Chapter 11
The snow had finally cleared from the streets of El Chaltén. There was still a week of prep work before the contestants arrived, and Rhian had to go over their accommodation to make sure everything was ready. All their gear had been delivered and should have been added to each assigned room. Contestants were only allowed to bring with them a small amount of personal essentials for the duration of the shoot.
The crew had taken to calling it the conclave, as in the contestants’ enclave. Even though the crew were already living there, the name had stuck. The Hotel El Chaltén, which they were taking over for the season, was different to those around it. The outside was the standard dark wood, Alpine style of all the buildings that surrounded them, but on the lower floor, the walls were made of glass to offer views of the surrounding mountains from every aspect. The roof was a single slope, rather than the apex, giving the front of the hotel four floors, while the back just had three.
It had a huge bar and dining room on the lower floor that they’d cleared out to make into a comfortable space for the contestants. They’d left some tables in one corner to provide work and eating spaces. Comfy sofas were scattered around a huge wood burner that sat in the middle of the room, the flue disappearing out the roof, four storeys above it. The bar itself was still there, stocked with the bare essentials—beer, wine, and whiskey. And the catering staff would run the kitchen at the back, as they were to feed the crew as well as the contestants.
She already knew those areas were good to go. She’d been over them three times already, checking and rechecking that everything they needed was there and that the contestants’ food requirements were catered too. They had two vegetarians, a celiac, and a diabetic in the mix of sixteen. Eight men and eight women who were to battle it out for the prize and the title of The Amazing Climb Champions. None of them knew what the prize was yet, and she was looking forward to explaining it all to them when they arrived. Or maybe when filming started. She and Rachel were still discussing it.
She rubbed her hands together like an excited child and climbed the stairs to the second floor of the conclave. The second and third floors had sixteen rooms on each. The crew was on the third floor, and contestants had been assigned the second. The four rooms on the fourth floor were for the director, Angela Parrot; the assistant director, Simon Gert; Rhian’s assistant, Mellissa; and Rhian herself. She was due to move out of her tiny hotel room tomorrow. She couldn’t wait.
Her new room had a view straight up to Cerro Fitz Roy.
She shook her head to bring herself out of her daydreaming. She had work to do and only an hour before she was due to meet with Jayden to go over some more of the route plans. This afternoon, Jayden was going to drive them out as far as she could towards the massif, then they would hike for a couple of hours to check out some of the approaches to the lesser satellites in the range. Guillaumet was the first they needed to look at, as it was the first the contestants would have to climb.
Jayden had suggested throwing in as part of the training challenges some of the climbs that would make up the traverse of the final. Fen and Rhian had thought it a brilliant idea and had seized upon it, even though it meant reworking a number of the challenges they’d already worked long and hard on. Her reasoning for it was simple. If they couldn’t make a single climb, they didn’t stand a chance of completing the traverse.
She opened the first room and ran through the inventory that had been folded and stacked neatly on the single bed. The room was cool, the window was covered by a long net curtain, and a dark wood wardrobe stood in one corner. The en suite sat off to the left, with a small table and single chair next to the door, and the room’s only free electrical outlet. There was no TV, no phone, just a radio alarm clock on the bedside table next to the lamp.
If they wanted to use a laptop, and many of them would to check weather forecasts and research climbs, they’d have to do it on the desk, or else downstairs. The rooms were meant to be functional, not luxurious. After all, if they could sleep out on the mountain, on glaciers and sheet ice, how many mod cons did they need?
She quickly inventoried the contents of each room and moved on. She finished with five minutes to spare and jogged out of the conclave and down the quarter-mile to the Adventure Trekkers headquarters. Jayden was already loading up the Jeep with packs and a cooler.
“Ready?” Jayden asked.
“Yup. Need me to grab anything else?”
She shook her head. “I’ve got everything. Some snacks too.” She tapped the cooler. “Carlos tells me you’re a fan of Isabella’s famous empanadas.”
Rhian grinned. “Guilty as charged. On that note, you better take me out there so I can work them off.”
