“I've tried to eat little shrubs before. We were on an unsupported 20-p...” — Jimmy Chin Quote

I've tried to eat little shrubs before. We were on an unsupported 20-plus day traverse, following the migration of endangered antelope across the Chang Tang Plateau. We were like, 'Oh, this is what they ate; we should try it.'

I really believe that, as human beings, we have an innate need to explore, to see what's around the corner.

You learn over years of expeditions that having faith, and putting one foot in front of the other, you do end up pulling off climbs that seem completely impossible. There's a certain beauty to that. It has an allure.

A lot of why I climb is for the friendship, the loyalty and trust, the shared experience of being in that moment.

I feel like I know I have enough friends who support me through those times. Like, I'll call a friend and be like, 'I really don't feel good about what I ate today,' and she'll be like, 'Dude, it's fine.'

My father was an expert hunter, so we ate a lot of wild game when I was growing up in Montana. That helped broaden my palate generally, but I know it informed my distaste for factory farms and unspectacular commercial meat.

I was always a kid trying to make a buck. I borrowed a dollar from my dad, went to the penny candy store, bought a dollar's worth of candy, set up my booth, and sold candy for five cents apiece. Ate half my inventory, made $2.50, gave my dad back his dollar.

I grew up with a single mother, and although we didn't have a lot of money, she cared a great deal about what we ate. We were the original health-food family. We shopped at what were called health-food stores before Whole Foods - everything came from bins.