These climbing quotes and captions place you in the great outdoors with a challenge ahead.
What could be better? You’ll be inspired and motivated to make your next climbing adventure.
10 Best Climbing Quotes
1.) Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve; they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.
Anatoli Boukreev
2.) You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you.
John Muir
3.) Climbing is not a battle with the elements, nor against the law of gravity. It’s a battle against oneself.
Walter Bonatti
4.) A man does not climb a mountain without bringing some of it away with him and leaving something of himself upon it.
Sir Martin Conway
5.) He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.
Friedrich Nietzsche
6.) By climbing mountains, we were not learning how big we were. We were finding out how breakable, how weak, and how full of fear we are.
Reinhold Messner
7.) Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery of why we climb.
Greg Child
8.) One does not climb to attain enlightenment; rather, one climbs because they are enlightened.
Zen Master Futomaki
9.) There’s no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It’s experiencing the climb itself – in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak, and fatigue – that has to be the goal.
Karyn Kusama
10.) Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
T.S. Eliot
Good Climbing Quotes
Climbing is an artistic, creative thing; it’s about being spontaneous, traveling, seeing the world, hanging out. It’s a balance of setting goals while enjoying the process, being ambitious without being too competitive.
Chris Sharma
When you go to the mountains, you see them, and you admire them. In a sense, they give you a challenge, and you try to express that challenge by climbing them.
Edmund Hillary
Climbing here saved my life from the confines of the materialistic illusion that we’re taught as children in school. The way I see it, there are two worlds: there’s the world where nothing is sacred except money and the other world where everything is sacred.
Ron Kauk
Jumping from boulder to boulder and never falling with a heavy pack is easier than it sounds; you just can’t fall when you get into the rhythm of the dance.
Jack Kerouac
The rope connecting two men on a mountain is more than nylon protection; it is an organic thing that transmits subtle messages of intent and disposition from man to man; it is an extension of the tactile senses, a psychological bond, a wire along which currents of communication flow.
Trevanian
Climbing is one of the few sports in which the arena. The cliffs, the mountains, and their specific routes acquire a notoriety that out-populates outshines, and outlives the actual athletes.
Jonathan Waterman
I find that rock climbing is the finest, most healthiest sport in the whole world. It is much healthier than most. Look at baseball, where 10,000 sit on their ass to watch a handful of players.
John Salathe
There are two kinds of climbers, those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest.
Alex Lowe
Short Climbing Quotes
Anytime you finish a climb, there’s always the next thing you can try.
Alex Honnold
You have to climb the hill to reach the summit. Thinking won’t get you there.
Marty Rubin
We are apes – we should be climbing.
Alex Honnold
It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.
Barry Blanchard
The best climber in the world is the one having the most fun!
Alex Lowe
Climbing is not a spectator sport.
Mark Wellman
Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.
Walter Raleigh
To be a climber, one has to accept that gratification is rarely immediate.
Bernadette McDonald
Climbing is as close as we can come to flying.
Margaret Young
I go to seek a great perhaps.
John Green
Mountain Climbing Quotations
I may climb perhaps to no great heights, but I will climb alone.
Cyrano de Bergerac
We can climb mountains with self-love.
Samira Wiley
When preparing to climb a mountain – pack a light heart.
Dan May
Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.
Ed Viesturs
Climbing is hard to give up. It’s just as hard to give up as cigarettes.
Layton Kor
Climbing is, above all, a matter of integrity.
Gaston Rebuffat
When you reach the top, that’s when the climb begins.
Michael Caine
Better we raise our skill than lower the climb.
Royal Robbins
Climbing is my art; I get so much joy and gratification from it.
Jimmy Chin
Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.
Hermann Buhl
Mountains are not fair or unfair. They are just dangerous.
Reinhold Messner
In order to climb up the mountain, I must first climb out of my fear of climbing.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.
Elizabeth I
Climbing Meme
Motivational Climbing Sayings
Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.
Dag Hammarskjold
Climbing is all about freedom, the freedom to go beyond all the rules and take a chance, to experience something new, to gain insight into human nature.
Reinhold Messner
Highest of heights, I climb this mountain and feel one with the rock and grit and solitude echoing back at me.
Bradley Chicho
The most dangerous thing you can do in life is play it safe.
Casey Neistat
Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
What advantages do we hope to gain from climbing mountains? Naturally, there is the pleasure we get from the climbing process itself and from our victories, but as well as the delights of exercise in a mountain environment, there is also the process, coming every time as a surprise, of self-discovery deepening a little further with every climb.
Gaston Rebuffat
In rock climbing, people get strong enough, and then they pick goals they can do with their strengths at that moment.
Tommy Caldwell
Climb the mountain not to plant your flag but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.
David McCullough Jr.
As a professional climber, that’s the question you always get: Why, why, why? It’s an ineffable thing; you can’t describe it.
Jimmy Chin
Keep close to Nature’s heart and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.
John Muir
The View from Mount Everest’s summit
Inspirational Climbing Quotations
Stand tall on the summit after a tedious climb. Take in the remarkable scenery and the exhilaration of accomplishment. But don’t pause for long; there are greater mountains to climb while you still possess the drive and capacity to do so.
Richelle E. Goodrich
Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.
Barry Finlay
The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.
Conrad Anker
Everyone wants to live on the top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.
Andy Rooney
The best view comes after the hardest climb.
Unknown
The climb might be tough and challenging, but the view is worth it. There is a purpose for that pain; you just can’t always see it right away.
