Five in the morning, when the sun had yet to rise, the birds were starting to wake, and the crickets were singing their last song. The trees were barely visible in the little light that the moon reflected. The air was fresh and clean. On the ground lay fresh burnt out ambers, that were starting to grow cold. A soft beeping sound rang out, and a light came on in one of tents. Naomi I could never sleep at night. Especially if it was the night before a climb. The alarm on my phone let out a soft insistent beep. I quickly grabbed it and switched it off, not wanting to wake my tent mate. "Is it time yet?" she woke up anyway. "It's 5" I replied. She yawned and sat straight up. "Right, let's go." I turned on the lamp sitting in between our sleeping bags. "Okay, I'll go wake the guys, you prep the equipment." she rolled up her sleeping bag and crawled out of the tent. I grabbed my duffel bag and the lamp and crawled out of the tent. I started with the ropes, running my fingers through the whole length of it. Bit by bit, I felt the rope and untwisted it based on the feelings in my fingers. The same thing I've been doing for the past 3 years, since I started in university. "Morning Naomi. Did you rest well?" one of the guys walked toward me and grabbed a rope to check. "Morning Josh." We had been preparing this climb for weeks and today was going to be a breakthrough for all of us.
BELLA it was close to 5 Am when I was waking up. SMASH! something crashed right in front of my house. I went to look outside and, BLAMB!!! I was transported into some sort of a space station. Many tests were preformed with sharp needles. They would never let me go. I looked in a mirror I looked different. My hair was no longer blond it was black and blonde at the very back. My face had a permanent makeup and I knew, I would never be the same.
Naomi "Hey Nay, have you got the biners?" Epic shouted from his tent. "Right here." I replied. I grabbed the carabiner bag, and passed it to Josh. The sun was rising, and the light started to fill the camp site. We were camped right at the base of the cliff. Epic walked up to Josh and I with the carabiners slung round his body. He was the first climber, and he had hooked on a bunch of ropes, and a bunch of quick draws, linked to anchors. "Are we gonna make a move?" he asked. "We do have to get moving." Josh stated. I nodded, and Jodiiee came back out of the tent with the 4 harnesses. She tossed each of us one. Epic slid on his. "Let's get this game going" Jodiiee grinned. "Yeah...! I can't wait to get my hands on those rocks!" I stretched my arms above my head, and wiggled my fingers. Epic laughed. "You'll get your turn," he ran his fingers along the rocks. "For now, it's my show." Epic winked and grabbed a handful of chalk from his pouch, rubbing his hands together. "Not while I'm here E. I'll beat you up the cliff" I laughed. While Josh watched, ready to support, Jodiiee and I put on our harnesses. I grabbed a belt of carabiners and slung it across my body. Quickdraws, check. Anchors check. Rope check. "Ready Nay?" I nodded. "Always." Jodiiee gave me a hug. "Don't die!" she joked. I tied a double figure of 8 and clipped on a carabiner, hooking up my harness. Jodiiee grabbed some rope and slid it through the lock, using a carabiner to clip the belay device to her harness. "Squeeze Check!" Jodiiee reminded. We check that our carabiners were locked and I walked to the base of the cliff. "Okay, let's do this." I smiled. "Ready Epic?" I shouted, powdering my hand with chalk. "The boys will win this time!" he shouted back. I laughed, and looked up at the tall cliff that hung over us like it was about to fall. "This will be the first win for the girls! We will conquer this tour!" "You can try Nay!" Epic chuckled. I grabbed my first rock from right above my head with both my hands. I pulled myself up and found footing on another rock with my right foot. I swung my left leg to a gap in the rocks on the far left, and released my left hand to grab a higher rock. I let my right hand lose grip and swung my body to the left. Spotting a good grip point, I stuck my anchor in and clipped my rope into the draw. "Looking good Nay!" I hears Jo shout out. "How's your side E?" I shouted. "A little more difficult on my side! But i'm surviving." he replied. The sun was starting to warm the rocks up, and my body was responding with sweat. It was getting hotter. I balanced my right foot on a firm rock and stuck my right hand into the chalk, I reached out to hold a central piece, and did the same for my left hand. Climb, anchor, climb anchor. I was reaching the hang, and I knew I'd have to gather my courage and strength to scale it. That part of the cliff was what I was dreading.