Right on through today, my lungs and stamina are my engine. I'm not nearly the strongest guy or the most flexible, but I can definitely sustain pace on the mountain.

Jimmy Chin

Categorized in : Today Guy Mountain

A lot of why I climb is for the friendship, the loyalty and trust, the shared experience of being in that moment.

moment trust experience friendship

When I show up in New York, and I look at the skyline, it's like showing up in a mountain range. My gaze goes toward the most impressive-looking climb. It's always gone to the top of the World Trade Center.

climb look mountain world

I try to live intentionally, and the things that move me, I'm going to throw myself at them. I want to see what my potential is. I'm always curious to see what the edge is.

live see myself me

Mentorship is an incredibly huge responsibility. And you need to choose your mentors carefully, just like mentors choose their apprentices carefully. There has to be trust there, on a very deep level.

deep you trust responsibility

As a professional climber, that's the question you always get: Why, why, why? It's an ineffable thing; you can't describe it.

professional question you always

You do wonder - when you are at 28,000 feet, the height that aeroplanes cruise at, when you are struggling to draw breath and every limb aches - why do I do this?

you height feet wonder

I like to think that images of people doing amazing things may open people's eyes to the human potential, to the idea that people can do the extraordinary when they set their minds to it.

eyes amazing think people

I loved going to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial in Taipei to watch all the old Chinese people doing tai chi and practicing kung fu. The monument was made of white marble, and it was beautiful. Sometimes my dad and I would practice with them.

dad beautiful sometimes people

Taoism taught me to focus on the process and not to be attached to preconceived ideas of what I thought the outcome should be.

thought me focus ideas

Becoming a parent has changed the risk calculus for me. But it might be age, too, and seeing a lot of friends die in the mountains. Will I take the same risks I took in my 20s? Probably not, but I will always push myself in the mountains.

die myself me age

It's hard to take people seriously who say you're totally irresponsible if you go out and climb mountains when you have kids, because they clearly don't understand the circumstances. You can't impose your own acceptance of risk on other people - that's not fair.

mountains understand you people

The thing that I've always believed is that you have to follow your passion, and if climbing is your calling in life and your craft, to not do it is a tragedy. I am always going to encourage my children to follow their passions and dreams, whatever they are.

i-am dreams passion life

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.

yourself you history people