The Last Hillwalker Quotes

“I buy a book, Yvon Chouinard’s Climbing Ice. The book is already dated but is the only guide to ice climbing techniques I can find. One thing Chouinard says resonates with me. Real adventure is defined best as a journey from which you may not come back alive, and certainly not as the same person.”
― John D. Burns, The Last Hillwalker: A sideways look at forty years in Britain's Mountains

“We proudly erect our new three-man tent and learn a new rule about camping. Once you take a tent out of its bag you can throw the bag away. This is because, unless you happen to have a PhD in origami, you will never be able to fold the tent up into a small enough bundle to go back into the bag. Tents are packed by an elite group of super folders in a trade whose secrets are passed down from generation to generation. Somehow they can get all the air out of the tent as they roll it up. As we pack there is always a small pocket of air somewhere in the fabric that moves around like a trapped hamster. You can chase it all you like, but it’s always there; the tent has no chance of ever going back in.”
― John D. Burns, The Last Hillwalker: A sideways look at forty years in Britain's Mountains

“There is something unique about taking a linear multi-day journey on foot. The day walker starts and finishes at the same spot – after his walk’s end he will return to the familiar, to his routine, to a place where nothing has changed. If you take a longer journey – let’s call it a trek – your home comes with you on your back, every day’s end is different, and every morning you wake up somewhere else. The routine you follow is decided in a dialogue between you and the land you walk through. The trekker is constantly asking questions. How long will it take to get to the next shelter? Can I make it to that village? Will I run out of food? The answers to those questions decide where the trekker sleeps, the view he sees when he wakes in the morning, what challenges the coming day will bring.”
― John D. Burns, The Last Hillwalker: A sideways look at forty years in Britain's Mountains

“It is a trick that mountains have: they rob you of the memory of all the pain and leave you with this romantic image of enjoyment.”
― John D. Burns, The Last Hillwalker: A sideways look at forty years in Britain's mountains