You never conquer a mountain. You stand on the summit a few moments; then the wind blows your footprints away.

Arlene Blum is an American biophysical chemist and pioneering mountaineer, best known for leading the first all-women ascent of Annapurna I in 1978 and for her later environmental health advocacy. The quotation reflects a mountaineer’s perspective that resists the common rhetoric of “conquering” peaks. In high-altitude climbing, success is fleeting and contingent—weather, terrain, and time quickly erase human traces—so the language of domination can feel both inaccurate and ethically suspect. The image of footprints blown away evokes the transience of achievement on a mountain and the larger humility climbers often develop in the face of natural forces.

The quote challenges the triumphalist metaphor of conquest by reframing a summit not as possession but as a brief encounter. “You stand on the summit a few moments” emphasizes how temporary and conditional the climber’s victory is; the mountain remains unchanged in any meaningful sense. The wind erasing footprints becomes a symbol of nature’s indifference and of human impermanence: even extraordinary accomplishments leave little lasting mark on the world that enabled them. Implicitly, Blum suggests an ethic of respect—achievement should be paired with humility, recognizing limits, luck, and the autonomy of the natural world rather than treating it as an opponent to be subdued.