Jayden shook her head. “You’d need to eat more than I’ve got in this cooler for you to have to worry about that.” She pulled keys out of her pocket. “Come on. The day’s a wasting.”
Rhian climbed in and secured her hair with a band she’d taken to keeping on her wrist. The wind and her fine hair were not a good combination. She was sick of having to pull out knots every night. Jayden had her own hair wrapped under a buff with a cap on over the top. Her sunglasses covered her eyes, and she wore a deep blue tank top and cargo shorts that clung to her thighs. Rhian pulled her own sunglasses off her head and slipped them on.
“So what’s the route today?”
“We’re headed for Paso Guillaumet. We have to cross a bit of the Piedras Blancas glacier, and there’s a little climbing involved, but Fen tells me you can handle that.”
Rhian nodded. “I take it you have gear back there. I don’t fancy going over the glacier in my shorts.” She pointed to her bare legs.
“Yup. I’ve got everything you need. I thought we could give some of this new clobber a trial.”
“How long is the hike?”
“Around thirty kilometres. Should take us about nine hours there and back. You’ll get some great views, but better than that, we can get a decent look at Guillaumet.”
“And what exactly are you looking for on it?” Rhian asked.
“Any changes to the rock after the winter. I want to see what the ice pack looks like and assess the avalanche risk, see if any of the edges have sheared. If there are any significant changes, I might have to climb it to see if we need to add or replace any bolts. We’ll need them to be secure for the camera crews. Your director doesn’t want to do it all with body cams or helmet cams. Seems to think the audience would end up with vertigo if we did.”
Rhian chuckled and decided to ignore how white Jayden’s knuckles were on the steering wheel and how her voice had cracked as she spoke. “Yeah. Have you seen any footage from those things? They make me seasick.”
“Maybe she does have a point, then.”
“So, thirty kilometres, a glacier, and some rock climbing today. Anything else?”
“Hm, a crystal-clear river, a glacier-fed lake, and sunshine. What more could you possibly want?”
“Well, when you put it like that, nothing. Nothing at all.”
Jayden gave her a tight, uncomfortable-looking smile and changed gears as she turned into the El Pillar Hotel. “A friend of Fen’s runs this place. He’s letting us leave the Jeep here for the day so we can do this in the single day, as long as we get moving.”
Rhian nodded and climbed out of the car. The gear Jayden had packed for her was perfect. A thin base layer, a pair of light pants, a hooded pullover, and a lightweight shell jacket.
“You’ve got a down belay jacket in the pack as well as all the other gear we’ll need for the climb section. The temp could get down to about two degrees Celsius on the glacier today. Crampons and axe on the outside, emergency kit at the bottom.” She patted her own bag. “I’ve got a sat radio in my bag too, just in case.” She hauled a long length of rope out of the back of the Jeep and wound it around her body like a bandolier. “We’ll rope up across the glacier.”
Rhian nodded. Are you nervous about the glacier? She wanted to ask, but she didn’t dare. Jayden’s attitude towards her had softened over the past three weeks, but she still wouldn’t classify it as “warm and fuzzy”. She wasn’t sure sometimes how much she could ask about professional matters. Personal stuff… Well, she was certain that shit was off the table.
It was weird. She watched Jayden around the crew, around the other guides, and around people in town, and she was always cracking a joke or offering a friendly ear. She was everyone’s best friend, and everyone seemed to love her. She didn’t behave that way around Rhian, though. She still seemed to blame her for putting them all in this situation, for forcing herself on Jayden.
She pulled on the pants and the long-sleeved top, pulled the sleeves up over her elbows, and tucked the rest of the layers into easy-to-reach pockets. She wouldn’t need them until she got to the glacier. Maybe she wasn’t even what Jayden felt had been forced on her. Maybe it was the situation. She shook her head and slid the heavy pack onto her shoulders.
“After you.” She waved her hand and followed Jayden down the dirt trail signposted Laguna de los Tres. The five-inch height difference between them was definitely not playing to Rhian’s advantage as she tried to keep up with Jayden’s long stride and easy, rangy style, and she tried not to think that maybe, just maybe, she was doing it on purpose, pushing Rhian to punish her for her “crimes”. She huffed out breaths, but she didn’t slow down. If that was Jayden’s goal, she was going to be disappointed.
