Reach.

My hand stretches. Fingertips finally brushing the rock, they curl around its edge and pull. The entire weight of my body being pulled up a cliff side by the tips of my fingers. God that’s a powerful feeling.

Having successfully pulled myself up to the outcrop, I rest against the cliff face, dipping my hands into my chalk bag. My entire body is dripping with sweat, can’t let the hands get slippery.

Rested, time to start again.

Left hand up. Right foot up. Right hand up. Left foot up. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

The work gets a bit monotonous but I don’t realize it until my right hand grabs a jagged rock that comes out of the cliff as I let it have my weight.

I fall.

Luckily I only fall as far as the length of my left arm. That grip holds.

STUPID !, runs through my head as I glance behind me. Gorgeous view. Not quite ‘majestic’. Also not worth dying for, though they say the one at the top is. Let’s find out.

I swing my right arm back up, looking for another handhold.