2. They began their descent and Simon’s grinning confidence helped him believe they would actually make it.

3. Joe couldn’t bear the pain, but Simon knew speed was the key to their survival. Joe fell and found himself hanging in mid-air with the cliff six feet away from him.

4. The narrative again switched to Simon’s point-of-view and his realization that with his own waning strength, Joe’s weight would pull him off the slope, dragging them both to their deaths. He thought through his options, remembered the knife in his ruck-sack and decided to act insisting he didn’t have any other choice.

5. The chapter ended as Simon recalled his feelings after sending Joe to what he felt was a certain death. He dug a snow-hole to spend the night and arose the following morning convinced that even now, he still faced his own death on the mountain.