“From jugging up multi-pitch waterfalls in Costa Rica, to cycling over 500 miles through the Colorado Rockies, dropping off cornices in Alta, and surfing wave-skis in Southern California,” Vijay says, “I’ve been able to continue to find people that are psyched, and want to help me pursue my passions despite a severe and permanent injury.”

We’ve come to the Fisher Towers, (seen in the opening scene of Austin Power’s Goldmember) for two goals: Make a free climb of Echo Tower, and assist Vijay in making the first paraplegic ascent of Echo Tower. (Vijay uses ascenders to climb the ropes we string to the summit during the free climb.)

Echo is deep in the Fishers group, two miles from the parking lot, with a one-hour approach: steep, strenuous hiking with enormous exposure. For Vijay and us, it took two days to get three quarters of the way in before retreating. Accessing the base of Echo tower proved to be an expedition in and of itself, with all three team members all working overtime to haul rope, gear, Vijay, and his adaptive mountain bike over a very precarious and inhospitable trail; through steep, loose sections and narrow passages.

I met Vijay through a mutual friend the year before —Vijay’s adaptive ski instructor—right after my first attempt on the tower (I was chomping at the bit to get back on the route). When Vijay explained that he too was a climber and had access to adaptive gear, I invited him for a rematch with the tower.

“When I go climbing, the climbing isn’t the most dangerous or even challenging obstacle,” Vijay told me. “Rather it’s the approach that entails careful planning and a safety and support crew.”

The hole in the tent smokes like the barrel of a gun. Out of the red sand near his feet, Josh picks up the gnarled rock that grazed his head and stares at it in disbelief. We must get out of the rock fall zone, now, and into the torrent.

Safely moving Vijay in this unsteady terrain is no easy task, especially on exposed, wet ground. The climbers’ trail is too sheer to bring him any higher. The steep, mushy-clay landscape, a way down, is impassible. Hail and snow snarl around our domicile.

On the ground, our current situation feels just like life on the vertical. We have tons of technical equipment, plus we can’t just walk away from our situation like you can when you’re merely camping. We have to take what nature dishes out, plan, and finally react.