But then Jayden slowed her step and fell into line next to Rhian. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ve not really walked with anyone for a while. I need to get used to going at someone else’s pace.”
Rhian frowned. So much for the punishment theory. She shook her head again and resigned herself to a day full of wondering and questioning. Never gonna figure her out, so just get on with it. Not everyone’s going to love you. That’s not a surprise, now, is it? You’re a big girl and no stranger to being on the receiving end of the cold shoulder or whatever. She pushed away thoughts of her dad and the last time she’d seen him. That wasn’t going to help. It was time to figure out how to live with rejection.
Whatever she had to live with was so worth it as they cleared the forest path and got their first clear glimpse of Laguna de los Tres and the Piedras Blancas Glacier, with Cerro Fitz Roy and Guillaumet directly behind them. The pristine white of the glacier lay in perfect counterpoint to the dark gritstone of the mountains and the ice blue waters of the lake.
“Bloody hell.”
“Gorgeous, isn’t it?”
Rhian nodded mutely as she stood still, staring at the beauty that was nature’s own work.
“In a way, it’s a shame so few people get to see the world like this,” Jayden continued. “But in another way, if they did, they’d probably ruin it.”
Rhian snorted a quick laugh, still unable to tear her eyes from the view. “So cynical, Ms Harris.”
Jayden shrugged. “I like to think of myself as a realist.”
“Hm. I still say cynic.”
“Well, you’re the boss. I guess you can say what you want.”
Rhian turned and caught the twisted smile on Jayden’s lips. Are you teasing me or letting slip your problem with me? Both? She decided to take a punt in the hopes of diffusing any animosity that still lingered. “I wish. I’ve never been the boss, and you know it. Fen was, and now you. And back home, Rachel calls the shots. All I am is a glorified secretary and bean counter.” She laughed. She didn’t care what her job was right now. She was in one of the most stunning places she’d ever seen, and she was getting paid to be there—to hike out and climb a mountain and cross a glacier. Life just didn’t get any better than that.
“Oh, you’re more than that, Miss Phillips. And I’m pretty sure you’re well aware of it.” She strode off down the slight hill towards the lake. “Come on, we don’t have time for standing around doing nothing.”
Rhian laughed. “See? I told you. You’re the boss.”
The hill didn’t go down for long, and soon they were heading up a steep eight-hundred-metre climb to the lake. Around ten kilometres of their hike were completed. Rhian swung her bag off her back and tugged out her water bottle, emptied it in one, and refilled it from the lake. She scooped a handful of the water straight into her mouth, delighted at the fresh, clean taste and the icy-cold temperature as it slid down her throat. She put on her pullover as the increased height brought with it a chill. Despite sweating now, she knew she would quickly cool in the breeze. It was much easier to keep warm than it was to get warm again once she was cold.
Jayden pointed down the length of the lake and across to the expanse of ice that stood in front of them. “We’ll stop for a quick bite and to put on our ice gear as soon as we get around the shore.” She checked her watch. “We’re making pretty good time, so we’ll have a few minutes to stop then.”
Rhian nodded, shouldered her pack again, and followed behind. The view was no less spectacular now that she’d reached the glacier, but it was considerably more intimidating. What had looked like a flat sheet of ice they’d have to walk across now was clearly a sheet of ice they’d have to climb. Though not particularly steep, it would be hard work.
They rounded the rocky edge of the lake to the south side, covering the ground quickly. When Jayden reached the start of the ice field, she slung the rope from over her shoulder and dropped her pack to the rock. She had her crampons on and fastened while Rhian was still untying them from her pack.
“Need a hand?”
Rhian bit her lip as she concentrated. “I’m good, thanks.” She finally managed to get the last buckle done and secured the spikes to her boots. She pulled on her jacket, and climbing harness, tying on when Jayden handed her the end of the rope, the other end already attached to her own harness.
