The whole world was white: white peaks against a whitened sky, bulging white cornices, long open ramps of white snowfields. Such a desolation of whiteness, Marva thought. Here and there trees or rock outcrops signaled like marks of ink on white paper. The skis’ whisper in the snow made the only sound. Following Tom along the shoulder of the mountain, her legs pumping, machinelike, over untracked white ridges, her qualms racked up like clouds.
“Are you sure about this Tom? Don’t take me over my head. Please!” she called out.
“You’ll be fine. Don’t panic,” Tom yelled back.
It turns out Tom is way too sure of himself in Sheila Thorne’s short story “Ascension,” a tale of high adventure from the snowed-in backcountry. Subscribe to Deep Wild Journal to see how things turn out!
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