Yosemite Fall (National Park Mystery Series) by Scott Graham

Author:Scott Graham [Graham, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781937226886
Publisher: Torrey House Press
Published: 2018-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

15

The spectators gasped when Alden lowered the sheet for the start of round three. In addition to the two previous gaps on the route, he had removed a number of holds to create an even larger blank space near the top of the tower. The distance from the hold at the bottom of the new gap to the nearest hold at its top was nearly three feet, and the hold at the top of the gap consisted of only a tiny nubbin of molded resin.

“Whoa,” a YOSAR team member muttered, looking up at the route.

“No way, dude,” breathed another.

Alden tensed and looked to Jimmy questioningly. Leaning on his crutches amid the onlookers, Jimmy raised a thumb to him in reassurance.

At the foot of the tower, Alden raised and lowered his broad shoulders, loosening his muscles. “Okay, then,” he said. He cleared his throat and, referring to his clipboard, addressed the spectators with a raised voice. “First up for round three: Thomas Reynolds, Oxnard, California.”

A male climber rounded the tower. He locked his eyes on the blank space near the top of the wall as he powdered his hands with chalk from his waist bag, then began to climb.

Chuck leaned forward, anxious to see how the initial third-round competitor would cope with the tough, new route. The Oxnard climber had lifted himself past the two smaller blank spots on the wall with no apparent trouble during his second-round climb. He did so again this time. But when he came to the newly added gap near the top of the tower, he stopped, his fingers and toes perched on small holds beneath the bare section of wall. He leaned his head back, eyeing the tiny hold at the top of the blank space.

“You can do it, Tommy,” a woman’s voice called from among the onlookers.

The climber launched himself upward from the holds below the gap. He stretched his right hand high above his head, his fingers straining to reach the small hold, but his upward momentum stalled with his fingers an inch below the nubbin. He hung suspended in midair for a millisecond, then fell away from the wall. The auto-belay device caught him, halting his downward trajectory, and the automatic brake on the mechanism kicked in, lowering him down the face of the tower as he hung limply from the rope, his head down and his arms at his sides.

As the third round progressed, a handful of climbers, all of them male, managed the powerful move required to overcome the uppermost blank space on the wall and secure a grip on the tiny hold above it. Each of the successful climbers continued onward after that, reaching the top of the tower to remain in the competition.

Thirty minutes into round three, with only a few climbers still waiting their turn, Alden called out, “And now, our teeniest, tiniest contestant, coming to us all the way from Durango, Colorado. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to little Miss Carmelita Ortega!”

“¡Ándale, Carmelita!” one of the park workers from the campground cried out.

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