The Hunt for the Yeti Skull: Nepal (6 page)

Scarlet walked up to the edge of the hole and lowered the ladder over the crevasse. Now it was touching the other side of the chasm. Fastening the ends of the ladder to the ground with ice stakes, Scarlet tied a rope to the first rung.

‘Let's go for it,' she said.

Scarlet went first. With steady legs, she stepped on each rung, careful not to fall or drop the rope. When she got to the other side, she tied the rope to the top of the ladder, and used two more ice stakes to fasten it to the ice. Thanks to Scarlet, the others had a makeshift handrail they could hold onto when they crossed the bridge.

Next it was Jack's turn. He put his foot on the ladder.

CLINK
.

The crampons made a loud noise against the rung. He took another step.

CLINK
.

Jack was really sweating now, not only because it was hot, but also because of what was below: a huge vertical drop between two gigantic slabs of ice. As he looked down, he noticed that the color of the ice changed from white at the top to dark blue at the bottom. As wacky as it sounded, Jack thought this crevasse was one of the most beautiful he'd ever seen.

Jack had been over several crevasses before. In fact, when he visited Mount McKinley in America, he'd learned how to rescue people who'd fallen down one. Recently, a climber in Europe had died when he fell down a crevasse and his partner was unable to save him.

Carefully, Jack continued to walk along the ladder until he reached the other side.

Storm was next. He made it across without a problem. The only one left was Digger. As soon as he put his foot out, however, Jack knew that something was wrong. Digger's leg was shaking with nerves.

‘It'll be all right, Digger!' shouted Jack.

But when the boy tried to step on the second rung, he slipped. His safety rope was pulled off his harness.

‘AHHHH!'

His body sailed down the crevasse. Jack and the others raced to the edge. They shouted down to him, but Digger didn't answer. They shook their heads. What Mr Bell had said was true: Digger wouldn't be going home for dinner tonight.

Just then, Jack spotted something. He flicked his Snow Shades to zoom in again, and spied a small ice shelf about fifty feet down. Unbelievably, there was something lying motionless on it. It was Digger!

‘I'll get him,' said Jack. ‘Just be ready to pull us up,' he told the others.

Quickly, he pulled his Klimbing Kit out of his bag. This was a circular case with a series of long nylon ropes. He tied a spike to the end of one and, at the push of a button, shot it down the crevasse. The spike torpedoed into the ice above Digger and fixed itself there.

After tying another spike to the other end of the rope, Jack shot that one into the ice boulder behind him. Tugging on the cord to make sure it was secure, he turned to Storm and Scarlet.

‘Wish me luck,' he said.

He then threw a shorter rope over the cord and zip-lined into the crevasse.

Because of the steep slope, Jack was moving fast. He braced himself before he smashed into the wall above Digger. Shaking off the pain, he jumped down next to the boy: he had to hurry. He didn't know how long the shelf would hold the weight of two people.

‘Digger,' said Jack, shaking him gently. ‘Are you OK?'

Digger grimaced as Jack touched his arm, but at least he was alive. Jack opened his bottle of pungent GPF Smelling Salts and rubbed it underneath Digger's nose. That seemed to wake him up, but he was still groggy.

‘You're pretty lucky,' said Jack. ‘Any further over and we wouldn't be having this conversation.'

He unhooked the spike from the ice and tied the rope to their harnesses. When he was ready, Jack yanked on it. Soon, there was another tug from above. It was Storm and Scarlet pulling them up. It took about ten minutes, but soon Jack and Digger had made it to safety.

‘I think his arm is broken,' said Jack. Although the GPF's Fix-It Tape could heal cuts and minor wounds, it couldn't repair bone. ‘He's in a pretty bad way,' he added. ‘One of us needs to get him back to Base Camp.'

Scarlet offered herself. ‘I'll stay and radio for the helicopter.'

Jack remembered the helicopter pilot saying something about making a food drop at a neighboring village.

‘It could take hours for you to get back,' he said. ‘We'll have to go on without you.'

‘That's OK,' said Scarlet with a smile. ‘I'll catch up.'

Seeing as Scarlet had climbed Kilimanjaro in a record time, Jack and Storm decided to agree to her plan. The boys waited until Scarlet had helped Digger back over the ladder, then they set off towards the boulder ahead – and, hopefully, the missing plane.

It took them thirty minutes, but Jack and Storm managed to climb the vertical mass of ice blocking their way. As soon as they were on the other side, they switched their Snow Shades back to ‘zoom'. This time they could see something in the near distance. It was the missing plane!

The propellers were gently turning round. Underneath the plane were metal squares that linked together to form a runway. From what Jack could tell, it didn't look like the plane had crashed. In fact, it looked like someone had intentionally landed it on the Western Cwm.

But where were the crew and passengers?

Except for the plane, there didn't seem to be anything or anybody in sight. Jack and Storm switched on their boots' Mine Alert feature. Instantly, a green line shot out of the tips, scanning the ground for booby-traps like bombs.

Slowly they walked around to the main door of the plane, which was hanging open. Jack peered inside. There, tied up with tape on their mouths, lay two men. Jack reckoned they must be the missing scientists.