Chapter 20 #2
The sun was shining and the climbing company they were using had already been and set the route up a gnarly cliff face.
Nora was both excited and apprehensive. This was her first time climbing outdoors.
Unhelpfully, her brain was providing her with the many odds of all the things that could go wrong – perhaps it hadn’t been a smart thing to look them all up in advance.
A hand on her shoulder made her jump. ‘Sorry,’ said Jay. ‘I didn’t mean to startle you. You were looking a bit …’ He mimed being freaked out.
Nora laughed. ‘I am a bit.’ She held out a shaking hand.
Jay wrapped her hand in both of his and something zinged through her.
‘There, it’s stopped,’ he said with a smile. ‘I feel the same. Totally cacking it.’ He let her hand go. ‘That’s probably not that reassuring, is it?’
‘It does make me feel better though.’
They put on their harnesses and, while people were still checking kit, Trent was already making his ascent.
‘There’s a surprise,’ said Nora and they both watched Trent’s muscles flexing as he stretched to the max to find a hold. ‘I take it he knows there’s no prize for being first to the top.’
Jay nudged her and pointed at two women glued to Trent’s every move. ‘There might be a prize of sorts,’ he said. Trent let go with one hand so that he could properly look over one shoulder and wink at his adoring audience.
‘Please concentrate on the climb,’ said one of the climbing leaders, making Trent grumble something.
Nora and Jay were last to take a turn so the climbing team offered to belay them both so they could climb together and it would save time.
It was a wide area and there was plenty of room and holds for both of them.
Once she’d started she began to relax. She knew she was safe and she did know what she was doing.
It was just outdoors and she had to find the hand and foot holds for herself, although the climbing leader was good at shouting out instructions for where to reach to.
There was something comforting about climbing with Jay at her side, or rather a couple of feet below her and to her left as he was a bit slower than she was.
Nora took her time and made certain she had hands and feet in good secure positions before she moved on, although she did get herself in a bit of a pickle over one foot hold, at which point Jay carefully overtook her.
He was a slow and steady climber and frequently had his tongue stuck out of the side of his mouth in concentration.
Meanwhile, Nora was getting herself into quite an awkward position.
‘Now push really hard with that foot and stand up,’ called the leader from below.
She could do this. She watched Jay for a moment as he tapped the top of the cliff and received a round of applause from everyone below.
He gave her a happy thumbs-up and then started to abseil down.
Nora took a breath and put all her weight on her right foot.
She straightened out her leg and for a moment she was upright.
But then there was a slight shift and her foot slipped a fraction.
It felt like her heart stopped. She took stock – she was perfectly fine and still attached to the rock.
Unfortunately she realized her right foot was very attached to the rock as her climbing shoe had become completely wedged into the crevice.
Nora wriggled and tugged but she couldn’t free herself.
She looked down. People were congratulating Jay. ‘Um, I think I’m stuck,’ she said.
‘What?’ asked the leader.
‘My foot’s stuck!’ she called back.
‘OK. Stay calm. Someone will come up to free you,’ he shouted back.
Why did her fingers instantly start to feel tired as she gripped the rock?
‘You OK?’ called Jay.
‘Yeah. Just hanging around!’ She tried to smile but her muscles wouldn’t let her. She was focusing hard on not panicking. Her ankle was not happy about the angle it was now forced into, which wasn’t helping matters.
‘Don’t panic!’ shouted Trent.
‘I’m not panicking!’ yelled back Nora, more than a bit annoyed.
Maybe she could free herself. She had another concerted effort at pulling her shoe out of its wedged position.
With one big tug her foot came straight out of the climbing shoe.
‘Shit!’ Now she was hanging on with just one foot.
She tried to stick her foot back in the shoe, if only to hide her Cookie Monster socks, but it was at too much of an odd angle.
‘Stay there!’ shouted Trent.
‘Not got much choice!’ Nora concentrated on getting her foot back into the shoe. She was aware of shouting below but was a bit preoccupied with her challenge. When the shouting increased, she tuned in.
‘Get down. That’s incredibly dangerous!’
Oh great, that was all she needed. And not exactly helpful because she couldn’t get down and she’d not pulled her foot out of her shoe intentionally.
She slowly moved her head to the other side and that was when someone grabbed her right ankle.
‘Shit!’ The unexpected contact made her instinctively kick out, which was when she kicked Trent in the face.
He yelped and let go of her but he also let go of the cliff and, as if in slow motion, she watched him fall.