A Deadly New Year's Resolution

My hands are aching. My feet are aching. My arms, legs, everything. The climber kept thinking while she moved her muscles. She had never felt such pain before. Nothing compared to this. Her teeth hurt from clenching so hard from every move of her body. The rope had snapped a while back, but to her it felt like years had gone by. She had known the carabiners were fine, in fact she had just bought them last week. The pitons was also not to blame. Everything had been in perfect condition. She was so sure of herself, yet, there was one thing that completely shattered that.

The fucking bolt.

It had been screwed into the rock with such precision that even she-who checked everything twice, even three times- had stopped to look at it with admiration and deemed it just fine. She then started her long trek up the rock formation that no one dared to climb, since anyone who did found the worst of luck.

But no, she had to make her extremely stupid New Year's resolution. All of her friends had looked at her in complete surprise when she had drunkenly announced that she would climb the toughest rock they all knew, The Martyr.

She had not only claimed she would be the one to climb it, but on New Year's Eve she would make the trek. If she timed it just right, she would reach the top by the countdown to midnight toward New Years.

They were all so excited. They had even helped with packing and other expenses. All that week's worth of work just for a video of her counting down to New Years on top of The Martyr. As she had begun getting her things ready the day of the climb, she started to feel a lot more comfortable. Hell, she thought, It didn't even look that bad. The rock formation was pretty smooth, making it tough to insert the pitons but not the bolts. With that, she had begun the 2,900 foot climb on New Year's Eve early in the morning.

Time had been on her side as well. With every foot she climbed, she felt more and more sure of herself. As the sun set, she switched on her headlight and watched the sun set. As she watched the beautiful array of colors blend into the sky, she closed her eyes and sighed happily. This climb was tough, but not impossible. Her muscles were tingling and she felt the sweat cool on her skin. Now this was what it meant to be alive.

She smiled again and had set off in the dark. Most climbers try not to go through the night due to low light, but she welcomed the challenge. She then set her watch to glow and saw it had just turned 10:30. Right on schedule.

Everything was perfect, until the bolt, that had been screwed in so perfectly, sent  a slight vibration down the rope. The sound itself made her look up in complete disbelief. Vibrations in the rope holding her body weight were not a good sign. Her disbelief quickly erupted into complete panic as the bolt snapped off the rock. The tension of the rope vanished in an instant, and her body experienced- for a split second-weightlessness. 

Nothing is supporting my weight.

In a mere second, she had grabbed any jut in the rock or slight indent to hold her, but there was nothing. She was so close to reaching the top and there was nothing she could do from falling. She yelled and slammed her feet into a small crevice and grabbed the extremely small piton wedged into another crack with her one hand.

She screamed in pain as the bones in her knees grated painfully against the rock as every single muscle tensed. The rope fell down beside her, along with the broken bolt and climbing harness she had hooked to it. Blood was rushing through her head like her own personal Niagara Falls. She looked down in horror. There was no possible way for her to climb down. She looked back up and saw that she had about 35 feet to reach the top.

Impossible. There’s nothing to grab onto.

No, there are holds, they’re  just extremely small.

Now here she was. Clinging onto the rock with just her fingers and feet to find the small cracks and crevices. Yet, finding them took nearly all her strength. Especially since it was a lot harder seeing them without daylight showing her all the possible pathways. With all the stubborn determination of a cornered animal seeing the hope of escape, she didn’t even stop to see how much distance she was covering. She just focused on finishing the climb. She glanced at her watch and immediate dread filled her. In an hour, she had only covered about 15 feet. Nevertheless she pushed on. 

The climber’s muscles felt like they were about to snap in half. Even worse, the sweat that was now pouring off her in waves started to slowly reach her hands. She was so close though! The climber dug her fingers into a crevice, scraping off flesh, when it slipped and she lost what precious balance she had. After hours of holding on for her very life, she realized this would be it. Her body would fall and fall until it met the ground. She closed her eyes as tears slipped out, and she screamed. 

She couldn’t help it. It wasn’t fair that she would die here, her death only adding to the curse about this rock cliff. She yelled as loud as she could, letting the world know of her anger and desperation. The climber looked up again to see that she had about 6 feet to clear before she would reach the top. But…

It’s no use. I’m exhausted.

Even holding herself up was still draining. Her shaking muscles were actually getting worse, and both her hands were getting slick with blood and sweat.  With the diminished intent of gaining any distance, she yelled one more time and with the last of her strength, she pushed off both of her feet while, flailing wildly to try and grab the top, missed the hold about a foot. 

She cursed her fate, cursed this damned situation that she put herself in. Just as gravity once more took hold of her, she closed her eyes and wished for a painless death. She yelled out loud, however, when a firm object seized her limp arm like a vice and stopped the fall to her death. The climber looked up to see a man in climbing gear illuminated in her headlamp's light. Grunting with the effort, he started dragging her up to the top.

She found the last of her strength and quickly tried anything to help. Her feet tried to gain any leverage to help, but there was nothing. Her savior let out a loud yell and yanked her up with one mighty pull. Both of them toppled back onto the hard rock. 

The climber lay there, panting and gasping for breath. He pulled himself up and crawled over, gasping.

"I heard the screaming and ran over here as fast as I could! I'm so glad I did, since I barely just caught you." He explained.

She nodded, and in her daze checked her watch.

"I had just finished climbing this cliff too... What are you looking at?" The man asked.

She grabbed his arm and held out a shaky arm to show him the watch.

"Count down with me." she whispered, not being able to find her voice.

She took out her phone that had been in her zipped up bag and held it in front of them, recording. The other climber at first looked at her in confusion. Then his confusion slowly disappeared and he smiled. He nodded.

Before she could start the video, her hand suddenly sagged heavily due to the extreme trauma it had been put through. He grabbed her hand and phone and helped her hold it. She leaned her head on his shoulder as her adrenaline left and all that was left was exhaustion. He lead the count.

"10  9 8 7  6 5"

She laughed and smiled in complete joy. I’m alive! I’m actually alive! She joined him, speaking louder this time.

"4  3 2  1!"

They both smiled and yelled together.

"Happy New Years!"