LIVES

TYLER Part 1

The rock has no feeling. The rock has no memories. The rock is just here.

These thoughts swam through Tyler's mind as he clung to the sheer granite cliff as his left hand slowly crept above his head searching for any irregularity in the smooth face. Any nubbin. Any crack no matter how small that would allow him to make small progress up the mountain. Was he wishing too hard or did his finger brush against a thin crack in the otherwise glass-like granite.

With his right hand, Tyler removed a small nut-shaped object attached to a cable and shoved it into the thin crack. He then placed a carabina in the cable and fastened his climbing rope. He then straightened his knees and stood on the small rough knob of granite he had found earlier.

With his left hand holding the safety chock's cable Tyler placed his feet flat on the rock face and leaned back surveying the face above where he stood. 

A small crack, wide enough for his fist, was visible about fifteen feet above him with nothing else to mar the granite. Tyler took a deep breath, let go of the cable, chalked his hands from the bag at his side, and literally moved up the cliff like a spider clinging to the rock. Any hesitation. Any false move. Any contemplation other than to keep moving in a fluid motion would result in Tyler's falling. Two minutes and he jammed his fist into the crack and hung like a sack while his left hand removed a large chock and placed it in the crack just above his fist. Once the chock was placed and his rope threaded through the carabina he began the slow ascent of the crack.

five feet from the top of the cliff the crack thinned to a hairline fissure in the rock and turned abruptly to Tyler's left. With his left hand and both feet pressed into the crack, he placed a wafer-thin piton in it and using his hammer pounded it securely in. Once his rope was through this carabiner he pulled his climbing rope as tight as he could with his right hand and moved his body until he was completely horizontal. Tyler reached over the lip of the cliff and felt for and found a small nubbin of rock. Holding that tight in his hand he swung first his left leg and then his right over the top. He then lay on his back staring up at the cloudless blue sky above him.

A familiar odor reached his nostrils and turning his head to the right saw his wife sitting on a picnic blanket munching on a piece of fried chicken.

"What kept you? she asked in a mocking voice.

"I found a few tricky pitches on the way up. Got any picnic left for me? Or did you eat everything while you sat here all comfy?"

"There is plenty left for you", she said.

Tyler got up, kissed his wife, and smiled knowing that she got here by driving along the ridgeline road that the forest service had constructed. Then he dove into the picnic.