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

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“It’s . . . I’m looking at about a fifteen-hundred-foot slide path, and I see something at the very end of it,” said Scott. “Oh god, I think it’s a body.” He stepped away from the telescope, giving others a turn to confirm. One by one, the group verified what they saw. A body was lying in a snowfield, most likely having been picked off the summit of K2 in high winds and tossed down the slope. Another day would pass until the body’s distinctive clothing would be identified by teammates as that of Alison Hargreaves.

Chris squinted into the telescope at two figures digging in the snow at a point lower on the mountain. Her gaze stayed fixed, hoping it was only an illusion. She stepped away, horrified. The climbers were digging a grave for another teammate, further driving home the danger of this sport.

As their Broad Peak expedition closed out, Chris knew several things to be true. Her skills as a climber were exceeding Keith’s, as she noted in journal entries referencing her conflicted desire to begin climbing routes she knew he was incapable of. She realized that, unlike Alison, she was limited in her ability to climb and be a parent, later telling a reporter she couldn’t envision having children at that moment in time—“I don’t even own a plant!” she’d said. As for her own family, Chris’s parents were ever-present in her mind.