The rain – freezing and relentless – started a few minutes after they set out. It took two hours for them to hike and scramble up the foothills of the mountain. By the time they were approaching Striding Edge, the rain was almost horizontal and Max’s hands and feet were numb. Even Jordan was silent as they stopped for a moment and looked at the imposing ridge leading to the summit. It was only a few metres wide. On either side was a steep, scree-covered slope with a drop of at least fifty metres.

‘Single file!’ Mickey shouted over the noise of the rain. ‘I’ll lead. Max, you take the rear. Don’t let anybody fall behind.’

Jordan brushed past Max. ‘Out of my way, orphan boy,’ he muttered.

Max ignored him.

The going was slow. The rain was blinding, and the rock was slippery underfoot. Max trod carefully, feeling for loose ground with his walking boots. He tried to avoid looking to either side, but he could still see that the bottom of the slope was invisible, covered in mist and rain haze. Below and to their right there was a mountain tarn, but it was only occasionally visible. Looking down made Max shudder. Instead, he concentrated on the rest of the team snaking out ahead of him. They were the only people on Striding Edge today – with good reason. As far as Max was concerned, the sooner they were back down in the foothills, the better.

It took another ninety slow minutes to reach the summit. It was a bleak, lonely, weather-ravaged place. Max felt none of the satisfaction that he remembered from his previous CCF climbing trip to the Peak District. As the team congregated by a small cairn that marked the summit, he looked back the way they had come. He could see no more than five metres. Striding Edge was lost in cloud.

Normally they would rest for a while and eat something from their ration packs. Today, nobody wanted to do that. Mickey looked anxious. Standing by the cairn, he turned a full circle, as if looking for another descent. The wind howled. It was deafening and very strong, and almost caused Max to lose his footing. He approached Mickey. ‘We need to get back down,’ he said tersely.

‘There are other descents,’ Mickey agreed. ‘Safer, maybe. But in these clouds …’

‘We’ll get lost?’ Max said.

Mickey nodded. ‘Maybe you were right,’ he said, quietly so the others couldn’t hear. ‘We shouldn’t have come.’ He sounded panicky, like he was turning to Max for advice. That was not what Max wanted to hear.

‘It doesn’t matter now,’ Max said. ‘We just need to get down.’