Whiteout II-14 (The Vikram Wall)

14. The Vikram Wall

     Nick unzipped their tent flap in the early morning, just as the first blue light was beginning to creep into the sky. In front of him lay the cold face of the Vikram Wall. Sleeping beneath it had been no easy feat. All night he had felt as though a great weight were upon him, trying to impress just how much danger they were in. Adding to his fear was the fact that he had asked Lopsang about the ascent before falling asleep. What he heard, was troubling.

The Vikram wall was named in 1944 after the first explorer who managed to scale it without dying. Many had come before him, most had died. The ones who came back were usually half mad or frostbit beyond recognition. The terrain was some of the steepest on the mountain, and the ascent was deceptively simple. The main trouble was scaling a thick sheet of ice nearly straight up five hundred feet, with the air growing thinner the whole way. Like the field of debris they had crossed the day before, the wall also shifted continuously, dropping sheets of ice at deadly speed without warning. Many explorers who had come before them had said that to climb the wall, was to put your life in the hands of the mountain.

As the first rays of light touched the wall’s icy surface, loud creaks and moans filled the morning air. It’s just the ice shifting, happens every day, Nick told himself.  His stomach was tied into knots at the thought of trying to find a clear path up. There was no sarcastic comment he could come up with to ease the darkness surrounding him.

“Well I hope you’ve got a way to kill it, Mr. Ventner.”

     Nick jumped as Manchester had snuck up behind him. “So do I. If we have to make a hasty descent down that,” he motioned to the wall, “we’re dead.”

     “Once we’ve scaled the wall, there’s no running,” said Manchester, quietly.

     Both men stood in a rare moment of silence, staring up at the wall. The sun’s first rays brought warmth, but neither of them felt it. All that made it through, was the cold determination to climb, and finish what they had started. Please tell me you didn’t screw us over old man, thought Nick, tapping the vile in his pocket. “Well I’m game if you are,” said Nick trying to muster up a jovial tone. “I’d say we’ve got a fifty-fifty shot.” The real odds were much worse, but Nick had never been any good at statistical calculations.

     “No sense in wasting time then. Pack up, and get ready, we’re moving out in ten,” said Manchester, loudly enough that Nick thought the wall might have crumbled from the echo. Behind them, the mercenaries scrambled from their tents and began breaking down camp.

James emerged as well, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and looking generally displeased at the wakeup call. He looked the wall up and down, and then shrugged. “Doesn’t look so bad from down here.”

Nick could not help but laugh, and began packing up their gear, and breaking down the tent. In matter of minutes, one of Manchester’s men had already begun scaling the wall, and putting up guide ropes. Lopsang, who had been up long before the rest of them, looked on from the bottom of the wall, displeased.

Nick finished stuffing the tent into his pack walked over to him. “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t trust their abilities. They don’t look like mountain climbers.”

“Don’t you know the old saying never judge a book by its cover?”

     “We have one like that. If it doesn’t look like a goat, it’s probably not one…”

     Ooh, finely some sarcasm from the demi-god. “Couldn’t you use your powers to get us up there somehow?”

     Lopsang tilted his head angrily. “I have climbed this mountain for years without ever once using my abilities. They are not some cheap party trick. I made a deal long ago to only use them when absolutely necessary, and I’ve never broken it.”

     “Jeez, take it easy, it’s early,” said Nick, backing away slightly. “What do you suggest we do about this then?” He motioned to the climbers.

     Lopsang looked up at them thoughtfully, and responded in a low tone. “Just make sure Manchester and his team go first. I’ll climb after them and check all the guides to make sure that they’re safe.”

     Nick grinned. Not bad for someone with a moral compass. “Fine by me. I promised to do no harm. Never said anything about letting harm do its own work.”

     As the mercenary crew prepared the trail for them, they all could not help but look on, awestruck. The light glinted off the mountain summit, and it almost looked attainable. Despite himself, Nick started to understand the drive climbers felt to continue through such adversity. It would be one hell of a view up there. Maybe that is something worth dying for. Nick shrugged off the thought, chalking it up to altitude sickness.

     They sat and waited, conserving their strength for the task ahead. Climbing was not easy at high altitude, and Nick was well out of shape. Since their first climb, his muscles had never stopped burning with soreness. The ascent might not have been as bad at lower altitude, but at the base of the wall, it took all Nick’s effort just to catch a breath. A dull throb invaded his head, reminding him that he was not getting enough oxygen. Nick began to long for the moment when they’d be allowed to use their O2 tanks, even if only for momentary relief.

     An hour or so later, the ropes were set, and Manchester’s team was high up on the face. Lopsang had insisted they wait to space themselves out, telling Manchester it was due to James needing more time to acclimatize. When they finally clipped themselves onto the guidelines, the sun had already come up a quarter of the way through the sky. Lopsang climbed first, checking each of the pitons as he went, and then motioned for them to follow.

     The first few handholds were simple, and before Nick knew it, he was far off the ground. There was a feeling of exhilaration, until the fatigue began to kick in. Very quickly, Nick felt the all-too familiar burn in his limbs, and the sluggish movement of his own brain. The altitude was getting to him. He was dismayed to find that when he looked down, they were not even halfway up the face. Embarrassed, he halted, panting.

