Death Mountain: Chapters 12–18

by Sherry Shahan
On a hike in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, thirteen-year-old Erin Rowe makes a new friend when they both get lost and must rely on each other to survive.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–11, Chapters 12–18, Chapters 19–28
35 words 4 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. shuffle
    walk by dragging one's feet
    "Don't lift your feet!" Erin shouted over her shoulder. "You'll slip on a rock."
    "How am I supposed to walk if I can't lift my feet?"
    Mae was trying to be difficult. As if she needed to try.
    "Shuffle," Erin said.
  2. treacherous
    dangerously unstable and unpredictable
    The bubbling water hadn't looked quite so treacherous from the bank. But near the rocks the current was fighting mad, a crushing surge.
  3. lurch
    move haltingly and unsteadily
    She turned in the swift, thigh-high water, lurching against the raging foam.
  4. flail
    thrash about
    Mae wasn't exactly swimming. She was flailing to keep from going under again, her mud-streaked face scrubbed by the river's boiling course.
  5. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    The girls hiked on, crawling over fallen trees and clambering over outcrops of granite.
  6. jut
    extend out or project in space
    Sequoia stopped again, sniffing the ground where two slabs of granite jutted out from the side of the mountain.
  7. fleck
    a small fragment of something broken off from the whole
    Shadows danced on the walls; flecks of quartz sparkled in the torchlight.
  8. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    She coaxed Mae along a few feet at a time.
  9. burnished
    made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing
    Against the wall, on the far side of the burnished circle, several roundish lumps lay in the shadows.
  10. dank
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    Fear swirled in the dank cave, wrapping itself around the girls.
  11. reverberate
    ring or echo with sound
    Her muffled scream reverberated in the cold empty space.
  12. unwieldy
    difficult to use or handle because of size or weight
    Once she stumbled and the unwieldy pack threw her against the wall.
  13. provisions
    a stock or supply of foods
    "I think," said Christopher Robin, "that we ought
 to eat all our provisions now, so that we shan't
 have so much to carry."
  14. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    Mae turned toward the cross, ashen-faced.
  15. plod
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    Erin plodded on.
  16. salve
    a preparation applied externally as a soothing remedy
    First-aid kit: adhesive tape, salve, scissors, moleskin.
  17. embroider
    decorate with needlework
    She shook out a shirt. The brown patch on the sleeve said National Park Service. Embroidered inside the emblem were a sequoia tree, some mountain peaks, and a bison.
  18. wistfully
    in a pensively sad manner
    "I hope she isn't too worried about me," she added wistfully.
  19. ration
    restrict the consumption of a relatively scarce commodity
    Then she explained to Mae how they would need to ration the rest of the food. "We should save more than we eat," she said.
  20. couscous
    a northern African pasta made of crushed semolina
    Erin dug deeper in the backpack and pulled out a bag of light-colored grain. "Couscous."
  21. exposure
    vulnerability to the elements
    Her fingers were chapped from exposure, cold, and constant use.
  22. eon
    the longest unit of geological time
    It was hard to believe she and Mae had spent three nights in the wilderness. They'd been through so much together. It seemed like eons since she'd met Mae at that store.
  23. din
    a loud, harsh, or strident noise
    Erin shouted above the din of hail battering the garbage bag.
  24. superficial
    only concerned with what is apparent or obvious
    My mom is so superficial. She only cares about what people think. How things look.
  25. keen
    intense or sharp
    The silvery zigzag lightning lances are longer than usual, and the thunder gloriously impressive, keen, crashing, intensely concentrated, speaking with such tremendous energy it would seem that an entire mountain is being shattered.
  26. buttress
    a support usually of stone or brick
    It wound toward a gap in a ridge below an area of broken rock buttresses.
  27. dismay
    the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles
    She dropped her water bottle and watched in dismay as it bounced down the sheer incline in an avalanche of rock.
  28. sheer
    very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
    She dropped her water bottle and watched in dismay as it bounced down the sheer incline in an avalanche of rock.
  29. slog
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    Half an hour later they slogged through a narrow creek, too tired to jump it.
  30. hypothermia
    subnormal body temperature
    "Is it true some people get so hot they don't even sweat?" Mae said.
    "Yep. It's called hyperthermia." Erin passed the bottle, wiping at the sweat tickling her neck. "And if your body temperature drops too low you won't even shiver. That's hypothermia."
  31. lichen
    a plant occurring in crusty patches on tree trunks or rocks
    Dirt clung to her like lichen on boulders.
  32. fissure
    a long narrow opening
    Flowering plants with unfolding petals rooted in the fissures of rocks.
  33. score
    make small marks into the surface of
    Across and higher up the valley, belts of glacier- scored rock glistened in the setting sun.
  34. stationery
    paper cut to an appropriate size for writing letters
    This letter would be different from the first one. She imagined each word neatly written on lavender-scented stationery.
  35. lull
    a period of calm weather
    A gust of wind dropped on her like a hawk on a mouse. Dried leaves swirled into a dirt funnel. There was a temporary lull, then another steady blast cut through the girls like a razor.
Created on Tue Apr 25 10:18:42 EDT 2023 (updated Tue Apr 25 15:35:56 EDT 2023)

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