Creative Writing - We stood imperially on the summit of this wondrous peak.

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Ananda Kumar

English Creative Writing Coursework

We stood imperially on the summit of this wondrous peak.  We had conquered the mighty North face of the Eiger, the most treacherous ascent in the Alps.  Daniel Anker and I sat astonished on the summit grinning insanely at each other, unable to fathom words to describe our exultation.  

We watched the sky in awe as clouds rolled by.  Just then, Daniel, who was naturally anxious about practically everything, spotted a group of storm clouds approaching menacingly towards our position.  

“Stop being so worried, its just some minor storm clouds, they’ll pass,” I said trying to comfort him.  He was a fantastic climber and companion, but easily traumatised.  The clouds did look slightly perilous, and my slight trepidation bubbled to my usually ice cold exterior.

“You look kind of scared” Daniel replied.

I ignored him.  I felt a tension that hung in the atmosphere.  There was a fizzing, crackling feel in the air around us as we pulled on the hemp ropes and our jackets rustled in the electric atmosphere.  I looked deep into Daniel’s eyes.  He was horrified at the helplessness of our situation.  We were at the mercy of nature.  My worst fears had been realised.  A storm was upon us.

Just then there was a colossal explosion of thunder.  We stared in mute amazement as ostentatious lightning, the colour of burnished gold, burst in white-bright flashes flaming against the crenellated ridge.  Thunder, colliding in sheets of monstrous sound, rattled the air and practically deafened us.  We just sat, timorous almost to the point of death.  The wind rose to a shrieking, venomous pitch in its furious battle with mountain.  The air stank of scorched stone and the storm had absorbed us into an unknown world of pain and power.  

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We both huddled together, tears streaming down our pallid faces, wondering why we even dared to overcome the mighty Eiger.  As white-hot rock shrapnel rained upon us, I went into a sort of dream state, neither living nor dead.  Our journey up the mountain played before me in vivid detail, like I was watching a perfect movie of our voyage;

We stood solemnly at the foot of the massive North Face, gazing upwards.  The great black amphitheatre of the north face rises for over a vertical mile straight out of the sunlit meadows of the Bernesse Alps.  It has ...

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