Climbing Partners

Being in relationship is no easy task. Between varying temperaments, diverse needs and conflicting desires, life as a couple is a far cry from heaven on earth ... even on the best of days. But try tying the two parties to a rope—just for fun, mind you—and then see how the cookie (or rock) crumbles!

Excerpt from Notes from the Bottom of the Box: The Search for Identity by a Modern-Day Renaissance Woman.

Climbing with Max tended to tempt the fates of connubial bliss. There was almost always an incident, however small, followed by an argument and then a round of make-up sex. We were predictable, if nothing else.

Our first major climb together was the NE Buttress of Slesse, a peak made famous in 1956 as the site of the world’s worst airplane disaster, at least, up to that time. This was Max’s second time on the route and my first. The usual approach—at least back then, before logging slashed its way up closer to the base of the climb—was to do it in two days: hike in and camp at the base on the first, then climb and descend on the second. At twenty-one pitches, including a couple of intermediate moves, and fiercely exposed at that, it was somewhat beyond my capacity to climb, let alone be a capable second—the length and breadth of it a major challenge for any climber, especially one of my limited experience. Undeterred, Max made plans. We would leave Vancouver an hour before dawn, be picked up by a chopper in a clearing on Slesse Creek, dropped off at the base, climb, summit, descend and be back in Vancouver for a romantic dinner at our favourite haunt, Chianti Café. The life of the jet-setter. I was scared and intimidated but otherwise keen  .  .  .

Everything goes according to plan. Our pilot, Gerry, picks us up as the eastern sky brightens and drops us off just to the right of the calving pocket glacier. Roping up is smooth and easy, and the first few pitches are slippery with moss but otherwise fine. Max leads, I follow, a familiar but unfortunate pattern on and off the rope. It isn’t until he wants to do some running belays that tension begins to play havoc with my sleep deprived and intimidated brain cells.

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I leave it at that… you’ll have to read the book to find out what happened.

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