Cliffhanger Page #10

HAL:

-- who couldn't climb that wall now if

there were stairs cut into it. But

you've soloed it.

GABE:

During the summer. On a bet.

HAL:

This is a little more important than a

bet. Just a few injured people with

no first aid or shelter, camping in a

zero degree blizzard. They'll be ice

sculptures by tomorrow morning.

GABE:

(shakes his head)

Maybe you missed the headlines -- but

I don't do rescues any more. They're

bad for my conscience.

(beat)

F*** this one up on your own.

Gabe walks past Hal. Furious, Hal spins Gabe around.

HAL:

Play it again, Gabe, about how we

killed her. I was there too, remember?

GABE:

(hot)

Not like I was, pal -- her fingers

brushed mine on the way down --

HAL:

(right back)

-- and I was the one who had to deal

with her family when you f***ing tore

out of town.

(takes a breath)

We lost her. Whatever anybody says

about cold stress and the clip, you

and I have to live with that. But

right now, there are some more people

who need our help, and they shouldn't

die too just because you've got a

problem keeping the past in the past.

Gabe knows he's right. But he's hesitant. And scared.

GABE:

I don't want the responsibility.

HAL:

Walk away and you are responsible.

They'll die. I can't do this alone.

(Gabe slows but doesn't

stop)

You know what else, Gabe? You can go

anywhere you want, but if you don't do

this, now, you're going to be stuck on

that goddamn ledge for the rest of

your life.

Gabe turns. Sees Maggie in the doorway. She's heard every

word. Gabe turns to Hal -- hesitates -- and nods.

EXT. COMB BLUFF TRAILHEAD - WIDE SHOT - DAY

Relative to the other mountains, Comb Bluff is smaller --

about 2,500 feet high. But that's like saying the Empire State

Building is smaller than the Sears Tower. It's still a long

way up if you're climbing the stairs.

ON THE GROUND - GABE AND HAL

with full packs of mountaineering gear on. They've got to

climb up this beast. Gabe -- now back in his orange Sheriff's

jacket -- scrambles with Hal up the base of the mountain, the

last few yards before it turns into a sloping wall. Gabe

takes a bolt gun -- which fires rope-fastened bolts into

rock -- and hangs it from a strap on his chest.

HAL:

(indicating gun)

That thing's dead weight. Completely

useless for an ice climb.

GABE:

Just backup.

Gabe readies a coil of rope and starts up the wall.

GABE:

(not a challenge)

I'll lead. I left a few bolts last

time I climbed this -- I think I can

find some of them.

Hal starts up after Gabe, easily keeping pace with him.

HAL:

Save the rope for when it gets tough.

(beat, realizing)

That bet was for you to free climb

the wall.

GABE:

(further up)

Tell you what, Hal -- if we're still

alive tomorrow morning, I'll give you

the twenty bucks back, okay?

COMB BLUFF - LONG SHOT

Two orange specks move their way up the mountain -- it's

definitely going to be a long trip.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. COMB BLUFF - LONG SHOT - DAY - GABE AND HAL

are now visibly two-thirds of the way up.

CLOSER ON GABE AND HAL - THE MOUNTAIN FACE

is not only higher, it's a lot tougher to climb. Instead of

being angular, the wall is now completely vertical -- and

coated with ice. Rough, irregular ice ledges are all Gabe and

Hal can grip -- it's a matter of grabbing what you can for a

handhold, and kicking the spikes of the steel crampons on

their boots into the ice for footholds. Gabe leads, planting

pitons into the ice, threading the rope through them as he

goes. Three steel pins between Gabe and Hal. Their only safety

net. Gabe, trailing rope behind him, goes up a difficult slab

of ice and climbs under a ledge, where he anchors the rope in

the ice with another piton.

GABE:

(shouting down)

Anchored!

HAL:

is beside and slightly below Gabe -- at the other end of the

fifty foot rope. Hal cautiously pulls himself along the line

to the first piton -- as is standard for a climb, he pulls out

the piton, then moves on to the second -- but up above

HIGHER ON THE MOUNTAIN

Ice, building in a small crevase, builds and CRACKS the

adjoining rock -- several ten-pound boulders fall, causing a

chain reaction

ROCKSLIDE:

that bounces down the wall --

GABE:

hugs the ice wall, making himself as flat as possible --

GABE:

(shouting down)

Rockslide!

HAL:

flattens too as rocks bounce past -- the second anchoring

piton LOOSENS as it is struck by a falling rock -- Hal

nervously eyes the last piton between him and Gabe --

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