Fredrick could barely see a thing, the intense glare of the afternoon sun bounced off of the sheets of mirror-like ice and rendered his eyes near useless.

The feeling of touch was relatively useless as well. Sensitivity wasn’t much of an option when coated in four layers of polyester and wool. But removing that meant instant frostbite, which seemed worse than not being nimble.

Even worse than the loss of vision and feeling, was the sensation of being suffocated. Or maybe it was more like being forcefully strangled, gentle suffocation actually sounded like a relief at this point.

While he didn’t consider any of these things pleasant, they were all certainly tolerable. Well, If he had been walking down a familiar NYC street they would’ve been but he wasn’t. Frederick was navigating a precariously perched, flimsy metal bridge that spanned thirty five feet across a bottomless ice cavern. This definitely wasn’t a walk to Central Park, he was actually 23,482 feet higher than the highest point in Central Park, Frederick was attempting to climb Mount Everest.

Everest was a lifelong goal. A captivating peak that Frederick had summited countless times in his dreams, he was ecstatic to get his shot at the top. When he first arrived at basecamp his was blown away by the vivid scenery of the snow capped peak. However, his spirits were dampened during the first storm. The highest peak on earth is challenging enough in great weather, but it was life-threatening when it wasn’t. When he waited out his first storm he realizes the severity and implications of the weather and had made a promise to himself to never get caught out in it if he could help it.

As he stepped off the rickety ladder he thought to himself, “Promises are made to be broken”. His time on the mountain was running out and he decided to make a risky ascent, racing the clock he knew he could only afford to be half an hour behind schedule or be caught in a storm. So far things had gone according to plan, he wasn’t exactly comfortable, but he was making progress.

It seemed as if his risk would lead to reward until he gazed out across the skyline and saw the cloud coming in. “Shit that’s early” he thought. Frederick knew he was being faced with a potentially lethal choice , he could turn back to safety or push upwards and risk his life for a lifelong dream.

A vitally important question with countless variables was decided in just two seconds.

“Summit”