Lesson Focus: Vocabulary
(1) Look only at the words in bold and try to match them to the picture.
(2) Read the lesson and study the new words.
(3) Complete the practice activities
(4) Look at the picture again and see how many words were correct.
She is just a silhouette. Behind her are fluffy, white clouds, lit up by the early morning sun rising over the mountains in the distance, while she is a dark shape. She is mountain climbing, alone.
This woman got up in the middle of the night to start her climb. The weather in the afternoon is dangerous for mountain climbers because the heat of the sun weakens the ice and snow, making it more likely that they’ll fall. She has been climbing for about 5 hours, and she is getting near the top.
She is focused. Climbing a mountain of this altitude is a test of endurance and mental fortitude. If your body doesn’t have enough stamina and your mind isn’t strong enough, you can’t summit. You can’t reach the top.
At this altitude, she is above the clouds. For about an hour she was walking through them, and all she saw was the snow at her feet, uphill, downhill, and fog everywhere else. It was cold and dark. She had a headlamp that helped her see better, though the bright beams in the fog sometimes seemed like they made it harder to see than when it was off. Now, she is walking in the sunlight of the early morning. It’s still below freezing, but she has worked up enough body temperature from her steady pace to have taken off her hat and enjoy some fresh air.
She has just enough equipment for her hike plus a few survival items. It all fits in her backpack when it’s neatly packed together. She has practiced packing it many times to make sure she doesn’t waste time each time she needs to access an item from the bag and to make sure she can take everything she needs.
In her hands are two hiking poles. These lightweight sticks are used for making the hike easier by helping keep balance and footing even on uneven or icy parts of the hike. She has a headband that keeps her hair out of her face and sunglasses to protect her eyes from the sun rays reflected off the snow. Her hiking boots are not just any hiking boots, but are specialized for dangerous and difficult climbs like this.
As the sun rises higher in the sky, her silhouette turns slowly into a colorful image of determination and perseverance. Her success at reaching the top will tell the story of her years of training and hard work. A few selfies to show friends later, a short moment of taking in the breathtaking view of all the shorter mountains around her, and it’s time to hike back down.
Climbing alone is dangerous. If anything happens, there is no one to help and no one who can look for help. If anything goes wrong, she has to survive herself. The way down will be more dangerous than the way up, because she will be tired and the temperatures are rising.
Only time will tell the rest of the world if she overcomes this challenge by herself or if climbing this mountain alone was the mistake of a lifetime.