Ueli Steck

When you go to the mountains, you really have to accept that there is always a risk. It's more dangerous than sitting at home watching TV. It's really sad.

I don't have a death wish. On the contrary, I'm hanging onto my life like never before.

I never expected to make a living from climbing, but it got to the point where I either had to get a job or start trying to make some real money from it. I didn't want to be 45 and a dirtbag.

It's like a living process. You start out, and you see the Eiger north face, and you think, 'That's impossible.' Then you start to dream. Then you climb the Eiger north face. Then maybe you go to the Himalaya.

I don't worry about other people, and I don't let them influence me too much. I try to find out what I want to do and not what other people want me to do.

Climbing Everest is so big now, with so much money involved, and the Sherpas are not stupid. They see this, and they want to take over the business and kick out the westerners. This is a big fight.

I don't like being restricted. When I climb, I feel free and unrestricted; away from any social commitments.

No one in Switzerland knows me as the Swiss Machine, and that's good, because I don't like it.