This is a mountain heritage. We're not out to annihilate the bear.

I don't go out with the idea of seeing an elk, bear, mountain lion. If I go out and keep my expectations in check I always see something interesting ... It's a huge country. It's just unimaginably rich with what you can see hear, smell and remember if you open yourself up to the adventure.

Born on a mountain, raised in a cave. Arresting fugitives is all I crave.

We have moose around town as well as bear, elk and mountain lions, but we don't have moose attacks. It was a freak thing.

As de Saussure said, risk-taking brings with it its own reward: it keeps a "continual agitation alive" in the heart. Hope, fear. Hope, fear - this is the fundamental rhythm of mountaineering. Life, it frequently seems in the mountains, is more intensely lived the closer one gets to its extinction: we never feel so alive as when we have nearly died.

It made me look like I all of a sudden stumbled upon my heritage. It's not like that. You don't stumble upon your heritage. It's there, just waiting to be explored and shared. But what you need is a sign that somebody wants to share this with you.