"We will stomp to the top with the wind in our teeth"
About this Quote
The intent is rallying-cry simplicity, the kind that compresses fear into momentum. Yet the subtext is more complicated: it’s the early-20th-century cult of endurance dressed up as destiny. British climbing in Mallory’s era wasn’t just sport; it was prestige, a way to stage national character on the world’s most indifferent terrain. The phrasing implies a team ("we"), but it also sells an image - the climber as headline-ready hero, chewing through weather like it’s proof of worth.
Calling Mallory a "celebrity" fits because the line performs for an audience as much as for a rope partner. It’s not an introspective confession; it’s a brand of courage that preemptively edits out doubt. Knowing Mallory vanished on Everest in 1924, the quote reads as a chilling artifact of that performance: a promise to "stomp" upward that may have been, literally, his last available story.
Quote Details
| Topic | Mountain |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Mallory, George Leigh. (2026, January 16). We will stomp to the top with the wind in our teeth. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-will-stomp-to-the-top-with-the-wind-in-our-126098/
Chicago Style
Mallory, George Leigh. "We will stomp to the top with the wind in our teeth." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-will-stomp-to-the-top-with-the-wind-in-our-126098/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We will stomp to the top with the wind in our teeth." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-will-stomp-to-the-top-with-the-wind-in-our-126098/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.







