The Third Man

Chapter 7 - Realization

Finally after going in and out of consciousness, Peter was awake. He had not drifted off in his sleep to the other world, as he had imagined. He felt it all, the pain, the cold. His legs felt heavy, difficult to move. He somehow sat straight back up and examined his wound. The bandage in his left arm was red with blood and solidified. Although his wound had stopped bleeding, his arm had lost sensation but it was holding better than he had expected. He had realised one thing, overpowering the pain in his damaged hand, was the first step to get out of the crevasse. He sat up, back against the wall. He was terribly thirsty. He looked around for his bag, took out the water flask, gulped down the last two mouthfuls of water left, wanting more. He scraped the ice from the surface, filled the bottle of alcohol with it, and placed it inside his clothes. His body revolted as soon as it made contact with the bottle. He fetched anti biotics from his bag. After an hour there was enough water for his capsule. He put the rest of the water in the flask, filled the bottle again with ice and placed it back beneath his clothes. He ate a pack of biscuits to subside his hunger and felt better instantly.

He checked his bag for remaining food. If he used it judiciously, it could last a week. Apart from that he had his sleeping bags, torch, few batteries, first kit, lighters, swiss knife and other things. He stood up, found ground beneath his legs, adjusted himself and started surveying the area he had fallen into. He took careful small steps, not wanting any more surprises. The place was huge, and dark and he felt a cold chill down his spine making him scared. He moved back in the other direction, the crevasse had an end with the two walls converging. He could use the support of two walls, along with his ice axe, crampons and ropes to get out. So he picked up his axe and hammered a powerblow to the wall, the pincered axe went right into the wall. He tried putting his weight on the axe.

Good enough.

But he knew that he couldn't use the axe with his left. Maybe he could hold the axe with a lot of pain, but hammering it into the wall was an entirely different thing. He had to make a decision, either to wait for help or get out of here himself.

He chose the latter.

He decided to make hollow shapes in the ice walls, where he could place his feet and hand and climb out. The crevasse was 38 feet deep, and he would have to make 2 holes every feet. The plan was made, he had the tools, but it was easier said then done.

He started on the first one, digging out the ice. After about an hour he had carved one. It looked solid enough to hold his weight. Then he carved a second, it took less time. And then motivated, he went on for the third and fourth.

He stepped on the holes, climbed up and started hammering the ice. After 15 minutes of digging he lost his footing and fell down. He hardly fell few inches but he realized it was easier to dig with his feet on ground than in the ice wall.

He came up with another idea. Tying a rope around his waist, and the end to ice screw, he anchored the screw to the ice wall. By the end of the day he had made substantial gain, making 12 holes in the wall. At this pace he would be able to get out of the crevasse in 3 days. Things were looking up, and for the first time the thought of not surviving had ceased to exist in his mind.

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