Because It's There. (when Asked

The First Question Which You Will Ask And Which I Must Try To Answer Is This; What Is The Use Of Climbing Mount Everest? And My Answer Must At Once Be, It Is No Use. There Is Not The Slightest Prospect Of Any Gain Whatsoever.

Just To Lie Here In The Sun With Great White Peaks All Around Me And The Biggest Glacier In Europe At My Feet, To Eat From Time To Time, To Sleep A Little And Dream A Great Deal- It Is A Heavenly Existence.

Because It's There. (when Asked Why He Wanted To Climb Everest)

- Why Do You Want To Climb Mt. Everest, Sir? - Because It Is There.

The Highest Of The World's Mountains, It Seems, Has To Make But A Single Gesture Of Magnificence To Be The Lord Of All, Vast In Unchallenged And Isolated Supremacy.