“Aww, fuck.”
The crack was petering out. One foot jammed directly below her, the other smearing on the face of the cliff, she was rapidly running out of handholds.
This particular cliff face had seemed like a good idea. It looked fine from the bottom, had a nice boulder to anchor to when they got to the top, but now, forty feet up, she was unsure where to go, and down was getting farther and farther away.
It looked as though there might be a hold to her right. She carefully extricated her right hand from its pinch hold in the crack and delicately leaned out, counter-balancing with her left foot. Just a little more… and she had it! That got her another half-meter up. But now she was stuck again.
Just a few centimeters beyond her reach, she thought she saw a jug. A giant hold to grab onto with both hands, she could pull herself up and get some protection in the rock.
She glanced down to her partner. “Slack,” she called to him, asking him to giver her more rope. Bracing herself, she jumped.