Max grabbed hold of the rope. It was wet and hurt his frozen hands, but he gripped it firmly. Slowly, his muscles burning, he pulled himself up the slope towards Angus: five slow, difficult metres. Angus was still cradling his left arm. He was pale and shivering.

‘It’s broken,’ he whispered as Max drew up alongside him. There was no ‘orphan boy’ this time.

Max looked up. Five metres of rope connected him and Angus. It would be enough for him to use to get up to the ridge. But there wasn’t much time. If the others were pulling themselves up, he and Angus would soon slip again.

‘It’s going to be okay,’ Max said. ‘But we have to move fast.’ He grabbed the rope connecting Angus to the next person along and powered past his companion. There was no time to explain what he was doing. Twenty seconds later, he was on the ridge. He could hear muffled shouts, but there was no sign of the others.

He seized the section of rope leading down to Angus and hauled as hard as he could. He couldn’t shift his companion. ‘Use your legs!’ he shouted. Angus looked up, frightened. ‘Your legs!’ Max repeated. Angus nodded. He inched up the slope while Max pulled as hard as he could. It took ten seconds to haul Angus up on to the ridge. Both boys collapsed, breathing heavily.

A crack of thunder. Another hit of lightning. The muffled shouts became more distinct. ‘Jordan! Jordan!’

Max pushed himself to his feet and helped Angus up. They scrambled towards the top of the ridge. The others came into sight. They were still roped up, but huddled close together. It immediately became clear to Max that Angus wasn’t the only casualty. Mickey lay on his back, pale and shivering. His leg was obviously broken – it went off at a strange angle at the knee. The others looked terrified. A couple were holding their mobile phones, but there was no service. ‘Where’s Jordan?’ Max demanded.

Their body language told him everything. They looked over the edge into the gaping, cloud-filled emptiness beyond.

‘He fell,’ Suze whispered. ‘He lost his balance and he wasn’t roped up. There was nothing we could do.’

2

Dülfersitz

‘Mountain rescue …’ Mickey whispered. ‘We need mountain rescue.’

Max stared at him. The only way they could make contact with the outside world was by using the satellite phone.

And the sat phone was in Jordan’s rucksack.

Max stood up and looked at the slope. The rain was still lashing, and visibility was getting worse.

He put his hands to his mouth. ‘Jordan! Can you hear me?’

The others started shouting Jordan’s name again, but there was no reply, just the relentless blast of the wind and the rain. They fell silent and peered into the mist. There was no way of knowing how far Jordan had fallen. Fifty metres? A hundred? Was he alive?