Victoria Arlen
Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
Michael Jordan
There are a dozen reasons for climbing, some bad, and I’ve used most of them myself. The worst are fame and money. Commonly people cite exploration or discovery, but that’s rarely relevant in today’s world. The only good reason to climb is to improve yourself.
Yvon Chouinard
The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal.
Criss Jami
Without a rope, there is no fear because to fall is unthinkable.
Catherine Destivelle
Never did I explore life as intensively in its beautiness as while hanging on two fingertips freely over the deep hollow.
Wolfgang Güllich
Cool Climbing Sayings
In climbing, you are always faced with new problems in which you must perform using intuitive movements, and then later analyze them to figure out why they work, and then learn from them.
Wolfgang Gullich
You never climb the same mountain twice, not even in memory. Memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes, and remakes all the moves.
Lito Tejada-Flores
The tops of mountains are among the unfinished parts of the globe, whether it is a slight insult to the gods to climb and pry into their secrets and try their effect on our humanity. Only daring and insolent men, perchance, go there.
Henry David Thoreau
The length of the fall is dictated by how far we had climbed. The outcome of the fall is dictated by whether we’re holding on to that which we’re climbing or we’re letting God hold onto us.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
Climbing is unadulterated hard labor. The only real pleasure is the satisfaction of going where no man has been before and where few can follow.
Annie Smith Peck
Motivating Climbing Quotes
Climbing is often a group activity, and it’s always inspiring to see how other people, who share your passions, do things.
Fred Nicole
Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.
Edmund Hillary
In some ways, climbing in the clouds is comforting. You can no longer see how high off the ground you are.
Tommy Caldwell
It’s always further than it looks. It’s always taller than it looks. And it’s always harder than it looks.
Reinhold Messner
For a climber, saying that you are stopping by Everest is like saying that you are stopping by to see God.
Roland Smith
The mountains are calling, and I must go.
John Muir
Famous Climbing Quotes
After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
Nelson Mandela
In the mountains, there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.
Rusty Baille
Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are naught without prudence and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step, and from the beginning, think what may be the end.
Edward Whymper
The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal.
Criss Jami
We struggle so that in this process of climbing, we can learn so that we can limit our impatience and grow stronger than we ever imagined to be.
Chirag Tulsiani
I thought climbing the Devil’s Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams.
Jon Krakauer
There are a dozen reasons for climbing, some bad, and I’ve used most of them myself. The worst are fame and money. Commonly people cite exploration or discovery, but that’s rarely relevant in today’s world. The only good reason to climb is to improve yourself.
Yvon Chouinard
Notable Quotes for Climbers
Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.
Edmund Hillary
It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.
Muhammad Ali
It’s completely unstylish to get stuffed in the mountains – I want to die with my feet up in front of the fire drinking a glass of red wine, aged about 95.
Kenton Cool
As I hammered in the last bolt and staggered over the rim, it was not at all clear to me who was the conqueror and who was the conquered. I do recall that El Cap seemed to be in much better condition than I was.
Warren Harding
I’ve climbed with some of the best climbers in the world; more importantly, to me, they are some of the best people in the world. That’s another reason why I climb.
Jim Wickwire
There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
Climb the mountain not to plant your flag but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.
David McCullough Jr.
Leaders don’t climb hills of success with shoes of pride. They are slippery enough to bring a person down to the valley.
Israelmore Ayivor
In the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that $%#damn mountain.
Jack Kerouac
Awesome Climbing Quotes
If you want to train for big mountain endeavors, spend time in big mountains.
Jimmy Chin
When preparing to climb a mountain – pack a light heart.
Dan May
You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen.
Rene Daumal
Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occur while you’re climbing it.
Andy Rooney
Those who travel to mountaintops are half in love with themselves and half in love with oblivion.
Robert Macfarlane
The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.
Conrad Anker
Accidents on big mountains happen when people’s ambitions cloud their good judgment. Good climbing is about climbing with heart and with instinct, not ambition and pride.
Bear Grylls
Climbing Quotes FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about climbing quotes.
“There are a dozen reasons for climbing, some bad, and I’ve used most of them myself. The worst are fame and money. Commonly people cite exploration or discovery, but that’s rarely relevant in today’s world. The only good reason to climb is to improve yourself.” –Yvon Chouinard
“It’s always further than it looks. It’s always taller than it looks. And it’s always harder than it looks.” — Reinhold Messner
“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” — Confucius
Climbing Captions
- All good things are wild and free.
- Stop staring at mountains. Climb them instead, yes, it’s a harder process, but it will lead you to a better view.
- Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
- Hike more. Worry less.
- Restless spirit.
- Chalk up and climb.
- Dear Mountains, Until we meet again.
- Coffee, Mountains, Adventure.
- I haven’t peaked yet.
- Born 2 Boulder.
- I like to get high.
- You call it rock climbing; I call it Ninja Training.
- Rock Hugger, but Alive!
- On a date with the mountains.
Instagram Caption Ideas for Climbers
- Do you even climb, Bro?
- Life’s a climb, but the view is great.
- Chalk dirty to me.
- Rock climbing is therapy.
- Go climb a rock.
- OCD: Obsessive Climbing Disorder.
- I’d climb that.
- I’m either climbing or thinking about it.
- Chalked, Locked, and Ready to Rock.
- Climbing: Only for the Brave.
- Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.
- Born to climb, forced to work.
- Gravity is a myth.
- Will belay for beer.
- It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
- You won’t fall if you don’t climb, but there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground.
By Jon Edwards
Jon writes about sports and adventure.
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