Well, that and an occasional glance around at the astounding beauty all around you. The mountain peaks, the sun in the sky, the wind blowing torrents of snow off other mountain peaks…
Then it was back to the climb.
I didn’t even make it far enough to establish a basecamp.
The sun was going down behind the mountain when the spindrift started falling faster and heavier than normal.
Like, way more than normal.
I looked up, trying to see what was going on –
And then I heard it.
Like a freight train coming down the mountain.
Avalanche.
My eyes widened.
Oh SHIT –
This particular peak wasn’t known for avalanches, but three days’ worth of snow could have collected enough for one, no problem.
I flattened against the cliff face as best I could, but I knew it was useless. I mean, I hoped it would work… but deep down, I knew.
Maybe if I’d been underneath a fairly big outcropping, I might have stood a chance. It might have rushed over me.
But I was on an 88-degree vertical incline with nothing between me and the monster.
It was going to sweep me away.
Which is exactly what it did.
I had my safety harness roped off and secured to a bolt, but when five tons of snow hits you, ropes ain’t gonna do shit.
I saw it – a massive white cloud barreling down at me –
Then it hit me like a Mack truck.
I don’t remember anything after that.
4
I suddenly jerked awake, like I’d been falling asleep and was just about to hit the ground in my dream.
What the FUCK?!
I stared up in shock at the darkening sky. The clouds were turning pink and purple from the setting sun, which was already far behind the mountains.
For a second I thought that everything – the climb, the avalanche, the entire fucking day – might have been a dream. That I’d somehow fallen asleep back at camp, right after breakfast.
Then I raised myself up on my elbows –
And immediately realized I still had my ice axes attached to my wrists by the leashes.
Well, THAT’S good, I thought with dark humor. Wouldn’t want to survive a thousand-foot drop and an avalanche and have to go replace my fucking ice axes.
Now that I was propped up on my elbows, I looked around.
My tent was nowhere in sight.
So, barring some Twilight Zone-type shit, it had all actually happened.
My first question was, How the FUCK am I still alive?!
Followed rapidly by, Where the fuck AM I?!
I was still in the mountains, yes – but not where I’d been climbing.
For one thing, the mountain above me was nowhere near as tall as the Moose’s Tooth. It was maybe 500 feet, not 4200.
And for another thing, I was surrounded on the left and right by a set of smaller cliffs.
Being at the base of the Moose’s Tooth had been like standing outside the Great Wall of China: it just stretched to the left and right as far as you could see.
Not here. Here, it was like I was at the bottom of a very wide gorge.
And there were trees here. Just 50 feet away from where I lay, the timberline started, with pine and fir trees covered in snow.
There hadn’t been a tree within half a mile of where I’d started the climb.
Not only that, I was lying on the snow – not in it or underneath it.
You don’t get plowed under by an avalanche and wind up on top of the ground.
Had I dug myself out and collapsed?
Not likely. Everybody thinks that an avalanche is this pretty, white, fluffy thing – when the truth is, it’s much more like river rapids that just happen to be made of ice crystals rather than water. The thing is, while the avalanche is flowing, the snow has enough energy to keep going. But once it slows down, it freezes again. Not hard like ice, but fairly stiff, like a snow cone. If you’re caught in an avalanche, you can’t dig yourself out on your own – it’s impossible. The consistency of the ice is like wet cement that has already started to set around you. Plus you have no leverage. Even if you did, what are you going to push up against – the 600 pounds of frozen water sitting on top of you? Unless you’re buried six inches or less beneath the surface, you don’t stand a chance.
I’d been at the bottom of the first wave.
I hadn’t been buried six inches from the surface, I knew that much. More like sixteen feet under.
Had somebody else dug me out, then, and dragged me over here?
The snow all around me looked completely undisturbed… like I’d been deposited here by fairies or angels or some shit like that.
So, no… nobody had dragged me here.
Had I broken anything, though? I had to have.
I tested out my arms and legs, flexing them one by one, checking for aches and pains.
Not a thing.
I felt great.
In fact, for a guy who’d just gotten slammed into by an avalanche, I felt fan-fucking-tastic.
The only thing that was remotely uncomfortable was the pack on my back, which I was still lying on.
This whole situation was impossible. I’d fallen over a thousand feet down a steep incline – I should have been a red smear on the mountain face, buried under six tons of snow.
And yet… here I was.
I gingerly got to my feet, half-expecting my body to suddenly snap in two, like a joke from God.
Just kidding, Jack – you’re actually FUCKED!
But no… I was fine.
And since I was fine, I had to get a move-on. With the sun going down, the temperature was going to drop fast, from the current ‘damn cold’ to deathly freezing.
The first priority was shelter. All my questions about how the hell I’d survived and where the fuck I was had to go on the back burner for a while.
Judging by my surroundings and all the weird-ass shit going on, I doubted my camp was anywhere within walking distance. Which meant I had to make