Lopsang climbed down so that they were almost level with one another. “Are you alright?”

Sweat stung Nick’s eyes, and his arms shook as he tried to hold on to the mountain in front of him. “I don’t think I can do it. It’s too much.” His breath was ragged, and harsh. Lack of mountaineering training or physical activity was taking its toll.

“Without you, there is no expedition Dr. Ventner,” said Lopsang, with the tone of one chatting in a bar. “If you want to chicken out and go back, that’s fine. We’ll all go together.” The Sherpa wore a devilish smile that glinted in the morning sunlight.

Nick’s pride burned in his chest, trying it’s hardest to match the fire in his muscles.

“You can do this,” said Lopsang, in a rare moment of encouragement. “From this point on, it’s all mental.” He grabbed Nick’s harness. “Let go, rest for a minute.”

Nick did not argue and let his hands fall off the mountainside. He hung there, off the side of the wall, limp, and completely at Lopsang’s mercy. Looking out over the terrain below, he could see the field of ice they had crossed the day before, and the spine the day before that. We’ve come too far to turn back now. Through the haze of ache and pain, Nick once more found motivation. “I’ve changed my mind. I think I’ll come with you after all,” he said, catching what felt like half a breath.

“That’s the spirit Dr. Ventner. Now come on, we’re almost there.”

Nick knew that they were nowhere near almost, but nodded his head anyway. Slowly, he turned the heat of his burning limbs into motion, and began moving once more. Hand over hand, you can do this. Just like the spine, he stared at nothing but the rock in front of him, and continued climbing. The ice cracked around them constantly, but never fell. It was their one lucky break.

As the day wore on, Nick felt the paradoxical heat that came with climbing one of the world’s tallest mountains. Outside his suit, the air was cold enough to bite, but inside, it felt like a sauna. The irony was not lost on him that soon he would likely be begging for this warmth when the sun went down. He stopped to sip from his canteen, and felt the cool liquid burn down his throat. That’s almost better than a proper drink, he thought.

What could have been minutes, or hours later, Nick had lost track of time; he pulled himself over a sudden ledge, and a pair of strong arms lifted him up. HE rolled onto his back, and stared up at the darkening sky. “It’s early for it to be going dark,” he murmured to no one in particular, and then it dawned on him. I can’t see. The sky was not growing dark, his vision was narrowing to a pinpoint. Sure hope James made it up, he thought, and then sank into blackness.

 

When Nick came too, there was an oxygen mask on his face, and he was warm. He tried to sit, but found the act too dizzying and immediately fell backward. Lopsang’s face swam into view, grinning. “What are you so giddy about?” asked Nick, annoyed, and dazed. Each word was muffled through the mask and made him feel weaker.

“We found a marker, we can rest here tonight.” Nick rolled over to see that they were in a tent. The canvas flapped around them from the wind outside. Lopsang unzipped the flap to reveal a small, stone obelisk, carved with characters in a language Nick did not understand.

“No flags?” he asked, weakly.

“Not here, the wind would have long ago blown them away. It’s the incantations surrounding the site that matter anyway.”

“Oh good,” said Nick, his vision swimming once more. Darkness closed in around the edges of the tent.”

“Dr. Ventner, you need to drink.” Lopsang gingerly lifted Nick to a sitting position.

At first, Nick felt nothing but nausea and the overwhelming feeling that he was going to black out again, but slowly, he steadied. The bright, orange interior of the tent came into view, and he saw James, resting in the corner, clutching a cup of something hot.

“Fortune and glory, right?” asked James, laughing. It quickly turned into a cough, but he kept his grin.

Nick tried to laugh as well, but the wheezing of the air through his lungs hurt more. A kettle drum beat in his head, constantly pounding at what had to be fragments of his skull.

     Lopsang handed him a steaming cup of sweet-smelling broth. “Drink this, it’ll help with your headache, and nourish you.”

     Nick tilted the cup back without question and savored the warming sensation that ran through his aching limbs. A great wave of calm swept over him as the steam rose into his nostrils We can do this, he thought. A week ago, he would not have believed they could get as far as they had. The Vikram Wall was a feat for professional climbers, but they had managed it just the same. Luck had likely played a part in it, but they had still done it.

     There was no howling that night, other than the strong wind. They were the only climbers on the mountain, and far enough away that they could see nothing else but the snowy mountain above and below. As Nick fought off frostbite and the urge to sleep, he watched the tiny green dot on the tracking screen. The light blinked slowly, on and off, indicating that the creature had not moved.

     “How long until we go after it?” asked James.

     “We’ll head out in the morning, just before first light,” said Nick, looking to Lopsang for reassurance.

     “Yes,” said Lopsang, with heart. The creature is just above us on the other side of the mountain face. The route is not well-traveled, and will take more time to traverse.”

     “Sounds like a party,” said Nick, coughing through the oxygen mask. “Alright then, rest up. If we find that creature tomorrow, it’s likely to be one of the longest days of our lives.”