Page 54 of Valley Girls
The three girls fell in step together, and Rilla divulged the details of hernot-date, definitely friends, but like maybe-datewith Walker as they hiked the short path past Camp 4, past the SAR site under the stirring cedars, to the rocky base at the bottom of the cliff. No clouds encroached on the sky, but the late afternoon sun carried an increasingly angry tinge of red.
Adeena clambered up the climb quickly, placing cams and nuts along the way for protection, while Rilla watched carefully from the bottom. This was her chance. She was rested. Strong. She was ready to show them she could go higher and longer. That she could be trusted as a team member. She cracked her knuckles nervously and watched Adeena.
“You nervous?” Petra asked.
“No. I’m excited,” Rilla said, ignoring the quivers deep in her stomach.
“Good. You’ve come a long way since that first climb with Walker.”
“Thanks to you and Dee,” Rilla said.
“It’s part of the fun.” Petra fed out rope. “Bringing new people climbing. You’re doing great.”
“Can I clean the route?” She would climb as if she was leading—instead of putting the protection, she’d take it out. If she did it without making a mistake, it would show them she was ready to lead.
“You sure?” Petra asked.
Rilla nodded.
“Sounds good,” Petra said. “Leave it!” she shouted to Adeena, who had just reached the top. “Rilla is gonna clean it.”
Rilla grabbed the guidebook, worried about the description oftricky. They were only doing the first pitch, because Petra had been worried about the time. The description of the climb made it sound like a thing she would encounter over and over again all over Yosemite. Rilla frowned and looked up at the wall. “Who’s Joe Faint and Yuu-von Chow ... I don’t know how you pronounce this name.”
“Who?” Petra looked up.
Rilla held up the book. “Here.”
“Oh. Yvon Chouinard.” She pronounced it with a buttery accent and it sounded likeEe-bon Shwee-nahh.Stretching a length of rope, Petra looked back to Adeena. “A Valley dirtbag, like me and you.” She looped another stretch. “And the founder of Black Diamond and Patagonia. Like, the fleece pullovers all the preppy girls like? His company.” Petra pointed to Rilla’s side and nodded. “Your carabiners. Look.”
Rilla looked down at the sleek carabiner she’d borrowed from Petra. Her thumb moved over the inscription.Black Diamond.
“Joe Faint?” Rilla asked.
“His partner on this route. Their names are in there because they put up the route, and climbed it first—that’s called a first ascent. In climbing, the belayer for a first ascent is just as important as a climber. Anyway, Joe did an amazing rescue of some injured climbers before there was any search and rescue in the park, actually.” Petra picked at some tape on her fingers and looked up. “Pretty awesome to think we get to have the same experiences as the greats.”
Rilla looked at the climb again—the polished opening between granite blocks that dropped back into darkness and tunneled toward the sky. In the same places the gods first ascended, so could she. Her stomach fluttered with nervousness.
The bushes rustled, and Hico and Caroline pushed out of the scrubby trees.
Rilla’s stomach dropped. Now shewasnervous.
“I’m dead,” Caroline declared, looking exactly like her Instagram, but in two sloppy braids, a pair of army surplus pants, and a big hoodie. “Carry me to the car.”
Hico dropped to the ground, using his pack as a pillow and crossing his feet—cheeks flushed dark with the sun. His socks today had Chewbacca up to his knees. His eyes drifted to Adeena.
“What’d you guys end up doing?” Petra asked.
“Supernatural?” Caroline glanced to Hico. “Right?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s the grade?” Petra asked, eyes still up on Adeena.
Rilla glanced at the book. The Yosemite Decimal System—grade or rating—was a system for rating the difficulty of climbs. The climb Rilla was about to get on was rated 5.7. The hardest climbs in the world were 5.15. But in between, after 5.10, it got broken down in a, b, c, d to rate the increasing degree of difficulty in between number grades. She had made a list, in her math notebook, of all the climbs under 5.10 in the Valley that appeared in the guidebook.
“I don’t remember,” Caroline said. “It’s got a tricky arête I sucked at. Ugh.”
“5.11d,” Hico mumbled. “I think.”
