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good.
The sun continued to plasticize the ice, softening it for Daniel's toe plants
 quick, powerful kicks to seat his front points. He flicked the tip
of his ice axe into the mountain with the finesse of a switchblade
fighter, every motion surgical and understated. Abe had never seen an ice
climber operate so economically. Where most climbers hammered at the ice for
deep purchase, flailing and overdriving their tools, Daniel seemed content to
stroke it, scarcely entering the ice at all.
As Daniel advanced, Abe fed him rope through a brake mechanism. If the leader
fell, the second was supposed to catch him. Daniel wasn't the type to fall,
however, which freed Abe to gaze at Nepal and stare into the abyss. Time bent
around him. From his little perch, ABC was much too small to see and all the
other camps were out of sight.
He tried guessing where Base might lie along the glacial tendrils,
but the Tibetan plateau swallowed his estimations whole. He had the sense of
having climbed right out of the world.
After another half hour, Gus reached the outcrop, groping for air like some
chemical warrior. While she was bent over, gasping and coughing, Abe clipped
her pack off to a runner sling attached to the anchor and helped her from the
straps. Gus recovered enough to straighten up.
Down below, J.J. was approaching with amazing torpor. He had the
dense, coagulated motions of a deep sea diver. He would slug his way up a few
steps, then hang on the rope for minutes at a time, paralyzed by the thin air.
Then he would move
again. His progress was pained, but Abe felt no pity. He just
watched. It was like watching a bug move.
Daniel's rope slid through the brake with little pause. Abe snuck a glance
around the outcrop, but Daniel was already out of sight up the corridor.
Another rockfall shelled them. Gus huddled against Abe under the outcrop. J.J.
was still two hundred feet down, still exposed. He turned with all the speed
of a tortoise.
He completed his turn just in time to take a rock square against his pack. It
made a pillowy thud and J.J. was promptly plucked from his stance. He swung
out from the wall and bounced across the slope. J.J. didn't shout out or
scramble for cover. There was no cover. He simply turned his pack upslope and
took a second hit and swung again. Then the rockfall was down. He
twisted around and resumed his reptilian progress.
'Piece of gum?' Gus asked. Abe nodded yes. He was parched. The sun
was unmerciful. What little water he had left in his bottle had to last until
they reached
Four and could melt more. That could be many hours. Water, water, everywhere,
he thought, and leaned against the blazing ice.
Gus gave him a pink chunk of her Bazooka with the exaggerated care wall
climbers use to hand things back and forth. It was soft from her body heat.
'You owe me,' she said.
Abe chewed carefully because his teeth had begun to loosen. Mostly he sucked
at the sugar. It revived him from his stupor, then dropped him back into it
all over again.
He wondered if the chunk of rock or ice had given him a concussion. He felt
all the more tired and debilitated seeing Gus's animation. A nap would have
been nice.
'You're on,' Gus said. Daniel's voice was chirping down at them
from the Shoot.
Neither could hear what he said but both knew what he meant. It was showtime.
Abe kept his dread mute and worked into the pack straps. He wanted to stay
under this outcrop for the rest of his life. He loved this stasis, this
bombproof sanctuary, and this piece of wet gum on his sunburned tongue.
'Want me to go?' Gus prodded him. She didn't want to go either.
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'Photosynthesis,' Abe said, trying to make a joke of his inertia. Gus gaped
without comprehending. He clipped his jumars onto Daniel's rope and
left the outcrop, ascending with all the speed he could muster. Daniel
couldn't safely advance until Abe arrived to belay him and tend his climbing
rope. Every minute wasted was another minute Daniel could be investing in
their reach for Four. More to the point, every wasted minute exposed
Abe to more rockfall. The wall's angle eased slightly. Abe let his quadriceps
take the brunt of the toil.
The Shoot curved left. Daniel came in view. Above him the corridor
seemed to extend without end. Abe despaired at that. He'd hoped the Shoot was
nearly played out. He reached a little ledge and Daniel helped him out of his
pack.
'Damn, Abe. You're running heavy.'
For the first time all day, Abe was glad he hadn't lightened his load. It was
a good respectable carry and it was plain that Daniel appreciated
that. For all its brute danger and hard labor, today was going to turn out
well after all. No climber can know in advance how well he will perform
at high altitude. Abe was performing. He belonged.
Abe had meant to ask how far it was to Four. After Daniel's praise, he didn't.
They would get there when they got there. At any rate, Daniel
answered without being asked. 'See it?' he grunted.
Abe looked. Less than eighty feet overhead stood the mouth of a cave. It
opened in the rock like a desert miracle. Only one rope led up to the cave. It
looked very old and most of it lay buried within the ice wall. Daniel had
already opened a coil of new rope to climb with and fix at the cave entrance.
One end was tied to his harness.
'How about that,' Abe marvelled. His words rasped out, no saliva left. He
couldn't
remember spitting out the gum, then found it lodged inside his
leathery cheek. It might be okay to drink the last of his water now. They
were almost there.
The rope Abe had just ascended began jerking. That would be Gus coming up.
'I'll just run this pup out, fast like,' Daniel said. He was cranking one of
his precious
Soviet ice screws into the ice to bolster their belay anchor. The screws were [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]