Colorado's Grays Peak(格雷斯峰) rises 14,278 feet above sea level, high enough that trees can't grow toward the top. It was in this difficult environment that Cindy was 1 enough to injure her left knee.
It was August 2018, and Cindy, 56, was on her way back down the trail (小路) with three friends. As a storm was coming, they were2 to get off the mountain. When they3 a rocky drop of a couple of feet, Cindy4 that instead of moving down slowly — the safe way to go — she would5. She landed on her left leg. Then she felt a sharp6 in her leg.
Every7 after that was extremely painful. Before long, she had to8. As one friend ran down to get9, a number of other hikers, all strangers,10 to help Cindy down the narrow trail by walking on either side of her to support her 11, but that proved slow and dangerous.
Finally, one hiker, Matt, asked her," How do you feel about a fireman's 12?" Before she knew it, he had13 her over his shoulder." Now, I'm not tiny," says Cindy, a former college basketball star.14 Matt couldn't carry her all the way down by himself. So six hikers and one of her friends15 carrying her. Three hours and two rock⁃strewn miles later, this human conveyor belt16 the medical workers in the end, who17 Cindy to the nearby hospital.
Now she has mostly 18 from her unlucky hike, but Cindy knows she'll never shake one thing from that day: the19 of the band of strangers who came to her20." I'm still moved to tears."
