I will never forget our climbing trip in July last year. My friends Mia, Jack, Noah and I all share the same hobby: rock climbing. We especially love the buzz we get when we climb without any securing ropes. Jack had the idea to go climbing somewhere else and we were all excited. All we needed was a suitable place and I suggested the Rocky Mountains because I always wanted to go there. We decided to go in the first week of our summer vacation. When the time finally came and we arrived at our campsite, after a long flight, we could not wait to start climbing. We were surrounded by huge mountains and felt as if we were in paradise. The next morning, we left early to go to the place that Noah had picked out. The rock was quite difficult to climb and, so, we decided to secure ourselves for safety, only Jack did not want to. I can still remember his words. He said: “it is boring with securing ropes, you do Not geht the adrenaline kick.“ At first I was sceptical if this was such a good idea but then I decided to just let ihm do it. When we reached a height of about 20 meters, I noticed how Jack was struggling with his strength and asked him if everything was okay. He tried to play it cool and replied “yeah, I am fine“ but I could in his voice that he was gasping for air. We decided to climb a bit higher but suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw how Jack could no longer hold and crashed down. He screamed. Fortunalety, he did not fall completely, but landed on a level that was about 5 meters below him. A shiver ran over my body and we immediately abseiled down and called an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, Jack was unconscious and they took him to the nearest hospital. I was totally worried about him and blamed myself. At the hospital, we were told that Jack would be paralyzed for a while. It was a moment of shock for all of us and a thousand things went through my head. From that point on it was clear to me that safety always takes precedence over fun. Today, a year and a half later, Jack can fortunately walk normally again.
written by Rosa, year 10, January 2023