Chapter 22 of 24 · 3'32"
Kevin is stuck on pitch 15, and Tommy refuses to go on alone: "I don't care how long it takes for you to get through pitch 15, because I can't imagine a worse outcome than doing this alone." The media turns it into a question of who is holding whom back.
Tommy Refuses to Go On Alone
With Kevin still stuck on pitch 15, Tommy makes his position clear: he will wait as long as it takes, because finishing alone would be the worst possible result. Kevin worries about being the one who holds his partner back. Meanwhile the press speculates, and Tommy simply tunes the world out.
The chapter is about what partnership actually costs. Tommy has the summit within reach and chooses to stay, and his reason is not sentimentality but a ranking of outcomes: "because I can't imagine a worse outcome than doing this alone." Kevin, meanwhile, carries the guilt of the delay and says plainly that he does not want to be the one to hold Tommy back. The outside world makes it worse by turning the wait into a tabloid question — is Jorgeson spoiling Tommy's dreams? — which is exactly why Tommy's advice is to stop listening: "Let's tune them out. It's just you and me." The climb has narrowed from a global spectacle back to two people on a wall.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“I don't care how long it takes for you to get through pitch 15,”
It makes unlimited waiting sound obvious, which is exactly what loyalty looks like.
Neutral
“I don't want to hold you back, is the thing.”
The trailing 'is the thing' turns a plain worry into a confession of real feeling.
Informal
“And I feel like if I can do that pitch, I'd be so fucking psyched that there's nothing that's going to stop me between there and the top.”
One swear word carries the euphoria, and the long clause rides that momentum to the summit.
Informal
“that's a partner right there.”
Six words of plain admiration that land like a toast to a true partner.
Informal
“And he wouldn't have been Tommy if he'd done it any other way.”
A counterfactual that defines a man by what he could never bring himself to do.
Neutral
“Don't worry about the rest of the world that's watching.”
It brushes off the weight of a watching world and hands the moment back to two people.
Informal
“Let's tune them out. It's just you and me.”
Two short beats shut out the noise and shrink the world to two people.
Informal
Up next · 23the moment of truthThe scene: Becca and Fitz Arrive at El CapHe says finishing alone would be the worst possible outcome. The summit matters less to him than doing the climb with his partner.
Because his struggle on pitch 15 is costing Tommy days and putting the whole climb at risk. He says he does not want to hold his partner back.
The press turns it into a tabloid story, framing Kevin as the man who might spoil Tommy's dream. The climbers find the coverage exhausting and try to ignore it.
It means to stop paying attention to something, to ignore it deliberately. Here Tommy wants to shut out the media noise and focus only on the climb.
