The Climb

American accent

Elena and Mark began their climb early in the morning. The sky was dark, and the wind was cold and strong. They walked slowly and checked their bags many times. Both of them had climbed before, but this mountain felt wrong.

After an hour, Elena stopped.

“Mark,” she said softly. “I feel like someone is watching us.”

Mark looked behind them. There was only rock, cloud, and empty space.

“We are alone,” he said, but his voice was not strong.

They walked higher. The path became narrow. Rock was on one side. Open space was on the other. Elena stayed close to the wall. Then she saw marks on the ground.

“Footprints,” she said. “They are not ours.”

Mark looked at them and said nothing. They walked faster.

Soon, they heard a sharp sound. A stone hit the ground behind them. Elena turned fast.

A man stood below them.

He looked up. He did not speak. He picked up another stone and dropped it. The stone fell past them and disappeared.

“Hey!” Mark shouted. “Stop that!”

The man smiled and walked away into the cloud.

Elena felt cold inside. “I don’t feel safe,” she said.

“We must keep going,” Mark answered.

The wind grew stronger and it started to snow. Then the path became very narrow. Only one person could pass at a time. Mark went first. Elena followed.

Suddenly, they felt something pull their rope.

“Elena!” Mark shouted.

She looked down. The rope was moving. Someone was pulling it from behind.

The man stepped out of the cloud.

“You should not hurry,” he said calmly.

Mark turned. “Let go of the rope!”

The man did not answer. He pulled again. Elena lost her balance and screamed.

Mark moved fast. He cut the rope with his knife.

Elena fell to her knees but stopped near the wall. She was now too scared to move.

The man stepped closer. “That was dangerous,” he said, smiling.

Mark picked up a stone and held it high. “Move back,” he said.

The man stopped. He looked down at the open space beside them. Then he looked at Mark.

“You won’t throw it,” he said.

Mark threw it.

The stone hit the man’s shoulder, and he cried out and stepped back. Then Elena and Mark watched in terror as he fell off the edge of the path and down the side of the mountain. When they looked again, they saw him lying on the ground, far, far below them. He did not move.

Mark and Elena did not wait. They turned and went down the mountain as fast as they could. They did not stop until they were far away.

Later, when they were back at their hotel, Elena began to cry.

She knew one thing now.

The real danger was not the mountain; it was the man who was now lying in the snow.

📒 Key vocabulary

• climb – an activity where you go up something high
• cloud – a mass of white or grey air in the sky
• path – a trail which you can walk on
• narrow – with little space
• footprints – marks made by feet or shoes on the ground
• stone – small hard rock
• rope – a long, strong line
• let go of – stop holding
• terror – intense fear
• edge – the place where something ends

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