"Touching the Void"

You know, with all of the PBS shows about people dying/freezing/almost getting killed in the snow, I'm never going to go out into the snow again. I'm going to fall down an icey crevice and die, or even worse, be alive and be faced with the fact that I'll never be found again and have to decided whether or not to just sit there and die, or take action (which would be near impossible).

It would be even worse if you were doing it with a friend. And you were the one that fell down the crevice. Then your friend, thinking that you were dead, cut the rope that was your only lifeline back up. After that you'd have to deal with the feeling of abandoment. That they had left you to die. That would no doubt be a horrible feeling.

As you lie there, with no where to go. Not up, nor down. You just lay there for days, yelling out your friend's name. Hallucinating as you are dying of thirst, the cold, and hunger. Feeling the cold rip of icey wind across your face and the slow numbness of your fingers and toes as they begin to freeze.

That would just be the most horrifying, scarring, horrible experience ever. And to live with that experience...

I really hope that it never happens to me, or anyone that I know. It would be a terrible thing to wish on anyone. And those people that are lucky enough to survive the fall and live to tell the tale are just plain miracles.