The climb

As his foot slipped off the protruding rock, he began plummeting into the abysmal darkness below him. His life now depended on the single rope and the one nail which he had used to secure himself. After falling for hardly a second or so, he suddenly felt a massive jerk as this rope stopped his fall and left him hanging in mid-air, swinging around wildly at a perilous, almost vertical climb.

This apparent jerk jolted him back to reality. He came around just in time to sense his foot slipping off a projecting stone. Fortunately, his hand had found good grip and his other foot was securely in place. It was three days since he last had a drink of water. Dehydration, the heat, hunger and the lack of sleep were taking their toll on him now. The slipping of his foot left him shaken for a while.

Once he secured himself and got into a good position, he looked up at the vertical climb he had to complete. With whatever strength that was left inside him, he began the treacherous climb. The sun was shining down on him in all its glory, and the heat was seeping the strength out of him. He was straining himself to take every step. As he continued to fight the inner battle with himself, he proceeded with infinite caution, trying to think as clearly as possible. Slowly but surely, he was inching closer to safety.

Somewhere in the distance he heard the sound of a helicopter. He did not bother whether it was real or just another hallucination like the one he had had minutes ago; in any case, it gave him a boost of morale and a sudden surge of energy. He would soon be at a safer place. He now felt a sense of urgency to complete the climb, but decided not to compromise on caution. He was now extremely determined to reach the flat area above, and despite his condition, was extremely clear in understanding that any mistake at this stage might happen to be his last. Just a few more metres to go. Carefully choosing cracks, crevices and protruding rocks, he came closer and closer to the top. In a few more minutes, he clambered over the edge and was now on a small area of level ground. The sound of the helicopter was now growing louder. He took out a sheet of aluminum from his knapsack, started waving it around and screamed for help.

The glint of the waving aluminum sheet caught the eye of the helicopter pilot. The big bird was soon hovering over the stranded mountaineer. A paramedic descended from the helicopter with a stretcher. He firmly secured the mountaineer to the stretcher, and was soon airlifted. As the mountaineer was pulled into the helicopter, he was dumbfounded with relief. The medical staff on board carried out a few tests on him and concluded that a few days of treatment would be sufficient to restore him to normalcy. With the knowledge that he was now in safe hands, he silently uttered a prayer, closed his eyes and soon drifted off into another world to get some much needed rest.