I embarked on an adventurous journey in my twenties. I set out to race Blackcomb Mountain’s Saudan Couloir Race Extreme. I trained hard and for my efforts I was third woman. This was a time in my life that I used sport psychology techniques and really looked to quotes to inspire my journey. Some of the quotes I share here are ones I have looked to throughout my life. My favorite adventure quote is about being aware of the ominous fluorescent green edge.
The Saudan Couloir Race Extreme – Whistlers Craziest Race
In 2023, the Saudan Couloir Race Extreme ran for the nineteenth time. Skiers drop into a steep, narrow gully (named the Saudan Couloir) on Blackcomb Mountain in the Village of Whistler. With over 2500 feet of vertical, athletes thighs are literally burning by the time they reach the finish line.
I keep a copy of Powder Ski Magazine from 1993 that featured my intense stare down the couloir at the start line.
My years in Whistler were very much about extreme skiing. While it is very much about pushing the boundaries of possibilities, it is also about this intense connection with nature.
Many of my favourite quotes that inspire my own adventurous journey are based on writers’ love of nature. One quote that I often refer to uses a metaphor to describe the mountains and is very much about acknowledging the inherent risk in adventures.
Check out these Endurance Events that Inspire
My favourite quote: Recognizing the Inherent Risk in an Adventurous Journey
“The dangerous edge might as well be painted fluorescent green and placed to where you can move right up to it, touch it even, but only on the last day of your life.”
— Unknown
Exploring Possibilities
Many of us are always exploring possibilities.
- Can I climb a 10,000 foot peak?
- Can I sail across the Atlantic ocean?
- Can I do a five-day hike by myself?
Perhaps embarking on an adventurous journey is about discovering our potential.
Only those risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go
T.S.Eliot
Quotes about Chasing your Dreams
I love quotes about chasing your dreams as they paint a picture of a beautiful world. They give us hope. They inspire us to believe all is possible.
“Go where you feel most alive”
I feel alive running or hiking in the mountains
Live the life you’ve dreamed ~Henry David Thoreau
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Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake
Henry David Thoreau
Our Adventurous Journey will be Filled with Challenges
Our adventurous journey will always be filled with challenges. My motivation for sharing my favourite inspirational quotes are based on a lifetime of overcoming some big challenges on my adventures (you can read about them in my article Short Inspirational Stories). Enjoy these beautiful words on facing adversity:
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
― Paulo Coelho
“Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn’t have the courage to say “yes” to life?”
― Paulo Coelho
“There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them.
But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.”
― Paulo Coelho
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
– Nelson Mandela
He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Why do we Climb the Mountain and the famous response
George Mallory gave the first response to the infamous question “Why do we Climb the Mountain?” “Because it’s there” was the response.
I argue that we are in search of something much deeper. Perhaps we are drawn to the mountains as part of a path of self discovery. The following are quotes that use mountains as a metaphor for personal growth:
“He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
“You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself.”
– Jim Whittaker
“The hardest mountain to climb is the one within.”
– J. Lynn
And one of the most famous quotes by Sir Edmund Hillary:
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
I hope you enjoyed these quotes and if they have inspired you in your next adventurous journey, even better. I leave you with one last quote:
All good things are wild and free
Henry David Thoreau
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