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11The Climb

“Come on, you can do it!”

I was cheering. Standing on the side of a mountain and cheering.

“You've got this!” I called out to the stranger, 30 feet in front of me. She was frozen in place. I started to clap. “Don't even look down! You're going to be fine! You're halfway there! Woo hoo!”

The Flatiron Mountains in Colorado are beautiful in the spring. My boyfriend Eric and I had decided to go hiking into the majestic wilderness outside of Boulder. Now, if you know me at all, you know that I'm not exactly the outdoorsy, athletic type. But I'm always up for an adventure and seeing something fantastic. So, we asked the park ranger what the best way was to see what was up there, as we pointed at the mountain.

We decided to go up the steeper side – the one that wasn't the beginner path – in spite of the ranger's cautions. Along the way, we met up with another couple. We joined forces, hiking together up the ridge. We met up on a flat path but soon it got steeper, and the altitude started taking our breath away as we saw the wide flat trail get thinner, tighter, and more treacherous. We got to a point that's about halfway through the hike, and that's when things got real.

An athletic guy who probably only shops at REI takes off across a narrow ledge. Looks like the ledge is about the width of your laptop, overlooking a steep overhang. How steep, I'm not sure, because I can't see the entirety of this patch of mountain. But as he dances across the ledge I see and hear tiny ...