Publications by Michelle

Publications by Michelle Hurni
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Climbing Clean in Elk Dud

New eBook by Michelle Hurni

Click the links below to download
Climbing Clean in Elk Dud now:

For Amazon Kindle
For Barnes and Noble Nook

Advance praise from Stewart Green, one of America's top climbing writers and photographers: "There is not a lot of climbing fiction being regularly published but as a climber, I love to eat up those words like candy. Good tent reading. My friend Michelle Hurni, who I served with on the ASCF board for comp climbing back in the '90s and has written a couple training books for FalconGuides, just published a climbing novel as an e-book. It's available at Amazon for Kindle and other devices like iPhones and iPads, all for the bargain price of $2.99. Check it out...and great work Michelle!"

Prologue

My palms sweat. My heart pounds. This is the toughest climb of my life. I look ahead to the next hold. The dime sized edge doesn’t look like it can hold my weight, but it has to. I push with my legs. One foot cuts loose. The other hangs on by the tip of rubber on my climbing shoe.

I catch the edge with the pads of three fingers and feel the weight of my body settle onto the jagged edge. I’m fully extended, with three points of contact on the rock. I shift my weight to the right and bring my left toe up, setting it on nothing, a slight indent in the granite, naked to all but the most astute climber.

Two more moves and it’s over.

But this climb isn’t about me. It’s about Wolfie.

“Off belay.” I set three pieces of gear into a crack, the metal objects the only thing between us and a 2,000 foot freefall to the glacier below.

“On belay!” I tug the rope three times, a signal to Wolfie in case he can’t hear me.
Wolfie climbs fast and I pull the rope through my belay device, keeping it loose the way he likes it.

I settle myself on the ledge, one foot sideways. The toes of the other dangle over the abyss.

The sun starts its downward arc toward the horizon and I turn my face toward it, soaking in the last warm rays.

Wolfie grunts as he lunges, and catches, a hold just beyond his reach.

I look down and see his face, the intensity telling me he’s reaching his limit.

He stops to take out my last piece of gear and it clinks as he clips it to his harness. The only thing connecting us now is a few feet of rope.

Wolfie’s fingers curl onto a hold beside my feet and he lifts his chin. Our eyes meet and stay together as he joins me on the ledge. His grin is cocky. The first ascent is complete.

I pull him close with his harness. The corners of his lips tilt up before our lips touch for one electrifying second. I smile and give him a playful push.

And then he’s gone. Forever.

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ESPN Website, Shaun White opens up January 24,2010 - Download PDF*

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Sailing Magazine, Sailing with Altitude January 2010 - Download PDF*

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Mustang Enthusiast November 2009 - Download PDF*