And so he sidled slowly down — kicking out with first his right foot, then bringing his left foot next to it, kick out with right foot again — kick by kick, with the rope paying out slowly behind him. Half way across his legs were aching — but with the angle of the slope, he could just bend his knees and rest his lower legs from knee to ankle flat against the slope. Then he carried on, and five minutes later he was safely across the steep ice slope.
“Now you,” he called. “Step where I stepped, that way you know the snow is still strong under you. With your two feet and two hands, make sure three of them are always still and you only move one of them at a time.”
He sat down and braced himself as Jonas had done. Jonas hesitated, then visibly gathered his courage up and set out.
Jonas took a lot longer to do it. He moved slower than Beck, and he didn’t quite have the confidence to move his right leg as far out each time so that he had to kick a fresh toe hold every second step. Every time he did, he flashed a proud smile that seemed to say, ‘wow, look what I did!’
Beck waited patiently, legs braced and ready to take the weight should Jonas fall. He could feel the cold seeping into his backside even through his waterproof, insulated snow trousers. There was no point trying to make Jonas hurry. The other boy had never done this before, and trying to force anything was the best way to invite disaster.
But eventually Jonas was standing safely beside him, breathing more heavily than before, but Beck could now stand up again. He started to coil the rope up so that he could put it back into the pack.
“Is it possible to book natural obstacles in advance?” Jonas asked. “If so, I’d like to cancel any more things like that.”
“Sorry, customer service requires five days’ notice.”
Beck gave the water flask a check and found that most of the snow had melted. He gave the flask a good shake and by the time the contents had settled it only held clear water. They drank and ate a couple more biscuits, before Beck filled the flask up with more snow and they could set off again.
“It’s getting warmer,” Jonas commented. He opened the zip of his coat a little to make the point — a wise move, Beck thought, to let sweat ventilate naturally rather than freeze on him.
“It should,” he said. “About three degrees for every three hundred metres we descend, if I remember right.”
Jonas looked down the slope towards the rolling, snow-free land below them.
“It should be much better going also down there, then. I’ll look forward to getting off this mountain.”
“Off the snow,” Beck agreed. It couldn’t happen soon enough.
“Walking on the flat…”
But Storkittel had one more surprise to throw at them.