“Ready?” Jayden clipped Rhian’s helmet closed under her chin and tapped the top. “For luck,” she said to Rhian’s quizzical look.
Rhian chuckled and looked up the sheet of ice. “Let’s do it.”
The climb was long, and Rhian’s calves were burning from the walk across the glacier by the time they reached the Paso Guillaumet, but she stood and looked out over the ground they’d just covered…and she wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Jayden held her hand up to shade her eyes as she scanned the rock face of Guillaumet.
“How does it look?” she asked.
“Pretty good, I think. From the pictures Fen took before the winter kicked in, I’d say there were no significant changes, so the routes and timescales we’re looking at should be fine.” She pointed to a large slab of ice and snow clinging to the rock face. “If anything, that looks smaller than it was in the pictures. Looks like there’s already been some avalanche activity to bring down the risk.”
“Good.” Rhian pulled a protein bar out of her pocket and ripped open the wrapper. “I’ve got another one, if you want it.”
Jayden shook her head. “I’m good, thanks.” She skipped across the ice to get a better view up one of the gullies, a frown marring her beautiful face.
Beautiful? Since when did I think she was beautiful? Since you saw her asleep in the hospital…before she started shouting at you. Remember, idiot?
“Problem?” she asked, more to distract herself than anything else.
“No. The crag’s fine. I’m just cautious.”
“That’s what you’re here for, right? To be our safety monitor when we’re all ready to be daring and fearless.” She smiled.
“Yes.” Her jaw seemed tight, and her fists curled at her sides.
Rhian could feel the anger radiating from her. “Did I say something wrong?”
Jayden shook her head and seemed to put herself back together, carefully stacking up the blocks of her self-control to form that bloody wall that surrounded her.
“Whatever I said, I’m sorry.”
Jayden ignored her and moved to the other side of the wall’s base, staring up at finger holds that looked tiny—because they were—and toe holds that were like standing on air.
“Okay, then,” Rhian said with a deep sigh and finished her bar before she pulled the second from her pocket. She grimaced a little. Peanut. She preferred chocolate, but it was still edible. She wanted to demand a response of some sort, an acknowledgement that another person had offered an apology for some imagined wrong. But no. Miss I-Can’t-Give-a-Fucking-Inch couldn’t even do that. She wanted to demand that Jayden tell her what her problem was. Demand that she explain why she acted like a best friend to the rest of the world but couldn’t string together two fucking words that weren’t all business for her benefit.
But she already knew. Jayden was never going to forgive her for making her do this job. Clearly she hadn’t wanted to. Clearly she had a reason she hadn’t been on the circuit for a while. Clearly it was Rhian’s fault that she was here now, having to deal with whatever demons were haunting her. Clearly.
Never mind that it wasn’t Rhian’s fault Fen had fallen into a crevasse. Never mind that it wasn’t Rhian’s idea to run the stupid TV program in the first place. Never mind that she hadn’t even picked the potential guides—that was the bloody clients’ choice. But Rhian was the face she could pin all that anger on. Rhian knew it. And Jayden was never, ever going to forgive her.
“Are you going to eat that or just mangle it?” Jayden pointed to the mutilated bar in her hand.
“What does it matter to you?” she snapped back.
Jayden held up her hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. I’m an arsehole, okay? I shouldn’t have ignored you. That was rude.” She tapped her boot against a rock, knocking snow and ice from the sole. “I’m usually quite nice.”
“Not to me you’re not.” Rhian spoke quietly.
Jayden nodded. “I know. There’s just some…stuff…I’m trying to get my head around. It’s taking a while. That’s all. I shouldn’t take it out on you, though. Please accept my apology.”
“I will, on one condition.”
Jayden raised an eyebrow and waited.
“You’ll try to be nicer to me from now on. I’m quite nice myself, you know.”
Jayden’s lips quirked into a smile. “I had noticed that, actually.” She turned quickly, and Rhian could feel her cheeks heating up. “Come on, we’ve only got about five hours of daylight left. How do you feel about rappelling down the ice? Shorten our journey time.”
“Okay. Sure.”