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Written by Tommy Koonuk
Waking up by text message from my brother only meant one thing: the pick. It was a cloudy July afternoon in my hometown of Point Hope. I grabbed some lunch and packed up all my repelling gear onto my four-wheeler. I was filled with excitement and anxiety considering the fact that this was going to be a two man show for a few hours.
My brother Adam arrived to my place and we
decided on what we wanted to do. We took off down the coast.
The drive to the cliffs would be about 30 miles down the
coast which took about 30-40 minutes. As we trolled along
the coast, the sky started clearing up, filling with ambient
rays of sun.
Adam and I reached our destination. We had
mixed emotions filled with both bravery inheirited from our
ancestors yet fear from the unknown. . Discussing whether or
not we should be a two man crew got us both thinking, "our
ancestors did this, I should be able to pull you back up". I
unpacked the gear and suited up Adam with the harness. We
looked for the best spot that had a lot of eggs.
We looked at each other in the eyes as a
confirmation that we were going to do this. Adam gracefully
repelled down the 90 degree cliff trying to get about 200
feet down to the eggs. I clenched the rope as tight as
possible for his life was in my hands. I had alot of
important freight in my hands; it was all on me. I slowly
gave him slack inch by inch.
The communication between us got pretty
tough since the wind was coming from the south and howling.
We were literally screaming our lungs out trying to talk and
signal which move would be next. I struggled to keep the
rope at a steady length while he only became heavier and
heavier. After about 30 minutes of holding the rope it
seemed as if he was gaining weight. I barely heard him
yelling " PULL ME UP!!"
I tried with all my strength that i had in
to my pull the kid up, but I couldnt. He was stuck dangling
on the side of the cliff with a 150 foot drop. Though we
couldnt hear each other, we both knew we were in a bad
situation. The weight of the rope only got more heavier and
tighter and I slowly started losing grip.
I swear I prayed so loud I probably got
all the ground squirrels attention. The only thing I was
able to do was hold onto the rope for Adams dear life. About
an hour passed and I could see people at the very top of the
cliff. They looked like the size of rice grains. My spirit
dropped.
I yelled and yelled trying to get their
attention. The rope gradually was slipping out of my grip
and brought a lot of worry. There was no way I was letting
go. I hollered my lungs out one last time. I probably said
all the curse words in the dictionary and made up a few of
my own.
Jeremy and Dennis finally heard me,
spotted us and zoomed to the location we were at. They
started running towards me down the hill and grabbed the
rope and started pulling Adam up. I held the rope so long i
wasnt able to open my first for a few minutes.
Adam and I looked each other in the eye
once again. I know we were both thinking" What in the world
were we thinking?" I guess i overestimated my strength which
was a bad thing. We both got ourselves together and we sent
Adam back down, this time with the help of two other men,
Jeremy and Dennis.
I will never forget this day and situation
Adam and I were in. I guess we both learned our lessons. Or
did we?
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