Novelas y relatos de Mountaineering Stories

"Back in the day, I used to get bored, so I’d hit the road. Now, with the hospital, I don't really have the time." I rested my chin in my hand, watching him stir the pot. "You must have seen some crazy things, right? An experience that really stuck with you?" He paused, his eyes drifting. "Once, I was lost in the mountains when a storm broke out. The tent almost blew away, and I was soaked to the bone trying to secure everything in total darkness. I thought it was the end of the world. But the next morning... when the sun rose over the forest, washed clean by the rain... I felt like all my stress and my problems had evaporated with the water."

The mountain is called Despair, so why would a man in his right mind climb to the top, where the lost causes live? The mountains are usually cold and dark. The ground is uneven, hard and the path is full of slippery stones. The closed forest covers the man's face with branches and insects. Insects bite you and the branches scratch. Hands, eyes, face, legs, no exposed skin was spared. The animals make strange noises to try to remove the strange man from his territory.

The night is still young when we reached the borderline of the remote area that we’ve just visited. Alpha Antonio needed to make some conversations with the mountain people before they let us pass and enter one of the dangerous mountains in the eastern country. Yes. Most dangerous and mysterious because of the old-wives tales that have been circulating for over a century now. My mom used to tell me not to cross into this mountain alone and without enough strength to defend myself. She warned me and yet, here I am walking further into the darkness, trying to figure out what this land is trying to hide from the realm of the world.

"Let's get down the mountain." I reached up. Our fingers touched. His were cold. Mine were cold. Neither of us could feel the difference. "You died," I said. He looked at our hands, locked together through the thin, cold air. "So did you." He pulled me up. The storm had stopped. The mountain was silent. And side by side, two dead climbers began their long walk home. They say seven people went to climb a snow mountain. No one ever came down.

As I’m running I feel a sharp, burning pain go through my side and as I fall to the ground I hear someone shout, “I hit one, she’s down” I can hear footsteps hurriedly making their way towards me, I crawl a ways ahead of me and find the edge of a cliff. It’s too dark, there’s no way to know how far down it goes. I decide to take my chances and drag myself over the edge. I fall down a ways and land on a ledge that gives way under my weight and I slide down the side of the mountain. ***

I stared at the high mountain, it felt like a death sentence to climb it and I was even more worried about tripping because of my large body. “Common, I’ll tell you stories as we climb” He urged and I exhaled as I began climbing and honestly mountain climbers have got to be superheroes because I just left the group yet I’m panting heavily and sweating profusely, it feels like I’ve been walking for ages nonstop. “Do you know that I used to get bullied in the past?” He yelled from the top, goddess alone could understand how he managed to maneuver his way around so fast. Even after spending a year climbing this mountain, it would still take me minutes to make it up there. His words stunned me.

Raina I couldn't speak when I saw that Evo and Tom would be our hiking guides. They are our team leaders too, and we need to follow whatever they say for our safe ascent of Mount Hilag. Since when did Evo become interested in mountain climbing? Ever since I met him, I had never heard him talk about his interest in hiking, so I was really surprised when I saw him as I stepped out of the hut. But I was glad that he could do this kind of tiring hobby, meaning his legs were totally healed.

Alina pov By the time we returned, night had already fallen. My shoulders felt light, still wrapped in the afterglow of our outing. Valerian had taken me mountain climbing and skydiving. It was easily one of the best experiences of my life. Standing at the peak of a mountain, screaming into the open sky without a care in the world, then plummeting through the air only to bounce back up—it was wild, freeing, and so alive. I’d had so much fun, I hadn’t even noticed the sun had dipped below the horizon. We had to cut the adventure short and return back.

They made a small fortune selling their wares to the merchants of Free Hold; a fortune they would drink and whore away during their sojourn there. The legend went that they had become trapped on the high mountains by an early winter storm coming in from the east. With the cold and sleet cutting into flesh, they were forced ever westward. Running before the storm they followed the path of migrating animals. Days of cold, catching sleep when they could, moving so as not to perish, it was some time before they realized they were on the lee of the storm sheltered by the pitched contours and jagged heights of mountain peaks. Bone weary, they fell where they stopped and slept for a full day.

The wind howled like a beast outside the narrow crevice in the granite face of Mount Eiger, whipping snow into a whiteout frenzy. Max Gavvy, 35, a veteran guide with a scarred face from too many close calls, pressed his back against the icy rock. His thermal layers clung to his broad frame, but the cold seeped through, numbing his fingers. Beside him, Freda Millie, 28, a software engineer turned amateur mountaineer, huddled close, her dark curls matted under her hood, cheeks flushed from the brutal ascent.