The Hunt for the Yeti Skull: Nepal (5 page)

Jack rolled his eyes at this weird girl. He turned to the boys. ‘You ready?' he asked.

Storm, Digger and Jack stood up. Scarlet opened her eyes, and got up too. Mr Bell gave them each a firm handshake. ‘Good luck,' he said. ‘You're going to need it.'

Then Jack and the others headed towards the chopper.

The GPF was working to develop a helicopter that could fly as high as the top of Everest. But until then, Jack and the others were stuck with the old ones they currently had on the mountain. This particular one looked like it had been around since the 1970s.

As the chopper's propeller started to whirl, the children climbed inside. Soon it lifted off. Dust blew up from the ground below them, and they moved swiftly towards the higher, snow-covered peaks in the distance.

Jack pulled his equipment out of his Book Bag. First he grabbed his Crafty Crampons. The GPF's Crafty Crampons were steel frames with twelve spikes that hooked onto the bottoms of your shoes. That way, you wouldn't slip on the ice. They became flexible if you needed to walk, or stayed rigid if you needed to do ice climbing. Jack strapped them onto his boots.

Next he checked his harness and ropes. They all seemed in good condition. He pulled out a drawstring bag and opened it. Inside was the GPF's Polar Parka. This kept you warm in extremely cold temperatures. Jack had used it in the Arctic before. Now it was going to be tested on Everest.

Digger turned to Storm. ‘How long have you been climbing?' he asked, over the rattling hum of the helicopter.

‘Three years,' said Storm. ‘Most recently on Mount Rainier. You?'

‘Two,' said Digger. ‘My father climbed Everest in 2008. I'm hoping to follow in his footsteps.' He turned to Jack. ‘Where are you from?' he asked.

‘England,' said Jack, putting on his Polar Parka. ‘Because of the rain, I mostly practise indoors, but last summer I made it to 12,000 feet on Mount McKinley.'

Digger and Storm looked impressed. Then the boys turned to Scarlet. Jack doubted she had much to say.

She rolled her eyes. ‘If you must know,' she said, ‘I've been climbing since I was little. In fact, I've just climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.'

The boys' mouths fell open. They looked at Scarlet and her slight, fragile frame. There was no way she was telling the truth.

‘I did it in seven days,' said Scarlet. ‘A new record for someone my age.'

‘Wait a minute,' said Digger. ‘Is your real name Piper McKreeley? I think I read about you in the paper.'

‘That's me,' said Secret Agent Scarlet matter-of-factly.

Jack was gobsmacked. Mount Kilimanjaro was the highest mountain on the African continent. It was more than 19,000 feet above sea level. If Scarlet had indeed climbed it, she was more experienced than them. Jack made a mental note never to judge someone by their appearance again.

The helicopter jolted forward.

Jack looked out and saw that they were flying over the Khumbu Icefall, one of the most dangerous places on Everest. The icefall was like a frozen river that forced its way about three feet down the mountain every day. This meant that huge ‘crevasses', or holes, could open up without warning. Large towers of ice called ‘seracs' could fall on top of you.

As they passed over the icefall, Jack noticed, to the north, a smoother, flatter area covered in snow. This was the Western Cwm, their next destination.

The helicopter lowered itself into the valley, and Jack and the others jumped out.

CRUNCH!

Their crampons dug into the icy snow. The sunlight bounced off the glacier, making it hard for them to see. The children put on their GPF Snow Shades to protect their eyes from snow blindness.

The helicopter pilot took off, leaving Jack, Storm, Digger and Scarlet behind.

Jack scanned his surroundings. Now he understood why mountaineers called the Western Cwm the ‘Valley of Silence'. It was deathly quiet. There was no breeze, no birds, and no life. In the absence of wind, it was also blazing hot.

Jack looked at the temperature on his Watch Phone. It was 95°F. He shifted the temperature control setting on his Polar Parka from ‘warm' to ‘cool'. It certainly wasn't what he was expecting on Everest.

Flicking a switch on the side of his Snow Shades, Jack tried to locate the plane. Like the Google Goggles, the GPF Snow Shades had a zooming feature. Except for a crevasse followed by an ice boulder, there was nothing in sight.

‘I wonder where it is,' said Jack. ‘Planes don't just disappear.'

‘They do if someone wants them to,' said Scarlet.

‘Do you think it was planned?' asked Storm.

‘Maybe,' said Scarlet. ‘After all, they were carrying precious cargo. If the Russians are after it, maybe they're the ones who brought it down.'

Jack hadn't thought of that before. He'd assumed that the plane had accidentally crashed. If someone wanted to get their hands on the skull, this was the perfect way to do it. Make the plane disappear, and take off with the cargo when nobody was watching.

‘Do you think it's real?' asked Digger.

‘The Yeti?' said Storm, shrugging his shoulders. ‘People have taken photos of weird footprints. Others swear to having seen an ape-like creature as high as 19,000 feet.'

Jack stared into the distance. They were about that altitude now. He wondered whether there was a Yeti lurking somewhere on the mountain, watching them.

Not wasting any time, Scarlet grabbed a small H-shaped frame from her Book Bag and began to lengthen the ends. After a minute she'd created a sturdy aluminium ladder. ‘The plane's probably on the other side of this crevasse,' she said, pointing to the huge crack in the ice ahead.