These guys make a lot of money. Of course it's hard and dangerous work, but Sherpas are the rich people in Nepal. If you make so much money, you can somehow lose reality.
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Of course I climbed Everest without oxygen, but it's not the end of the story for me. The summit itself is not what counts. It's how'd you get there, what'd you climb, and there are really great opportunities to climb on this mountain. It's a beautiful place.
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My first climb was on lead; there were pitons, no bolts.
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It's really impressive what those like Messner and Walter Bonatti have done - they are a big part of the history of alpinism.
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Everest is how it is right now. We have to fix ropes up there; we have the commercial expeditions. If you don't like that, go on another mountain or choose another part of the mountain. There's still space for everybody.
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Everybody has to choose his or her own way to climb a mountain. I don't give an opinion. But there needs to be enough room for others.
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You can, maybe, do something like Annapurna once in a lifetime. Then don't try to do it again.
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No one in Switzerland knows me as the Swiss Machine, and that's good, because I don't like it.
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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.
