this chapter takes place after chapter 3 and the event that happened at the end of it. Joe and Simon realise that the descent the have in front of them is going to be hard, and the danger they are in. This is because the accident that had happened previously and the fact that their descent is alread considerably harder than the thought it would be. The harder descent means that they make little progress in the three and a half hours that they have already climbed for.

The climbers only have an hour left before darkness and continue the descent. Simon makes his way down a gully between two flutings, with Joe following after him, but keeping some distance behind. After a while Joe thinks that he and Simon have made enough progress past the obstacle to be able to traverse across the easier ground. Joe shouts to Simon to stop climbing, but he cannot hear him properly, Simon shouts back but Joe cannot make out what he is saying.

This is when Joe climbs down further and finds that the gully gets steeper than it had been previously, he then starts to slip and tries to stop himself but finds it hard to stop himself, when he eventually does the snow drops from beneath him making him drop and smash into Simon.

Joe and Simon continue climbing, but have to deal with and climb many flutings and gullies and do so within an hour and a half. They eventually reach somewhere where they can =make a snow cave for them to sleep in. The first that Joe digs out is not suitable, forcing him to make another and annoy Simon with his frostbitten fingers at the same time.

As the two start rest Joe recalls one of Simon’s experiences on the French alps. Two Japanese climbers had been climbing close to Simon and his partner, jon. The two teams had made steady progress and both reached the summit headwalls, this is when Simon saw the leading Japanese climbers fall outwards and backwards. The leader jerked and twisted causing the other climber to fall and plunge down the drop, helples. The belay piton that had been there had fallen out.

The two climbers wake up in a better attitude than before, but this quickly fades when Simon shows his frostbitten fingers and how at least one of them had gone black in colour. The last of the gas is used up making their drinks for the morning. They set off, but find that the ice/snow is bad and causes them to slip and struggle. Joe narrowly avoids an accident.