It's Not An Adventure Until Something Goes

Surfing And Climbing Are Both Useless Sports. You Get To Be Conquistadors Of The Useless. You Climb To The Summit And There Is Nothing There. And You Could Hike To The Top From Another Direction. How You Get There Is The Important Part. It's The Same With Surfing.

Just Why Is Yosemite Climbing So Different ? Why Does It Have Techniques, Ethics And Equipment All Of Its Own ? The Basic Reason Lies In The Rock Itself. Nowhere Else In The World Is The Rock So Exfoliated, So Glacier-polished And So Devoid Of Handholds. All Of The Climbing Lines Follow Vertical Crack Systems. Every Piton Crack, Every Handhold Is A Vertical One. Special Techniques And Equipment Have Evolved Through Absolute Necessity.

Personally, I Would Rather Climb In The High Mountains. I Have Always Abhorred The Tremendous Heat, The Dirt-filled Cracks, The Ant-covered Foul-smelling Trees And Bushes Which Cover The Cliffs, The Filth And Noise Of Camp 4 (the Climbers' Campground), And Worst Of All, The Multitudes Of Tourists Which Abound During The Weekends And Summer Months.

No Young Kid Growing Up Dreams Of Someday Becoming A Businessman. He Wants To Be A Fireman, A Sponsored Athlete Or A Forest Ranger The Lee Iacoccas, Donald Trumps, And Jack Welchs Of The Business World Are Heroes To No One Except Other Businessmen With Similar Values.

I Purposely Try To Hire People Who Are Really Self-motivated And Good At What They Do, And Then I Just Leave Them Alone.