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Yvon Chouinard

Yvon Chouinard Quotes

Rock climber

Yvon Chouinard is a celebrated rock climber and entrepreneur, co-founder of Patagonia, a leading outdoor clothing and gear company known for its sustainable business practices. Born on November 9, 1938, Chouinard's passion for climbing and environmental conservation has guided his career and personal life, making him a prominent figure in the outdoor industry.

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All Climbing Ifs Company Business Trying Patagonia Way Climbs Happens Important Products Want Adventure People Process Goal Knows Steps Values Businessman

Famous Yvon Chouinard Quotes

“You can solo-climb Everest without using oxygen or you can pay guides and Sherpas to carry your loads, put ladders across crevasses, lay in 6,000 feet of fixed ropes, and have one Sherpa pulling you and another pushing you. ... The goal of climbing big, dangerous mountains should be to attain some sort of spiritual and personal growth, but this won't happen if you compromise away the entire process.”

“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.”

Important Sports Adventure Useless Climbs Climbing Surfing Summit Conquistadors

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“We took special pride in the fact that climbing rocks and icefalls had no economic value in society...We were like a wild species living in the edges of an ecosystem - adaptable, resilient and tough.”

Facts Values Economic Special Rocks Adventure Pride Tough Species Edges Climbing Resilient Ecosystems Adaptable Economic Value Values In Society

Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

Source: Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

“The goal of climbing big, dangerous mountains should be to attain some sort of spiritual and personal growth, but this won't happen if you compromise away the entire process.”

Ifs Should Bigs Happens Spiritual Process Goal Growth Dangerous Mountain Personal Growth Compromise Climbing

Book:Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual

Source: Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual

“The reason it was so scary was that there was only one climber capable of rescuing us, and that was Layton Kor, and he was in Colorado.”

Reason Capable Scary Climbing Mountaineering Colorado Rock Climbing Climbers Inspirational Mountain Climbing Climbing Mountains Inspirational Mountain Climbers

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“The climbing as a whole is not very esthetic or enjoyable; it is merely difficult.”

Whole Difficult Climbing Enjoyable

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“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.”

World Doe Different Reason Lying Lines Special Rocks Ethics Absolutes Technique Cracks Climbing Equipment Polished Vertical Glaciers Yosemite

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“The future of Yosemite climbing lies not in Yosemite, but in using the new techniques in the great granite ranges of the world.”

World Lying Technique Range Climbing Granite Yosemite

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“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.”

Tree Worst Months Mountain Summer Filled Noise Heat Climbs Cracks Covered Climbing Camps Weekend Dirt Multitudes Cliffs Ants Foul Tourists Filth Climbers Mountain Climbers

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“Climbing for speed records will probably become more popular, a mania which has just begun. Climbers climb not just to see how fast and efficiently they can do it, but far worse, to see how much faster and more efficiently they are than a party which did the same climb a few days before. The climb becomes secondary, no more important than a racetrack. Man is pitted against man.”

Men Important Can Do Party Records Speed Faster Climbs Climbing Mania Climbers

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“The whole purpose of climbing something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. But if you compromise the process you’re an asshole when you start out and an asshole when you get back.”

Ifs Whole Spiritual Purpose Process Effects Gains Compromise Get Back Climbing Everest

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“The rules of the game must be constantly updated to keep up with the expanding technology. Otherwise we overkill the classic climbs and delude ourselves into thinking we are better climbers than the pioneers.”

Thinking Games Technology Classic Climbs Climbing Expanding Pioneers Climbers Rules Of The Game Overkill

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“Remember: if you take bivouac equipment along, you will bivouac.”

Ifs Remember Climbing Equipment Mountaineering Rock Climbing Inspirational Mountain Climbing Climbing Mountains Inspirational

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“We choose to believe that the granite is alive. If life is movement, then rock - with its atoms flying around like stars in cosmos - is alive.”

Ifs Believe Life Is Stars Alive Rocks Movement Flying Cosmos Climbing Atoms Granite

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“During the sixties, all the risk-type sports were very popular, because everybody was rebelling against their parents, or rebelling against the whole system. But those days are over. This is the day of conservatism.”

Whole Sports Parent Risk Type Climbing Sixty Conservatism Very Popular

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“I think risk is important. I don't care if it's a great financial risk or a physical risk. You only get out of something what you put into it and the fact that you are willing to risk something means that you are going to get a lot more out of it.”

Ifs Thinking Mean Important Facts Care Risk Willing Financial Don't Care I Don't Care Climbing Financial Risk Great Financial

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“I say the last 10 percent of the way to perfection takes so much of your life that it isn't worth the effort. This overzealous attitude is what creates religious fanatics, body Nazis, and athletes who are exceedingly dull to converse with.”

Way Body Lasts Religious Effort Attitude Percent Perfection Athlete Dull Climbing Nazi Fanatics Converses Religious Fanatics Overzealous

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“Is climbing, as a passion and as a sport, better off now than it was in the past? We can do harder climbs now in faster times - techniques are more refined and equipement more sophisticated - but are we really any better off?”

Past Passion Sports Can Do Harder Technique Faster Climbs Climbing Sophisticated Better Off Refined

Author:Yvon Chouinard

“You have to remember this was the '60s, when climbing was dangerous and sex was safe.”

Remember Sex Dangerous Safe Climbing

Author:Yvon Chouinard

About the Author

Born: November 9, 1938
Known for: Rock climber
Quotes: 90

Related Topics

Climbing Ifs Company Business Trying Patagonia Way Climbs Happens Important Products Want Adventure People Process Goal Knows Steps Values Businessman

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Books & Sources

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business UnusualRelated source material

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant BusinessmanRelated source material

180¡ South: Conquerors of the UselessRelated source material

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