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

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Crampons digging into snow and ice, the last stretch of the ascent tested each of them. Snowpack from recent days required breaking more trail than they’d expected. As they cleared the final hundred feet, a hypoxic fog covered Chris’s brain in a way new to her. Channeling Keith, she willed herself forward.

By 10:00 a.m., the climbers stood atop the wide apex of Broad Peak. Chris had summited her first 8,000-meter peak. She looked across at the swath of mountains, which included K2, where Alison Hargreaves and Peter Hillary were climbing at that exact moment. The view also included Gasherbrum I and II, favorites of Keith. Glancing down at the Baltoro Glacier and then to base camp, she hoped Keith was recovered enough to look up at her with the telescope.

“Congrats, Chris!” A member of the expedition offered his hand and she shook it.

“Hell yes, you did it!” Scott added. “How does it feel?”

“It feels awesome, and you were right—there’s nothing like it.”

Scott grinned at her, then checked with the members of his group. “Ready to go down? The weather’s held, but it looks like it might change.” The landscape of the Karakoram could be placid one moment, volatile the next. Competing air masses could strike each other at any time with no regard for who was on these mountains, nor the victories they’d achieved. Chris had suceeded on her first 8,000-meter summit, but all she could think about was how cold she was and getting back to Keith.