Making Memories, chapter 2

The cashier was sitting behind the counter at the circle K with both eyes on me as I scanned through the junk isle looking for just the right power food that would get me to the top of my red towering friend. The banana, powdered donuts and some choice beef jerky should do the trick. I’m sure that she thought that I would be running for the door at any minute. I looked as though I had been pan handling and hitch hiking my way across the country. She kept looking at my pockets to see if there was more there then should be and was surprised to see me pull from my pocket a wallet. Although Sedona Arizona has its share of long haired tree huggers, I on the other hand appeared to not have showered for months. The road does these kinds of things to a traveler.

  Until now my new climbing friends had little experience climbing. In fact, this trip was their first. Over the last few weeks they had learned knots and anchor building skills to prepare them for the climb to come. Rounding the corner to the canyon where my friend lived, jaws dropped. “That’s what were gonna climb!” Val and Nell would be watching from the ground with my red dog and were glad to be just watching when they saw the spire. Billy and Eric were in another vehicle and were all smiles when we parked.  The reason for the parking lot is the extravagant Church that was strategically built into the side of the cliff.  This would insure that we would be subject to hordes of curious tourists with their cameras and always the same question, “are you guys going all the way to the top?” Just once I would like to say” no, we plan on going half way up and turning back out of pure fear!” of course we’re going all the way to the top ! Although I am used to the attention, being a veteran climber, this was Billy’s and Eric’s first taste of rock stardom. Cameras flashed and the questions asked. The only thing we didn’t do was sign anything.

  With a hug and a kiss, I would assure my girl a safe return. A promise that I was not sure I could keep. What I didn’t know is that this would be the last time in our lives that we would all five be together as friends.

 Once we were on the trail and away from the crowds of people, I started to relax and tense up with every step. The crowds make me nervous but the spire scares the hell out of me. It didn’t used to. Much older and a little out of shape, I found the approach hike a bit harder then I remembered. The unmarked trail climbs several hundred feet and takes us into a saddle between two towering red monoliths that stand like guards to the garden of the gods. After navigating the slick rock slabs and large stands of prickly pare cactus, were rewarded with a taste of what the true summit has to offer peering into a valley that is bordered by Walls of yellow and red.

 A committing scramble takes us to a small ledge where a lone juniper calls home. Having lived there for as many years as only he knows, we are only visitors.  From this ledge there is a fifty foot drop into the prickly pare patch that would surely leave a mark if one were to fall. A series of narrow ledges the width of a phone book takes us around to the front of the spire and end, leaving us two hundred feet from the base and several hundred feet to the desert floor with nowhere to go but up. Smiles abound and in this minute I am in my element. Few things in life can make me feel as complete as how I feel when I am high on a vantage point with a birds eye view. As climbers we put each others lives in each others hands and I find myself a bit disoriented and unsure of my next move. This makes my partners a bit un-nerved until I find my head and leave them with the sight of the bottom of my feet before I disappear from their sight and into the blue sky. Now only my labored breathing tells them that I am up there somewhere. Billy follows with ease and joins me on a large ledge just one rope length from the top. Like little boys in a candy store, we cannot chisel the smiles from our faces.  Coming close to falling on the next pitch, I get a reminder of the danger involved in my chosen sport. The desert spire doesn’t give up its gems so easily and challenges me with a small overhanging section just twenty feet from the top. When my friends join me on the top we are rewarded with a most unforgettable gift, As Mother Nature flaunts panoramas of desert rock spires as red as pools of blood. In the far distance we see distant walls colored yellow and red, skirted by the dark greens of pine and juniper that carpet the desert floor.  I have never seen my friends smile as big as I did that day. I could die that day and die a happy man. Knowing that I was able to share something that is so precious to me with my new friends. An experience that they will take with them to the grave and remember as one of the greatest days of their lives, as will I. In the distance a Cessna approaches at eye level and spies us. He rocks his wings in a mock wave to say hello and waves are returned by us. After a short meal, two rappels deposit us back to our juniper tree where our packs are waiting. Being the last to touch foot to ledge I break my own cardinal rule and declare our ascent a success before I have retrieved the ropes from above. I pull the rope through the anchor and call out to my partners that the rope is falling. If you are struck by a falling rope, you will never forget it.  

The falling rope lands on a small ledge one hundred feet directly over my head.  Giving it little thought, I flick the rope to continue its fall. The ropes ledge was not a ledge at all but a cluster of boulders just waiting to be dislodge by such a mistake. Billy and Eric are busy packing gear to my left as I face the wall ,eyes wide in denial that hundreds of pounds of rock have just been dislodged. I have a fraction of a second to make a decision that may save their lives and cost me mine and without thought I call out at the top of my lungs “RRROOOCK!”I freeze but for a second as I see boulders the size of large televisions and microwave ovens zooming in on my location like heat seeking missiles. With a fifty foot drop at my back I have nowhere to go! I press my body against the wall and look to my left and see my partners have found a safe spot. I clench my teeth and squeeze my eyes shut in anticipation to the coming pain. It felt like a lifetime of horror while I felt and heard rock exploding all around me. I could feel the shockwaves of impacts that would come close but only pepper me with shards as boulders exploded! Billy would later tell me of a large boulder exploding inches above my head into thousands of pieces. And again I would cheat death. The experience was a true lesson to my new partners, to the seriousness of our ascent. And a reminder to me.

 The hike down would catch us chasing the light and find me falling head first into a thorn bush from a ten foot drop. Like a pin wheel with arms and legs flailing and several swear words for affect, the mountain gave me one last punch.

 Staggering from the trees by head lamp at last light, I was met with hugs and kisses from both girl and dog. They had lost radio contact with us and told stories of groups of tourist watching our ascent through binoculars.

   Although we would all choose different paths in life, these memories will live forever more in our hearts, they will define who we are as individuals and what our friendships mean to each other. We will all be characters in each others story with our own perspectives but this story is mine. For some they will be the happiest days of our lives. When we lived for the moment and traveled the road and let the road take us where ever it would. And for others it will be just the beginning of many memories to come.

 

Reviews

[Carole]

Wow, and make memories you did. I cannot even imagine rock climbing. I am not fond of heights, so a-no....that won't ever happen, but I sure did enjoy reading about your experience. Boulders exploding over your head were a bit much. :-) Ugh! There was a touch of humor in this piece and it added to your piece.
I love this:

This would insure that we would be subject to hordes of curious tourists with their cameras and always the same question, "are you guys going all the way to the top?" Just once I would like to say" no, we plan on going half way up and turning back out of pure fear!" of course we're going all the way to the top !

How often I have felt like responding in similar ways when asked questions like this one!

Absolutely loved your ending. Dynamite!

Although we would all choose different paths in life, these memories will live forever more in our hearts, they will define who we are as individuals and what our friendships mean to each other. We will all be characters in each others story with our own perspectives but this story is mine. For some they will be the happiest days of our lives. When we lived for the moment and traveled the road and let the road take us where ever it would. And for others it will be just the beginning of many memories to come.

Excellent write. Kudos ML!

[Mistral Bilgera]

I've finished the two chapters of "Making Memories" and it was a very pleasant read! Full of imagery and description of the plot, it is efficient in the sense that it enables the reader to feel like he/she was part of the whole thing. Despite minimal grammatical errors (sorry, i can't help it... but the errors are actually forgivable. haha! ), Your story is beautiful, and a worthy read!

thank you so much for sharing. i hope to read more from you soon. :)