Vertical Limits

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

The sixth instalment of the Take It to the Xtreme series finds
15-year-old buddies Jake Evans and Peter Monpetit involved in another
extreme sport—rock-climbing. Withers provides a character switch with
the normally cautious Jake initially trading roles with the usually
impetuous Peter.

While awaiting the start of their summer jobs with Sam’s Adventure
Tours, the adolescent pair join their boss’s 25-year-old brother,
Steph “Gecko” Miller, on a trip to the Bugaboo Spires in British
Columbia’s Purcell Mountain Range to do some rock-climbing. Although
Jake wants to test himself by solo climbing a 3,300–foot granite
tower, a situation requiring overnighting on the rock face, Peter
appears content to remain at ground level while shooting a video
documentary of Jake’s feat. The real reason for Peter assuming this
passive role is his extreme fear of heights. When Gecko, a member of the
search and rescue team, is called away to look for a missing child,
Peter still attempts his solo ascent, getting himself into a
life-threatening situation 300 storeys above ground during a
thunderstorm.

Withers introduces another character, Katja Gilardi, an orphaned
15-year-old tomboyish girl and experienced mountaineer who has been
hiding in the Bugaboo Spires to avoid being sent to a foster home. Katja
and Peter (who overcomes his acrophobia) rescue Jake, who by then has
decided that his future climbs will all be of the traditional partnered
variety.

Withers has written an excellent adventure thriller. She makes the
specialized climbing vocabulary accessible to anyone—even those whose
knowledge of climbing is limited to just knowing that indoor climbing
walls exist. Highly recommended.