After weeks of tears, fears and excitement the moment I had been looking forward to was just around the corner. Even though all the climbers were fully qualified we all had to go on a short course just to brief us on what to do in an emergency situation. It was all very daunting and reminded me of the real dangers I was subjecting myself to. I looked at my other team mates; we all wore name tags to help learn each others names. As I looked around the room I tried to focus on other peoples conversations, the room was very loud so it was a struggle. People of all shapes and size, some old some young all about to embark on the greatest adventure of their lives together. You could tell how they were feeling just by looking at their faces, some were pale and looked nauseous these were the people having doubts. Some looked very happy with big smiles on their faces but these people were the most terrified of them all. Then there was the ones who’s faces didn’t show much expression, just looked numb, these were the people who felt a mixture of things all at the same time. I was in the last category of people. My heart wanted to do this more than anything else, but my head wasn’t as confident. Gerard appeared through the crowd with two hot beakers of tea. He handed me one and rubbed my arm for reassurance. His face was a smile but I knew he was just as terrified as me. We had been getting on a lot better since we received that letter; I guess things just weren’t that dull anymore. For the past few months we had been so connected, I felt so close to him, like I did before the relationship lost its fun. He put his arm around me and whispered in my ear “I wouldn’t want to be doing this with any one else you know, I love you.”
My eyes hurt from the glare of the sun, although it was not fully up it was trying its best to climb the clouds silently. As my thick leather snow boots crunched through the delicate snow I knew there was no turning back now. I felt a lump grow in the back of my throat which forced me to try and swallow. I could still taste the sweet coffee I drank hours before; I could still smell it upon my breath. We all began walking up the snowy slope; this was the beginning of something amazing.
We walked for seven hours until we reached base one, this is where we would stay the night. We set up the four tents which would sleep two people. There was hardly enough room for one person let alone two with bags of supplies. Gerard and I shared a tent, neither of us were really tired still buzzing with adrenaline. We talked for hours, mostly about how thrilling the expedition was, my head slowly drifted toward the pillow, like a week magnet attracting metals. When I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, Gerard reached over and kissed my forehead softly and whispered “You have no idea how much I love you,” then kissed my lips gently then pulled away and turned the lamp off.
Even though the risks had been laid out to us they never really sunk in. We were doing this expedition for charity so because we were doing something for them we just felt there would be no complications. Bad judgement of the weather or fast changing weather can be very dangerous, and potentially cause fatal accidents. If we were to be too slow on ‘summit day’ and reached the summit too late we could be caught in an afternoon storm on the way down which could result in avalanches and blizzards. There are many medical conditions that could develop whilst climbing but all of us were fit and healthy so we just brushed them aside. There were so many things that could go wrong but we were all deluded by the magnificent views and the chance to achieve a life long dream.
It was the third day of climbing Everest and we were on time and making good progress. We were lucky because up to now the weather had been perfect and there had been no storms. Although the sun had done damage to my face as it was very sunburnt and painful to touch. I seemed to be the most badly burnt but I was the one with the fairest skin. As we progressed up the mountain all of us feeling a little tired, slightly bored of just endless snow hour after hour. We came across a flat stretch of land, which was a nice break after hours of uphill struggling. I had drifted to the back of the line with the other tired people, Gerard was right up front with two other men, Paul and Danny, and Susie who was the most athletic out of us woman. As they strode on ahead one of the woman who I was walking with had a problem as one of her rucksack straps had snapped. Me and the other three girls stopped while we tried to fix the bag. I shouted to Gerard to wait for a minute but he mustn’t have heard as he and the others carried on. About ten seconds later we heard the most chilling sound, it was a great cracking and smashing. My whole body was shaking; as I turned around to where Gerard, Danny, Paul and Susie were walking they had all disappeared. I stood up in disbelief and walked further towards where I had last seen them. In front of me I had seen what chilled my blood and made my legs turn week as I feel to my knees. A giant frozen over crevasse had fooled my friends, then when it couldn’t support their weight swallowed them as they helplessly fell into its icy stomach.
