A Precarious Climb
As my friends and I drove up to the lake, we already knew we were going to have an adventurous day. My friend, Todd’s dark blue Audi S4 rolled up to the parking spaces, feeling the cruddy parking job of a 16 year old I readied my self self to rush out of his car. Taking off my seat belt, I sprung out of the car and wrestled some sandwiches and sodas out of the trunk of the car, and dashed toward the lake. As I took off towards the lake,I heard my friends running out of the car and the reassuring beep of the car lock. Finally I stopped and looked back, only to see my friends pass me and with the feeling of summer on my back. I took off after them. In seconds, my friends in I stopped and beheld the emerald shimmering lake before us, and the the rocky face of the large hill behind it. Then, with a deep breath, we set off walking towards the small dock with a canoe and paddle boat.
After our sprint to the dock, we set down all of our precious food, and readied ourselves to spring into the cool lake. With a deep breath,Todd and I ran at the lake and disturbed the tranquil surface of the lake. Feeling the cold water rush past my ears and body, I braced myself against the piercing cold. With a few stroke upwards, Todd and I surfaced and waved at our other two friends to come in, but they shook their heads, grinning mischievously, and ran off. Utterly confused, we just ignored their antics, and started swimming slowly to the other side of the lake. After Todd and I were a quarter of the way to the other side, we heard something chugging along, looking back to the greetings of our two lazy friends David and Dom. Todd yelled over to them,”I bet we can beat you to the other side!” With obviously hints of merriment and laughter, David and Dom replied with amused faces,“It’s on!” Todd and I were stroking as hard as we could, but once we were close to the rock face on the other side of the lake, we heard the paddle boat about to pass, and Todd and I were overcome by a wave of green froth from the speeding boat.
“Eh, we lost. Hey Todd, do you wanna climb up that,” I said pointing at the cliffs at the opposite bank of the lake. Within minutes, we met David and Dom at the other side of the lake Todd leading, we took off up the steep path, and we shortly found ourselves facing a large dirt hill. Using all four limbs, we continued onwards towards the top of the quarry, but as we kept hiking, we realized that we had destroyed all the footholds along the way, making it difficult for the person in the back of the pack to hike without falling.
“Hey guys, I can’t really climb up this, I’m too heavy for the dirt, I’m just gonna turn around,” Dom whined, being stuck in the back..
“Dom, if you wanna be a baby you can, but come on. It’s not that dangerous,” David said, trying to convince Dom to come with us. But instead of agreeing with David, Dom headed back, feeling the urge to sit around and do nothing. David, Todd, and I looked disapprovingly at Dom, and pressed on towards the top. After about fifteen minutes of hiking, we came to a rock face and we realized had reached a major obstacle. While we each sat on our respective dirt mounds, we realized that even if we decided not to cross the rock face, we couldn’t turn back dude to the destruction of all the footholds, and many dirt pathways. So we sat thinking of new tactics of crossing a smooth angled surface that was 40 feet long. OUt of nowhere, Todd leading the pack, he jumped off of his perch, down the cliff, but he luckily lands on a tinny ledge, using several small rocks to steady himself. Then he yelled up at us “Use my feet as footholds, and find a way across,” Nimbly, I moved from one plateau to another, but when I put all my weight on the plateau, it gave out under neath me. I clawed frantically for some sort of grip,but I slid farther down. Luckily, David was attentive and grabbed me before I fell the rest of the way down. He heaved me up and I nodded my gratitude, before using some scarce shrubs and bushes to pull myself up. Then I peeked down the cliff, and slowly sled myself down, and came to rest resting on Todd’s foot and some rocks.Looking around, I searched for a way to get back up towards top side of the quarry. I figured out a plan after observing my surroundings I saw some plants we were able to grab onto, so I slowly swung over, and scampered and jumped over smooth areas without footholds, and I finally found my self on the other side. With my heart racing, I look up, breathless, and beckon David to go the way I came.
As David made his way down, I realized how precarious the climb was from one ledge tp the other. While David made his way across, he seemed shaky, and by the time he made it to the ledge he looked exhausted. And as he was about to jump for the platform, his legs gave out, and in an instant he almost tumbled to his death, but with one hand he grabbed a bush and with the other, I helped pull him up. Then, watched Todd take off from the side of the rock face, and sprint across, and before the soil could give out from underneath him, he jumped and we swung him up. Then we began the leisurely climb to the top.
After five minutes, we reached the top and we out upon the lake and admired how we climbed to the top, facing near death experiences. When we looked out at the lake,I realized how much good friends and teamwork mattered, and how I would have been severely injured or dead without the help of my friends, and myself to them.
