Sappho's Commando

THREE (ISELEN POV)

"Careful... Careful!"

"What the actual fuck!" Tara yells landing on her ass on the snow next to me, getting rid of the rope as soon as possible so our next mate can rappel down from the helicopter. "What an asshole! Even a monkey wearing glasses made of wood would do it better. Try to keep it steady!"

"The pilot can't hear you," I yell to be heard over the engine noise.

"I know, but at least I can get it out of my chest," the lieutenant answers moving a step back to leave room for Hannah who's landing next to us. One by one, all the girls rappel down carrying their backpacks and I can finally wave my hand at the helicopter to tell them to go back to the headquarters before grabbing the radio.

"Command, Alpha red."

"Command."

"We got to the SP." (*Start point)

"Roger, Alpha red. Silence, silence, silence."

"Roger, Command. Out." I sigh, shoving the radio back in my pocket and looking at my watch. "We're on our own from now on, ladies. No communications unless there's an emergency. We still have three hours of sunlight, I suggest advancing as much as possible before looking for a good place to set a camp tonight. Who has the map?"

"I have it," Dakota answers showing me the piece of paper protected by a plastic cover. "We have two options: climb up this mountain and walk along the ridge to the next one or go down to this valley and climb up later to reach this mountain pass. This second route looks easier but I think it's longer."

"Yes, but there'll be more snow piled up in the valley, it'll be difficult to move if our boots sink into the snow with every step we take," I answer staring at the map, pensively, and the girls nod while checking if the crampons are tightly tied to their feet. "I think it's better if we go up now since we're not that tired, we'll sleep closer to the summit and will face the ridge after the sunrise. Let's go."

My team mates start walking on the white snow, quietly, one foot in front of the other, carefully so they don't slip and fall while the ice cold wind whips our faces. We all know that we must adjust to a rhythm that will be easy to maintain for a long period of time so I decide not to put pressure on them to move faster, distances between slopes and snow couloirs can be tricky. Minutes tick by and turn into an hour, we're breathing heavily but never stop despite our legs are getting sore and the path becomes steeper. The landscape doesn't change while the sky gets dark, everything is white and grey around us, snow and rocks, dull and boring. I get the impression that we don't move on, that we'll never reach the summit, but that's normal when walking through the mountains in these circumstances.

Dakota leads the team, holding her ice axe, and we all step on her footprints in areas where the snow is soft. I grimace, worried about the avalanche risk. The slope is moderate and the first lieutenant starts climbing up diagonally, zigzagging, using the ice axe as a walking stick, sticking it in the snow every two steps. It's getting darker, our legs feel heavy and sore and we'll have to stop soon, so I start looking for a perfect camp site. Dakota points at a big grey rock a few meters above us that will protect us from the wind and an avalanche. I show her my thumb up and she nods, guiding us to the base. Time seems to stretch, eternal, while we walk the last steps.

"Nice spot, we can lean our backs on the rock wall comfortably," I whisper and they all nod, standing behind me, catching their breaths for a second, before dropping their backpacks on the ground.

"It's cold but not raining our snowing, that's a good thing," Hanna takes a look around, hesitating. "We don't have tents but there's a tarp to build a small shelter in my backpack, at least, we'll have a roof over our heads... it'll be useful if a rock rolls down the slope. Bring me some ropes, Dakota."