By Kristy McCaffrey
Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz was the first woman to climb
K2—the second highest mountain in the world—in 1986, which she accomplished
without the use of supplemental oxygen. Unfortunately, that same summer,
thirteen climbers died on K2.
Wanda was born in 1943 in Lithuania, but her family moved to
Poland after World War II. As a young woman, she earned an electrical
engineering degree from the Wroclaw University of Technology.
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| Wanda Rutkiewicz |
In 1978, she became the third woman and first Polish climber
and first European woman to climb Mount Everest.
Her goal was to become the first woman to summit all
fourteen 8000-meter peaks. She reached nine, and possibly ten, although she
disappeared in 1992 on Kangchenjunga (the third highest mountain), so her summit
was in question. During that climb, her partner, Carlos Carsolio, and Wanda
started for the summit at 3:30 a.m. on May 12, 1992, from Camp Four at 7950
meters. After climbing for 12 hours in deep snow, Carlos reached the top. As he
was descending, he met Wanda. She decided to remain and bivouac (camp in the
open—never recommended at such a high altitude and harsh environment) and she
would start for the top the following day. She had no food, no utensils for
cooking, and no equipment to bivouac. No one ever saw her again, and her body
has never been found.
 |
| Wanda Rutkiewicz |
Rutkiewicz once said, “I never seek death, but I don’t mind
the idea of dying in the mountains. It would be an easy death for me. After all
that I’ve experienced, I’m familiar with it. And most of my friends are there
in the mountains, waiting for me.”
* * *
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Ambition and courage at the top of the world. Ty Galloway
has assembled a small team to conquer K2 and welcomes esteemed climber Lindsey
Coulson. But K2 is a force unto itself, as is Lindsey. Both will test his
limits. Both will test his heart.
That night, Ty bunked in a tent with Ditch at Camp One,
while Lindsey was alone next door. Time to change that.
Ty pulled the hood of his jacket onto his head. “I’m going
to ask Lindsey to join us.”
“It would be the neighborly thing to do,” Ditch said as he
sorted through packets of freeze-dried food.
“Try to clean up the place, would you?” Ty scooted to the
front of the tent and unzipped the doorway, then crawled out into the blustery
cold and braced himself against the wind. As night descended, an eerie
isolation had encompassed them.
“Lindsey,” Ty yelled. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah, help yourself,” came her muffled response.
He unzipped the opening of her tent and got himself inside
as quickly as he could, securing the entrance behind him. He remained in the
vestibule, so he wouldn’t get snow from his boots all over her tent. He was
also careful not to bump into the burner hanging from the tent ceiling that she
was using to melt snow. It was easy to have a mishap in a very flammable tent.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
Sitting atop her sleeping bag, she rubbed her wool-clad
feet. “I’m a little tired and sore, but otherwise I feel good.”
“You sound surprised.”
She jammed her fingers into her ponytail and scratched her
head. “I guess I was a little worried. You never really know how you’ll do
until you’re on the mountain doing it.” She hugged her knees toward her chest.
“Wanna share a candy bar for dinner?” He pulled off his
gloves and retrieved the treat from his coat pocket.
“Maybe we should split it three ways. Ditch might be
hungry.”
“He’s already eaten. He had half a Pop-Tart.”
Ty unwrapped the candy bar, twisted it in half—exposing
peanuts resting in a hardened nougat center—and handed a piece to her.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome to hang out in our spacious accommodations,”
Ty said. “Ditch likes to play Hearts, and it’s no fun with two.”
She shut off the stove and donned her mitten to carefully
remove the pan filled with hot water. “Well, as you can see, I am quite busy.” Holding
her water bottle between her feet, she carefully poured the liquid into it.
“If you join us then at least we’ll have an excuse to say no
to Elena.”
Lindsey’s head snapped up. “Did she try to get in your
tent?”
Regretting his words, Ty said, “No, sorry. I was just
kidding.” But he thought he detected a tinge of jealousy in her voice, and he
liked it. He couldn’t tell if the flush on her cheeks was from the cold or from
her sudden outburst, but either way she looked too damned enticing.
“All right, I’m heading back,” he said, conceding defeat in
his efforts to be neighborly.
“Wait. I’ll go with you. It’s kind of lonely in here by
myself.”
“You could invite Elena over for a slumber party.”
“Bite your tongue.”
Once she secured the lid on her water bottle, she reached
past him for her boots, bumping into him. A charged atmosphere settled around
them as it became impossible for Ty not to touch her in such a confined space.
Ditch had encouraged Ty to dial it back where Lindsey was
concerned, and yet at the same time he had cautioned Ty against ending up old
and alone.
Ty released a laugh, easing the tension sparking between him
and the woman who was affecting him far more than he’d ever anticipated.
“What’s so funny?” Lindsey asked, zipping her jacket.
“I was thinking about a passage from Alice in Wonderland.
‘It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.’”
Lindsey smiled. “‘We’re all mad here,’” she said, quoting
another line from Alice with a gleam in her eye.
Ty leaned close. “‘You must be, or you wouldn’t have
come....’”
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