Ray Porter

A Narrow Ledge Ray Porter

Seven years after a brush with death on Mount Rainier, the narrator agrees to join a friend on one of the peak's most dangerous routes. Having vowed never to become That Guy who dies in the mountains, he returns to the narrow ledge between safety and oblivion. Questions swirl in his head as the climb draws near. Does danger breed character, or is mountaineering sheer indulgence? What duty has a man to stay safe for his family's sake? Will he return home brimming with experience, or make his wife a widow, his daughter an orphan? What makes danger so persistently attractive?

Barron Brown is a writer, doctor, climber, and former endurance athlete. He lives with his family in Seattle, Washington. A Narrow Ledge is his first published work.