Читать книгу Edge of the Map. The Mountain Life of Christine Boskoff онлайн

34 страница из 82

Unaccustomed to having a climbing companion able to keep pace with him, Keith found his passion for the sport and Chris growing exponentially. Chris continued to push herself and often hiked to the limits of her ability to build endurance. Glancing behind his shoulder on one of their weekend training sessions, Keith noted the look of frustration on Chris’s face. He forged ahead as she tried to keep up, tripping over rocks as her legs felt heavy. He told a fourth, then fifth story about a climb he’d enjoyed. Each story had a goofy sidebar punctuated by hand gestures and impressions.

“Come on, Chris. Not much longer,” he said. “Turnaround point is just up over this ridgeline.”

“I’m fine,” she said, in an unconvincing tone.

He stopped and turned, shifting from storyteller to cheerleader. Chris slumped onto a boulder, unlacing her boots.

“Look, this isn’t going to happen overnight,” he told her. “You’ve been sitting in a cubicle at Lockheed for two years. Don’t expect so much from yourself.”