Mountains are the great equalizer in life. Roy and I believed this, so we sought out more rugged country than anybody else, knowing that would give us an advantage because in the regular world, the people with money or connections had an advantage over regular guys like us. But material success, money, and reputation don’t mean anything in the mountains. The mountains don’t give a damn. How tough you are and how good of shape you’re in gives you currency on the mountain. We came to realize that the tougher we were, the more success we had.
