The Climb by Dale Parnell

Everyone on Ledge knows the cliff goes on forever—Hen intends to prove them wrong. No one knows where the cliff begins, where it ends, or what waits above it. For generations, the people of Ledge have lived beneath its impossible shadow. Some have sworn the vow to climb, following the pits and outcrops carved by those who came before. Most eventually return. Others simply disappear. After the death of her grandfather leaves her with nothing holding her home, Hen finally makes the choice she has carried for years: she will climb. Her oldest friend, Stay, has dreamed of the same journey all his life. Joined by newlyweds River and Tann, they leave the familiar world of Ledge behind and follow the last known route upward. But the higher they climb, the less certain everything becomes. Food grows scarce. The mapped path runs out. Exhaustion sharpens old tensions, fear takes root, and the endless cliff offers no promise that the next handhold will lead anywhere at all. Above them lies the unknown. Below them, only the void. Hen has spent years believing the cliff must end somewhere. Now she intends to discover whether she was right—and how much she is willing to sacrifice for the truth.