The lingering impact on those left behind
Five minutes later the nausea returned. Stronger this time. I started dry heaving, wave after wave, my breathing blocked as my body struggled to hurl my insides out. Nothing came up but pain.
I hid this from the others and forged on, only to buckle again. And again. I glanced around. Bright silver moonlight revealed a stunning beauty rewarded only to those willing to forgo sleep. A mile in the distance the mountain burned. But I couldn’t answer its call. I longed to get up high, to greet the sun as it returned color to the mountain—pinks and dark blue turning to golden orange and azure—painting the steep slopes, snow, ice and rock with its ever changing brush.
Kick-step-swing, kick-step-swing, kick-step-swing, over and over, my mind focused on the task at hand. Nothing existed beyond here and now. We reached the glacier.
I turned to Brian and the others and said, “Sorry, but I’m out.”
'Brian raised an eyebrow, then nodded tellingly and said, “OK.” There were still enough climbers to continue without me.
I stopped in the talus and sat on a flat, car-sized boulder, listening to the trekking poles cracking on the rock, the crunch of boots on snow, and the creak of heavy packs. Their headlamps faded as my friends moved off, dots of light on the mountain.
I’d come here to get away, to grieve in the peace and solitude of the mountains, with friends who were closer than family. It felt strange to seek solace there, after losing two close friends to the mountains, but returning to rugged, unforgiving places is the only way I knew to heal.
Kyle and Scott are gone. The cold snuffed out their warm spirits, wrapped them in an icy embrace, their bodies entwined with snow, rock and ice. The mountain they sought to climb made them part of itself.
YOU CAN DIE CLIMBING!
Bu hikaye Rock and Ice dergisinin October 2017, #245 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Rock and Ice dergisinin October 2017, #245 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Call of Duty
Vikki Weldon: Hard lines and the front line
THE BADGE
WE DEFINE OURSELVES AS CLIMBERS, BUT IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH?
THE ACHIEVER
MARICELA ROSALES HAD EVERYTHING AGAINST HER. SHE BECAME A CLIMBER ANYWAY.
Chris Sharma
FIRST ASCENTIONIST, FORMER WORLD CHAMPION, OWNS GYMS IN SPAIN AND USA. INTERVIEWED IN QUARANTINE IN BARCELONA WITH HIS WIFE, 3-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER AND 1-YEAR-OLD SON.
PROJECT WAIT
A LIFELONG CLIMBER CONSIDERS THROWING IN THE TOWEL
Older, Wiser, Stronger!
YES, THEY CAN GO TOGETHER. HOW TO TRAIN STRENGTH AS YOU COME ALONG DOWN THE ROAD.
CALCULATED RISK
HOW UNDERSTANDING DANGER COULD KEEP YOU OUT OF HARM’S WAY
Accessories To Climb
Field tested
To The Grit
About 10 winters ago I touched down in Manchester in a hard, driving English rain. The city was hidden from view. I was groggy after a red-eye from Dallas, an over-brewed black tea barking on my dry tongue.
The Wild Ones
North Conway is a typical New Hampshire town tucked among rolling hardwood hills and set at the foot of imposing granite slabs, but 30 years ago it was the stage on which a small band of climbers led the way in boldness and vision.