““But then suddenly there was no place higher to go. I felt my cracked lips stretch into a painful grin. I was on top of the Devil's Thumb. Fittingly, the summit was a surreal, malevolent place, an improbably slender wedge of rock and rime no wider than a file cabinet. It did not encourage loitering. As I straddled the highest point, the south face fell away beneath my right boot for twenty-five hundred feet; beneath my left boot the north face dropped twice that distance.””
![“But [Everett] and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” quote by Jon Krakauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9a0/jon-krakauer-1557_dream_but-everett-and-mccandless-at-least-they_70025.jpg)
![“Continually question climbing pursuits. Do they draw one back to the climbing community? Or do they lead along the [inner-directed] path? This questioning generates a tension that is heightened by disillusionment. Ultimately, one reaches an emptiness, and this is where our basic spontaneous nature…” quote by Jon Krakauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1db/jon-krakauer-1557_journey_continually-question-climbing-pursuits-d_78808.jpg)
