Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 193 Valley Camping

They were fully equipped, so once one person climbed up, they could lower the rope to help others climb up.

The others naturally couldn't object to Zhou Xin's volunteer suggestion.

Fortunately, there were many of them, and the cliff had a certain slope, so even if they fell halfway down, they would only slide down the rock face. As long as the others below caught them, they would not be seriously injured.

The biggest difficulty and risk actually comes from the freezing of the hands due to the low temperature.

Frozen hands naturally become extremely inflexible, which in turn affects the stability of climbing.

But it's impossible to wear gloves, as that would make you less flexible.

All of this can only be overcome by Zhou Xin's strength and perseverance.

Zhou Xin took off his snowshoes and put on shoes with anti-slip crampons.

He took off his backpack, tied a rope around his waist, and attached a climbing axe to his waist. Then he used both his hands and feet to climb up the rock face.

The snow on the rock face is not thick, and most of the area is hard rock, but there are still some places covered with a thin layer of soil due to weathering and vegetation.

While these soil layers can aid in climbing, they are also deadly traps.

If you put all your body weight on these soil layers, it could cause the soil to loosen and fall, leading to your body slipping and falling.

Zhou Xin used the soil as leverage, searching for the rock face's unevenness and crevices to grip and step on.

He was focused and carefully climbed up little by little.

Sofia watched nervously from below, wanting to cheer him on but afraid of affecting him.

Fortunately, after this period of training, Zhou Xin's physical fitness has improved a lot.

His muscles were taut, and although he climbed slowly, he did so very steadily.

My fingers touched the cold rock wall and gradually became stiff and unresponsive.

When he reached the upper middle part of the cliff, he found a large protrusion and stood on it to rest for a while.

"Be careful, Mr. Zhou!" Sophia finally couldn't help but warn him.

Zhou Xin stretched his slightly sore arms and smiled, giving an OK sign downwards.

He kept breathing on his hands and even put them inside his collar to help his fingers regain their flexibility more quickly.

After resting, he continued climbing.

Although the slope was gentler in the upper section, the snow was also thicker.

He had to carefully remove the snow to find a foothold.

You must be very careful when clearing snow, because any disturbance below could cause the snow above to suddenly pour down.

Fortunately, the snow below had become very hard after melting and refreezing over this period, and it was firmly attached to the rock face.

This allows you to use a climbing axe to assist in climbing.

He firmly planted his ice axe in the permafrost and pulled himself upwards.

His shoes had anti-slip crampons on the bottom, which allowed him to grip firmly onto the frozen layer beneath the snow, making his climb much easier.

His climbing speed began to increase, and he decided to reach the summit in one go.

However, due to carelessness, he overlooked the soft layer of snow on the surface.

The disturbed snow began to fall, forming a mini avalanche.

He could only drive his feet as deep into the permafrost as possible, while gripping his axe tightly and pressing his body against the rock face.

The snow poured down, giving him a snow bath.

After holding on for a while, the avalanche finally ended, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He shook his head, brushing the snow off his head.

But much of the snow had already seeped into his neck, quickly melting into icy water droplets that made him shiver.

Ignoring all that, he gritted his teeth and continued climbing.

Finally, after climbing for another five or six minutes, he reached the top of the cliff.

He lay down directly on the snow, panting heavily.

"He did it! Mr. Zhou made it to the top!" Sophia cheered, finally relieved.

Zhou Xin rested for a while, then took out the rope and threw it down.

He found a large rock, tied the end of the rope securely to it, and then signaled to the people below to climb up.

With the rope, climbing becomes much easier.

Bell and Sophia climbed up first, and then, with the help of those below, began to pull the dogs and wolves up one by one.

Soon, the entire team had reached the top of the cliff.

"Thank you for your hard work," Bell said respectfully. "This has saved us a lot of time."

Sophia took out her own towel from her bag, ready to help Zhou Xin dry his wet hair.

"Thank you." Zhou Xin slightly dodged and took the towel to dry herself.

A hint of disappointment flashed in Sophia's eyes, but she immediately smiled and said, "Dad, Mr. Zhou deserves a lot of credit this time. Once we find the treasure, we must give him a larger share."

"Of course," Bell replied with a smile.

After climbing the cliff, the journey became much easier, and they reached the valley in just over an hour.

This river is not large; it could be described as a large stream.

The ground on both sides of the river is relatively flat, like a naturally formed road, making it very easy to walk on.

As night fell, they found a shady spot in the valley and began to set up camp to rest.

Everyone set up polar tents and stoves, and then began to divide the work together.

Sofia and Windsor were in charge of starting the fire and cooking, while the four men were responsible for gathering firewood from the surrounding area.

Since everyone was equipped with a stove, the amount of firewood needed was naturally large. In addition, a fire had to be lit in the camp to drive away wild animals, so it was necessary to stockpile as much firewood as possible.

They found no trace of wild animals along the way today, which was relatively safe, but it also ruined their hunting plans.

They carried only enough dry rations for three days, so they had to hunt prey as soon as possible to replenish their food supply.

The four men worked for more than an hour and collected enough firewood.

After dividing the firewood, they placed enough in each person's tent to burn all night, and piled the rest next to the fire in the center of the camp.

Dinner was simple: compressed biscuits were cooked into a pot of thin porridge with water.

It didn't look very appealing, and it tasted even worse.

It seems that the two women are not good at cooking and can only create culinary disasters based on their imagination.

Of course, this is also because they did not bring suitable cooking ingredients.

After dinner, everyone sat around the fire and began to discuss the night watch.

In such an environment, someone must keep watch at night.

Fortunately, they had enough staff. They planned for four men to take turns keeping watch at night, with each man on duty for two hours.

Zhou Xin didn't want to have to crawl out of the tent halfway through his sleep, so he chose to be the first on duty.

After a long day of travel, everyone felt exhausted and went into their tents to rest.

The surroundings suddenly fell silent, with only the sound of the wind blowing through the valley, the crackling of burning firewood, and the occasional howls of dogs and wolves lying by the fire.