Four o'clock came and the weather was no better. The rain was coming down hard and the thunder hadn't let up. Every once in a while the sky lit up from a flash of lightning off in the distance. The guides were still hopeful that it would calm down, so everyone continued to relax. Once 5:00 a.m. rolled around with no significant break in the weather, the talk started to turn to the possibility that a summit attempt may not be possible. The main problem was the lightning. It is extremely dangerous to be out on the mountain with all your metal gear acting as a magnet. Protection can be hard to come by in such an exposed area. Climbers have died on the mountain when caught in a quick forming thunderstorm.";
var grand2_SAMPLE = "The Grand Revisited
I had been a little worried about this particular part of the route ever since Wes described it to us the evening before. All I remembered Wes saying was something about a blind corner and not having any holds. We stopped for a moment so Wes could briefly tell us the plan once we made it onto the ridge. We were roped together with Wes leading and me bringing up the rear. Wes went around the corner and out of our sight, but was on the other side in no time. He shouted some instructions to my father about what to do with his hands and feet. Wes had assured us that he would have us if we slipped. My father then disappeared around the corner. I could no longer see him, so I couldn't tell where he was placing his hands and feet. Finally, he was on the other side with Wes. It was my turn now." +
"
I was nervous because I don't like exposure, and when I started to go around the ledge, I could see the substantial drop-off. As I maneuvered around the rock, I saw my father belaying me. He wasn't too far away, but all of a sudden I couldn't find a route to take. With my two feet and left hand securely on the rock, I reached around with my right arm to find a new handhold. When I couldn't find one, I tried to find a good foothold for my right foot, but again, I couldn't find any. I rhetorically stated that there was no place for me to go. I didn't know what to do. Obviously, Wes and my father had made it, so why was I having such a problem? My mind was spinning at a hundred miles an hour trying to find a way across. I didn't want to hold up our progress so soon into the climb. I heard my father say something to the effect that I just needed to get over to the rock that he was on, and I would find a good handhold and foothold. I am not sure how, but I finally made it, and we were all on the ridge, ready to proceed.";
var montblanc_SAMPLE = "Mont Blanc
We continued our descent in a relaxed mood. Although worn out from a long day, I felt good. The snow, albeit very cold, felt refreshing. We had come around to the front side of the Aiguille du Tour and still had a while to go before getting back to the hut when it happened." +
"
When we had started our descent, we roped up in the same order as we had when ascending: Richard, myself, and Andy bringing up the rear. The slope we were walking on was at a low angle, and as we traversed it, my leg suddenly broke through the snow. My left leg was fully extended through the snow, while my butt sat on the snow's surface. My right leg stayed firmly on the snow but was now in a crouched position. At first I wasn't sure what had happened, but then it occurred to me that I had broken through the edge of a snow bridge that was covering a crevasse. Richard had already crossed this same spot with no indication of what lay beneath. Andy was behind me about five feet, and when I fell through, he stopped dead in his tracks. As I peered through the hole created by my leg, all I could see was a black void. Nothing visual gave me an indication as to the crevasse's depth, but for some reason I sensed that it was only a few feet wide. As I looked at Andy, it appeared that he was standing on the snow bridge over the crevasse as well, and I told him as much. As I sat there in this awkward position, I just started to laugh. It didn't feel like I was going to fully break through the snow, so we took it as an unexpected rest break. Since Richard didn't seem too concerned with the situation, I didn't feel any great sense of urgency to move. After I extricated myself and we continued, Andy crossed the area in a few quick steps. That was about as eventful as it got-a humorous event in a long and tiring day.";
var matterhorn_SAMPLE = "The Matterhorn
The sun shone brightly as we headed up the ridge, which straddled the upper portion of the north and east faces. I was pretty winded but still felt good. We then came upon the ladder. As we approached it, the ladder was to the left of us, and a fixed rope sat a couple of feet to its right. Thomas quickly got over the ledge using his left hand on the ladder and his right hand on the rope. He had done this countless times and he was able to ascend with such fluidity. As I approached the bottom of the ladder and rope, I decided that " +
"I would try to emulate Thomas's route up. I grabbed part of the ladder with my left hand and then grabbed the rope with my right. I tried to ascend, but I couldn't. It felt very awkward to me, and soon all of my arm strength was sapped. I decided to ditch that plan, and try to ascend just using the ladder. It was not any better. I was totally drained. All I had to do was pull myself up just a little so that I could get my feet on this other rock. Here I was, no strength left, with my arm curled around the lower rung, swinging slightly back and forth, since the ladder was not secured at the bottom. It must have been a sad-looking sight. I couldn't see Thomas, as he was on the other side of the ledge, but out of nowhere I heard him say, 'What is the matter, Peter? Climb!'" +
" I thought that this was it. Climbing the Matterhorn was going to end here of all places, because I couldn't get over the ledge using an artificial aid. Not making the summit because of excessive ice or technical climbing difficulties was one thing, but this was just plain silly. I didn't know what to do. I then realized that there was another climbing party just below me. The other guide was right at my feet trying to give me some instructions on how to get up. I felt pretty embarrassed. Thomas said something else, which I couldn't make out, and I kind of desperately stated, 'Just a second, I need to rest.' Finally, about a minute later, I was able to get myself up and over. I let out a sigh of relief and then mumbled a few obscenities at myself. If my attempt had ended there, I don't know how I would have faced Andy, or anyone else at home.";
