Jeff Lowe Quotes

Eight-man teams drilling expansion bolts in rocks? Sorry, that’s not climbing – that’s engineering.

I may have had some symptoms as early as 1998 – dizziness, vision problems, balance. Anyway, it’s been a progression, it hasn’t stopped since I first noticed it. Each year there is a considerable decline.

I always thought if I died in the mountains, it would put an asterisk on my climbs.

I never did end up getting any skills that are marketable in a traditional sense, but I have used my knowledge of the mountains, and I have no regrets.

The challenges of adventure, rock climbing and alpinism trained me well for dealing with the slow neurodegenerative malady I’m experiencing.

I hate big shots of adrenaline. It means you don’t have enough margin.

I’ve been mistagged. I like ice climbing, but I do a lot more rock climbing. Ice is just more mysterious and changeable than rock.

A friend once told me that I was always so manipulative, ‘a silver-tongued devil,’ as he put it. I was never aware of it.

I will still probably die of aspiration-caused pneumonia. I can go along breathing well, then I might aspirate on something, develop pneumonia and be gone in a week.

I can see the time coming when I won’t need to be out there in the upper pyramid of climbing, but the things you gain from a lifetime of climbing are worth communicating.

The kind of climbing I like is fast and as free as possible of gadgetry.

Wall climbing is an offshoot of the more traditional sport of mountain climbing. It is very difficult; one must combine a great deal of stamina with the ability of a world-class gymnast.

I mean any fool can hurl themselves at a climb that is beyond their abilities to safely negotiate. You may get away with such an approach nine times, but the tenth time you don’t come back.

Climbing is a cross between an athletic or sporting endeavor and the spiritual. I hope it remains that way.

We as mountaineers have had a leading role in the destruction of the mountain wilderness environment that we practice our sport in.

Sometimes I spent more time planning a climb than doing it.

You can base your life in fear or you can base your life in love. Fear leads to negative results even in times that are basically good. On the other hand, love powers the universe.

I think I know now that you can’t do this sort of climbing and have a domestic side. You’re not a practicing father if you’re not there. You’re maybe a visiting father.

Many climbers use the term ‘objective hazard; to denote something they aren’t to be held accountable for. I held myself accountable for the mistakes I made over the years.

For me there’s no future. All I’m interested in is now.

I’m not a big adrenaline junkie.

I used to think aging was a scam, a total abdication of your self. Well, aging’s not a scam, but quitting is.

More than five decades of hands grated by cracks. Whole body aching from long days of big-wall hauling. Tiny tents, bivy sacs, snow caves lashed by hurricane sleet. Frozen fingers and toes. Migraines and altitude malaise. Not knowing what’s to come. It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.

The idea of metanoia returns again and again in my life. The purpose of life is to see what you do when challenges come your way, and the value in that experience is seeing how you handle those challenges.

Mom would pack our lunch and send us off with no supervision. There were enough of us so that if she lost a few, there would still be plenty left.

I have always felt that no climb is worth losing the tip of a little toe.

I used to think that my business mirrored my climbing – if I wasn’t failing at something, I just wasn’t trying anything hard enough.

Hunters get lost all the time. There’s just an outcry against climbers because a lot of people don’t understand climbers and they think they’re crazy.

I’ve always pushed my body way too hard, gone days without eating at 20,000 feet, and caught every exotic bug that didn’t kill me.

I could have saved my marriage if I had chosen to. But when I was forced to take a new look, I realized, ‘Hey, it’s not what I really want – it’s a weird thing, but climbing is still at the center.’