I peered over the edge where I seen Susie lying lifeless face down with a pool of crimson blood around her head, Danny staring right at me, his face was blue more blood than Susie growing around his head and dripping from his nose. Paul had no blood but it was clear to see he had broken his neck in the fall. My eyes searched desperately looking for Gerard, I tried to breath but I choked on the air, then I seen a hand, Gerard’s hand. I moved so I would be able to see him, but his body was hidden behind a rock. I called down to him, but the only reply I received was of my own echo. The other girls were all huddled together hysterically crying, each of their partners they had shared a tent with each night and become very close to were dead, killed by the unmerciful mountain. I focused on Gerard’s hand I didn’t want to give up hope. As I watched, his hand began to move, was he really alive? I shouted the other girls and they all said it was a miracle if he survived that fall but agreed his hand was definitely moving as a sign of life. I had to go down there, I had to save my love, my soul mate, if I didn’t have him I had nothing. The other girls helped attached all the ropes to my harness and the plan was I would abseil down to him and the others and would pull him back up with me. As I was lowered into the darkness I looked around, everything was covered in icicles; it looked like something from a horror movie, vicious spikes everywhere. It was a lot colder down there the only sunlight was from the top of the hole my hands shook, my hole body was quivering; not just with the temperature but the dead bodies I was surrounded by. When I reached the bottom I unhooked myself and ran over to Gerard. He was impaled on an icicle right through his stomach and his suit was covered in blood. His stomach looked like a volcano of blood spewing around the frozen solid spike. The sight made me gasp; I knew there was nothing I could do to save him. His eyes were open and he was conscious. My face was stinging with the salty tears, I was crying for my dying soul mate. I held his hand and told him he was going to be ok but he seen straight through my lies, “I’m going to die Sami, you know that just as well as I do.” I couldn’t accept he was going to die, “No, you can’t die, I can’t go on without you, please God let him live.” He squeezed my hand and told me I was endangering the rest of the team if I stay any longer as we needed to reach the next base before it went dark. “I can’t leave you here, not like this; I want to stay with you forever.” He smiled and put his hand on my cheek and wiped away the tears, but they were just replaced by new ones. Then he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small velvet box. “I was going to propose to you when reached the summit, but I can’t see that happening now, well, I hope it fits.” Then he handed over the box, I slowly opened it to reveal the most beautiful golden ring I had even seen. “Please go Sami, I haven’t got long left I’ll be ok, remember I love you more than anything.” My heart shattered by the thought of what could have been. I closed the box and put it into my pocket then I tried to fight back the tears and learnt over and as gently as I could kissed his forehead, then I whispered “I love you too.” And kissed his lips just like he did to me all them nights before I went to sleep, then I got up and slowly walked away. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do leave my dying love to die all alone on the cold harsh ice.
When the girls pulled me back up we had to make a decision, to abandon our life long dreams, or to carry on with the hope that’s what our deceased team mates would have wanted. We decided to carry on as we believed they would not have wanted us to turn back, I know Gerard wouldn’t want to me to give up. We set off again; it took us an hour to reach the last base before we reached the summit. It felt longer as we all walked in single file silently, even the snow didn’t seem to crunch beneath our feet as loud as usual, the wind just seemed to stop blowing, it was like the mountain was grieving with us.
The last stretch of the expedition was very quiet and solemn. My mind couldn’t get the images of Gerard out of my head. All of my dreams had been shattered in just a few tragic minutes. My body was numb the only pain I could feel was the unbearable pain in my heart. I fell behind as the others walked ahead; they all gasped as they reached the top and looked out over the view from the summit. There was something I had to do before I reached the summit though, I put my hand into my pocket and brought out the black velvet box, I took of my gloves, opened the box and carefully took the ring out and slid it onto my wedding finger. Then I closed the box put it back into my pocket and carried on to the summit.
