Icefall

High on a disputed Himalayan peak, the margin between success and disaster is measured in minutes.

Elena Ward has guided climbers above 7,000 meters for years. She understands the rules of the mountain: move slowly, trust your systems, and never ignore the quiet warnings of ice and weather.

This expedition should have been routine.

A wealthy sponsor chasing a summit photograph. A veteran Sherpa team. A carefully prepared route and a narrow but workable weather window.

Then the serac collapses.

In seconds, the descent route is obliterated and the team is stranded above 6,500 meters with injuries, failing oxygen supplies, and the brutal physics of altitude closing in.

As oxygen levels drop and the mountain begins to decide who survives the descent, Elena must keep the team moving through terrain that no longer resembles the route they climbed.

Because on a high mountain the summit is optional.

The descent isn't.

Icefall is a tense, realistic survival thriller about mountaineering, leadership under pressure, and the thin line between preparation and catastrophe.