I personally wouldn’t be, if I could possibly help it, involved in a serious pursuit in which there weren’t a few people who could laugh a bit about it. Because I can remember many occasions — maybe we’ve been stuck in a tent or we’re up on the side of a mountain, this heavy snow, avalanches all around us, and we can’t get up and we can’t get down, but we just sat in the tent and reminisced about occasions and days gone by and laughed about old jokes and all the rest of it. Then you really have a very good time, even though you’re sort of poised there between disaster both up and down. People who can make you laugh under those circumstances are very valuable indeed in an expedition.

They treat me as a regular person.

Taking daily showers and always being there when I need them.

Loyalty, kindness, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability.

I don’t like false or opportunistic people.

I would like to be less impulsive.

I honestly don’t have a particular fear. We must live life without limits, and fear can become a limit.

I’m defined as a very strong woman. I don’t identify myself with a specific figure, but I do greatly admire people who manage to persevere with humility through great difficulties.

Sometimes I follow my instincts more than my reason.

Happiness is a journey that depends solely on ourselves. We should be grateful to life because so much that it has in store for us will be marvelous and we have the good fortune to live it.