At first, he says, the terrain was “nothing too extreme,” so he assumed he was on the right path — until it became too steep and too smooth to count as a scramble at all. Going back down, backwards, wasn’t an option, and neither was staying still on the rock face, he said.

“That’s when I realized something has gone terribly wrong,” Gowryluk said, but he kept climbing, focused on putting his hands and feet wherever they would fit.