Page 5 of Mountain Struggle

She might not enjoy the trip down, but we can move her.

Time was of the essence now, however, as it’d be getting dark soon.

The man looked around nervously. “Is it just the two of you?” he asked, looking over the edge as if he expected a flying platform to appear and magically take them home.

“It’s just us. Don’t worry, Mr. Reeds, we know what we’re doing,” Damien said confidently. He focused on the woman again.

“Aline, I’m going to lift the leg of your pants and look at your ankle, okay?”

She nodded, clenching her jaw in preparation. As he’d expected, her ankle was swollen and extensively bruised. It was at least a Grade III sprain, but an X-Ray would be required to rule out an ankle fracture.

“Okay, good,” he said reassuringly. He dug into his first aid kit. “There isn’t much we can do up here to make you more comfortable, but I’m going to put an air splint around your ankle to immobilize it.”

Aline didn’t make a sound as he slid the splint on over her climbing shoe, but her nostrils flared visibly. She was in a lot of pain.

“Easy now, almost ready.” He kept his tone nice and easy. Talking to a rescue was an art—you had to find the right tone to soothe and inspire trust, but not sound patronizing.

While holding her ankle still, he cautiously zipped the splint up, then lowered his head and started blowing air into the inflation tube. He ignored her sharp inhale―he hated causing her pain, but this would make the way down more bearable.

“Can you get us down?” Aline asked, her fingers gripping his arm.

“We’re going to get you down,” he confirmed.

Behind him, Gael spoke softly to the man, draping a spare jacket around his shoulders. Damien realized he’d been so focused on the woman he hadn’t paid enough attention to the man, whose erratic behavior was indeed consistent with a mild case of hypothermia. He must have taken off his jacket and given it to his girlfriend at some point—God only knew how long he’d been sitting out here in just a T-shirt.

Damien nodded to Gael.

“Okay. We’re going to hook this rope to your harness, and we’re going to belay you down—one at a time. You don’t have to do anything—we’ll do all the work from here. Just relax and use your arms to push yourself away from the wall if you get too close.”

“I can’t … I don’t think I can do this.” The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

“I know you can do it, Mr. Reeds. And the time to do it is now. It’s seven-thirty. Soon it’ll be too dark to attempt it, and none of us are equipped to spend the night up here.”

As if on cue, the wind picked up. It got cold in the mountains as soon as the sun disappeared.

“Can’t you bring a helicopter to pick us up?”

Damien shook his head patiently. “There’s no place to land it, and no way to load you onto the helicopter safely. The helicopter is already waiting below to take you to the hospital.”

“Trust us, Mr. Reeds,” Gael said, looking up from the work he’d been doing preparing the ropes. “We’ve done this before.”

“It’ll be okay, honey,” the woman said. Despite her pain, it was clear she understood her boyfriend was in a worse place in his head. “You go first.”

Her words seemed to move her partner, and he shook his head immediately. “No. No. You’re hurt. You go first. I’ll be fine.”

We don’t have time for this.

“Let’s get you settled here, Aline,” Gael said, grabbing the coil of static line they’d brought and attaching it to her harness.

“Isn’t that rope too thin to be a climbing rope?” the man asked.

“It’s static line,” Gael explained patiently. “It’ll serve our purpose better here.”

“Are you ready?”

Damien lifted his radio and spoke with Drake below. “We’re going to belay them down, Drake. Be ready for them. Aline’s coming down first. She’s got a bad sprain on her left foot. We’ve immobilized it but she can’t put any weight on it.”

“Understood. Rémy and I will be ready for her.”