове. Той поставя коронки на госпожица Анджела Тонейто, а аз правя временна пломба на господин Луи Кофман. И така, работим на открито! Редици ослепително бели зъби на слънчевата светлина! След това излезе вятър и отнесе перуката на господин Кофман в храстите. Той се спусна след нея и събори инструментите на Гоген. Гоген изкара мен виновен за това и посегна да ме удари, но блъсна по погрешка господин Кофман, който падна върху бързооборотната бормашина. Господин Кофман избръмча край мен и отмъкна госпожица Тонейто със себе си. Крайният резултат, Тео, е, че адвокатската фирма "Рифтин, Рифтин, Рифтин и Мелцер" наложиха запор върху приходите ми. Изпрати каквото можеш.

Винсент

***

Драги Тео,

Тулуз- Лотрек е най- тъжният човек на земята. Най- много от всичко мечтае да стане велик зъболекар, притежава истински талант, но е много нисък и не може да достигне устите на пациентите си, пък е твърде горд, за да се покачи на нещо. С ръце над главата си той пипа слепешком около устата им, а вчера, вместо да постави коронки на зъбите на госпожа Фирилсън, ги постави на брадата и. Междувременно старият ми приятел Моне отказва да работи с каква да е уста, освен ако не е много голяма, а винаги мрачният Сера разработи метод за почистване на зъбите един по един, докато ги оформи в така наречената от него свежа уста. Методът му е солиден в архитектурно отношение, но може ли да се нарече това зъболекарска работа?

Винсент”
― Woody Allen, quote from Without Feathers

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