Stritar

"The sun was going down. Marko noticed that the shadow had crept halfway across the valley and soon his rock peak would be in shade. He didn’t have much time to finish the climb. He shouldn’t have taken so long taking photographs for the book. Soon it would be cold … and he shivered a little even at the thought.

He stretched upwards, regretting that he wasn’t as tall as he might be. His Serbian ancestry had given him a stocky build. His fingers could only just catch hold of the edge … but then, on making sure of his grip he pulled himself easily onto the ledge. His strength made up for his lack of height and training on the door limb helped. He didn’t like pulling himself up in the doorway time after time but the work paid off in a climb like the one today.

He only had one more pitch to climb and then he could enjoy the brisk walk down the meadows behind this rock face to his car below. Climbing free always raised the ante and the adrenalin.

The next few moves were easy. He knew there was only one challenge left before he reached the security of a small crack that led all the way to the summit rock. He felt his body surging as he made those moves.

Marko worked in an office all day, as a regulator for the Slovenian government. He had married Ines ten years ago and Juri and Daniela had come early. Now each day was much like the day before until he could get to the mountains.

Climbing was such a relief to his boring job. Here success could be measured instantly … success was rewarded immediately and failure --. Well, let’s not think of failure, he thought.

Down below him, the meadows stretched across the valley to equally difficult crags on the other side. Just out of sight he could visualize the country inn where he had parked his car that morning and where he fully expected a glass of pilsner before driving home to Ljubljana. He smiled … it was his own reward for success.

He turned and climbed steadily upwards to the final difficulty. His body felt good after all that winter training at home and in the caves. He was fit and moving well.

Looking up, he saw that the grip that he expected, that small protrusion below the final crack was gone. There were scrapes on the rock as if someone had deliberately chipped away at it … but that couldn’t be … no one on this face would be so stupid. Looking again, he could see from the rock shear that he was correct … the protrusion had broken under someone’s steel-shod boot. Marko hoped that the rest of the climber’s stance had been secure.

But now he had a problem. Where was there another support to get over the overhang?

It was almost another element of his business. As a regulator, he needed incidents, defects, or even potential defects, to support his arguments and he was always searching for them. He knew they would be there somewhere just as surely as there would be solutions.

Sure enough, he saw a piece of rock that was fatter than the slab and slightly domed. It could support him for an instant in swinging upwards. It was worth a try.

The fact that he could not retreat did not enter Marko’s mind. He never retreated.

Taking chalk and then stretching up, he placed a slightly arched palm on the rock where it domed. He gripped hard and swung his legs sideways, up and beyond his grip. Then pushing down with his other hand against a slight ledge, he was up and over the overhang. The move was as quick as the thought.

The rest was easy. After regaining some breath and letting his heart resume a normal beat, he virtually scrambled up the rest of the pitch and emerged on the summit.

It wasn’t really a summit, but a wide ledge from which he could walk off onto the grass of the high meadow and circle around the crag to walk down.

Before he left, he mentally noted that the dark now filled the valley and only an arc of sun remained above Polhograjska Grmada to his right. He would have to take care on a couple of the downward stream-crossings in the dusk.
It had been a good day … strenuous as he enjoyed his days in the mountains. Now he was away home to his family after that Pilsner."

“New Worlds … and the government of Mars,” John Graham, PublishAmerica, Baltimore, MD, USA, 2005

ISBN: 1-4137-5103-2 (Trade paperback), ISBN: B000A9MGG2 (Digital)

Available from the publisher (and search on the author's name), from the author, or through Amazon.com at $19.95, plus shipping and handling. At Amazon.com search for Snapshots of the Mind. Digital version from Amazon.com at $13.87 (not yet available)

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