Scaling the Riser

A flight of brutal concrete steps barred my path through the stairwell. To an untrained wanderer, each step was an insurmountable vertical cliff. I refused to hesitate before a basic gradient. Striding directly to the edge of the landing, I reached up and locked both gloved hands over the coarse lip of the next tread. Bracing my boots against the rough vertical concrete, I drove my frame upward against gravity with deliberate, unyielding force. The stone bit hard into my synthetic grip, but I did not yield an inch. With a final surge, I hauled my weight up and secured the higher ground.