var kenya_SAMPLE = "Mt. Kenya
As we started to climb, I realized that it was much more technically challenging than I had anticipated. There were plenty of hand- and footholds, but they were not always in the best or most convenient places. In several areas, we had to traverse the rock face rather than climb straight up. These traverses proved quite scary because they usually involved some exposure, and the protection was set up so that if you fell, you essentially would swing like a pendulum and most likely encounter an unpleasant impact. The exposure was greater than I would have liked in some spots. Most places had straight drop-offs. " +
"We came across one section where it began with a traverse, but then I had to turn around and step out from the mountain along a small slab of rock. The rock slab turned downward as I moved away from the mountain, and at the end of the rock, it just dropped straight down. I felt as if I was going to walk right off of the mountain. We had to get to the end of the rock slab in order to navigate around a corner. I took baby steps as I moved down the rock, " +
"and when I came to the corner, I couldn't find a way around it. The rope would have saved me from a free fall, but I didn't want to experience the drop and inevitable impact with the rock face. There were some old slings attached to a bolt that I used to maintain my balance so I could get a better look around the corner. Eventually I made it around, only to face a scary vertical climb that looked exceptionally tough. Charles paused and rerouted himself several times on the pitch. I knew that if he had issues finding a good route, it would be worse for us, even after seeing his line of ascent.";
var cayambe_SAMPLE = "Cayambe
We finally came to a slope that was easily the steepest one we had come across. It was at least fifty degrees, maybe more. Hernan announced that this was it. The top of this slope would give way to the summit. It didn't seem too high, but it was indeed steep. We had to climb the slope at an angle rather than head-on due to the area where Hernan wanted to gain the summit. Fortunately, the snow on the slope was fairly thick, and the crampons stuck in nicely. I tried to follow Hernan's steps as much as possible because he would create a natural step for me. In some places, however, my leg would sink deep into the snow. This made the ascent a little more tiring. " +
"About halfway up, Hernan started to charge ahead and let out more slack between us. He wanted to quickly reach the summit to belay us as we finished the climb. I continued to concentrate on driving my crampons in the snow so they would be firmly entrenched. I finally reached the lip of the summit and heard Hernan calling for me to quickly get on top. As half of my body curled over the top, " +
"I threw my trekking pole onto the summit and with one big swing of the ice axe, I got a secure hold in the snow that allowed me to crawl fully onto the top.";
var cotopaxi_SAMPLE = "Cotopaxi
We crossed a few crevasses and trudged along. As I expected, I slowly started to get more tired. I knew we were getting closer to the summit, so I tried to convince myself that getting more tired was natural. We finally reached the spot where Hernan had said we would encounter a much steeper slope, about 260 feet in length. He didn't say how steep it was, only that it was steeper than the earlier forty-five degree slopes. After reaching the top, we would find a relatively low-angled slope before reaching the steeper slope that led to the summit. He said it would take us about thirty minutes to make it to the slope that led to the summit. From there, another hour would bring us to the summit." +
"
It was still pretty dark, and I could not see this so-called 260-foot slope to determine how tough it looked. I figured that if it was only eighty meters, I should be able to handle it, and that it couldn't be that big of a deal. We climbed higher and higher. It did feel steeper, but after some time, I thought that we must have gone more than eighty meters. I didn't know why it was taking us so long. All I knew was that we had been climbing for a long time, and the slope's pitch had not lessened any. The only answer I could think of was that Hernan was not being completely honest with us, probably for our own good. In the past, I had always found it to be either longer or steeper than he had indicated.";
var chimbo_SAMPLE = "Chimborazo
Another group of climbers was already at the hut. They had been unable to make a summit attempt the night before due to the heavy snows and resulting avalanches. Just looking at the mountain, we could see two large avalanche debris areas. Due to the rock falls and the recent heavy snows, a summit attempt for the next morning seemed shaky as well. The expedition itinerary included an extra day for weather delays on Chimborazo. The schedule had us making a summit attempt the next morning and then driving to the town of Baños for what would essentially be a day and a half of relaxation. " +
"If, for some reason, weather kept us from summiting Chimborazo, we would take the extra day to stay at the hut for a second attempt and then just spend half a day in Baños before traveling back to Quito. While the extra day was good to have in order to maximize our summit chances, I don't think many of us really wanted to have to do that. I think we all were looking forward to spending some time in Baños, and Jim and Andy were not even going to attempt Chimborazo. I am sure they didn't want to spend an extra night in a mountain hut when they could be relaxing far below in a comfortable hotel. Prior to leaving the Carrel hut, Joey told Marcelo that if we were going to spend an extra " +
"night in the hut, we would hike down to get some of the extra food we had. I was certain that Marcelo did not want to spend an extra day and night on the mountain. We would just have to wait and see.";