Stuck on a slippery slope

January 4, 2024

DESPITE, OR PERHAPS because of, my fear of heights, I am fascinated by mountaineering. I never want to go up a high peak, yet  I love reading and watching documentaries about the men and women who are drawn to the high places (from the safety of my armchair).

It seems to me that the climbing world has seen some of the most remarkable stories of adventure, courage and tragedy ever to be told. And chief among them must surely be the one involving British climbers Simon Yates and Joe Simpson.

The two up-and-coming mountaineers traveled to the Andes to tackle a notorious, unscaled peak. After reaching the summit, things started to go dreadfully wrong on the descent: Simpson broke one of his lower legs, leaving him incapacitated.

Tying a rope between them, Yates anchored himself as Simpson slid a ways down the mountainside. Then Yates would follow down behind and they would repeat the process. This slow and painful relay grew increasingly difficult amid  worsening weather.

As the light faded and the storm intensified, eventually the two men could neither see nor hear each other. And then Yates felt the rope go taut—Simpson must have fallen off the side of the mountain. Simpson was unable to climb up. Not only was Yates unable to pull his companion up, but he could feel himself being slowly pulled from his position.

At the start of a new year, as you look to what God might have in store for you, maybe you can identify with Yates—stuck on a slippery slope with a weight that is dragging you down?

Maybe there’s literally a person on the other end of your rope, like with Yates: a romantic, familial, work or social relationship? Or maybe it’s possessions: a house, a car, or something else? You started out owning it, but now it owns you?

Here are some other possibilities: Status: your sense of reputation, your need for influence, or your social (media) standing. Your diet—maybe food or drink or something you feed your heart and mind with. Some kind of habit—a compulsion or addiction that provides false comfort for a time but no solution.

Then there are those secret attitudes we harbor: unforgiveness, resentment, envy, judgmentalism. Or maybe our expectations for a good life, a good job, and good times that can become a sense of entitlement.If that’s your situation, the Yates and Simpson story (recounted well in the absorbing Touching the Void) may provide a challenging answer.

After sitting, stuck, for some time, Yates realized that unless he did something drastic, there was only one way this was going to end. Eventually, reluctantly, he reached for a knife he was carrying and cut then rope… Amazingly, Simpson would survive (more about that in the next blog).

As you contemplate your slippery slope situation, do you need to consider doing something as radical and scary and risky?