D. Thomas - Backlash

This new crack was only a few feet long, but deep enough for the first cam. Once Pierre had the cam secured, he asked Lewis to hold the rope tight. Lewis easily took the small climber’s weight, allowing him to rest for a few minutes before continuing. “You are doing great!” Lewis hollered up in encouragement. “You’re already almost halfway there!”

Lewis knew this next part was going to be tricky. Pierre gripped the webbing on the cam he had set in the crack, asking for some slack. Lewis let out the 15 feet he knew the climber would need. Pierre then pulled his feet up near his hands, rocking back and forth a couple times before lunging backwards across the shaft, spinning in the air as he flew. His eyes were huge as he focused on the remains of an ancient chisel groove left in the rock, 20 feet above Lewis’s head. Pierre’s fingertips locked into the narrow slot as his body slammed into the wall. The climber’s powerful grip held.

Everyone down below exhaled the breath they had been holding since Pierre first got into position for the jump. Samantha was about to shout up additional words of support, but instead she gasped as Pierre began slipping back towards them. Lewis could hardly believe his eyes when, instead of falling, Pierre actually moved upward, his arms and legs flailing like a cartoon character, somehow finding enough grip to propel himself upward and to the left. Samantha covered her eyes, unable to watch. Craning their necks, the other three followed Pierre as he scampered upward to within twelve feet of the top, reaching another small hole just big enough to insert his hand. Pierre thrust his hand into what looked almost like a gopher hole in the solid rock, then formed a tight fist, his expanded hand now holding him in place.

Pierre’s breath came in labored gasps as he hung by his arm, trying to regroup from the wild scramble. “I’ve never done anything like that before,” he finally whispered.

“I don’t think any human has ever done anything like that before,” Lewis offered. “You looked like the Roadrunner for a few seconds. Very nicely done, Pierre!” There wasn’t much else to say; the act defied words.

The others offered their own praise as Pierre transferred his weight to another small handhold, allowing him to place a cam in the gopher hole-like pocket. He again asked Lewis to hold him in place while he rested and re-evaluated the final moves above. Everyone was getting excited, seeing how close they were to finally escaping the cave. Craig was already rigging up the ascenders so they could begin following Pierre up as soon as he had the rope secured.

“Slack,” Pierre called down after a few minutes of rest. He had wedged his left foot into the hole with the cam, and had his right foot pressed against the other wall to keep his balance as he again prepared to lunge back across the pit. This time would be different though because there was nothing on the other side to grab a hold of.

Lewis gave Pierre the final 15 feet of rope, steadying himself and preparing to hang on to the very end if Pierre fell. Pierre counted himself down once again, “3…2…1!” He let out a wild grunt as he shoved himself towards the other side, this time remaining upright in the air but pivoting slightly so that his right hip was directly facing the far wall as he sailed towards it. This was the crux move of the entire climb. As Pierre neared the far side, he stuck out his right leg to absorb the impact, letting the leg bend before quickly straightening it to bound back in the other direction, like a parkour runner, jumping off the wall to gain further elevation.

Gonzalez let out a high-pitched shriek as she realized Pierre’s jump wasn’t enough to get him all the way back to their side of the pit. It didn’t matter, because that wasn’t Pierre’s plan. The extra height he gained by springing off the far wall was enough for him to grasp the top edge of the pit. He hung there for a moment with his smiling face pressed firmly against the wall. As he began pulling himself up, the unthinkable happened. A 20-foot section of the wall, including the part Pierre was hanging from, broke loose and started to plummet into the pit, taking the small Frenchman along for the ride.

At first, it looked like Pierre might still scramble over the falling slab of rock in time to grab something stable, but he ended up just inches short as he dropped too fast. Things got worse when the rope got pinched between the sliding rock and the far wall, severing Pierre’s link to safety as if it had been cut by a sharp knife. At least Pierre had gotten above the large chunk of rock so he wouldn’t be smashed by it; however, he still found himself falling almost flat on his back in the middle of the shaft, with no way to stop himself before the rocky bottom below.

Lewis reacted immediately the moment he saw the rope being sliced in two. He handed his end to Craig as he tightly gripped further along with his left hand. In an instant, he spun and lunged just over the plummeting rock to where he collided in midair with the falling Pierre, sending them both spinning towards the opposite wall. Pierre latched on to Lewis like a cat clinging to a swaying branch in a tall tree. With a solid thud, they both crashed into the wall.

The impact with the wall almost caused Lewis to lose his grip on the rope, which was now tight between he and Craig back in the mouth of the cave. Lewis was comforted that they wouldn’t follow the large slab down to their deaths, but still dreaded the swinging impact with the other wall. He tightened his grip just in time; instead of swinging downward, he was jerked back across the gap.

Like Lewis, Craig had also been quick to react, taking the rope and running towards the back of the cave the moment Lewis and Pierre collided. He moved with such speed that he pulled the pair directly into the cave behind him, saving them from another beating against the wall. Lewis landed on his back with his arms extended, Pierre still gripping him around the rib cage. Craig dragged them both across the floor for a few feet before Lewis’s brain could tell his hands to let go of the rope.

“Thanks,” Lewis said, looking up to Craig. “Both for pulling us in and for not ripping my arms completely off.” He smiled as he rubbed his shoulders. “Reminds me of a time I lassoed a big bull on my grandfather’s farm, and then got my arm tangled in the rope as he took off.”

Craig laughed as Lewis extended his arms and shook his body like he was being dragged across the bumpy prairie. “I’m glad you two are all right,” he said, helping Pierre to his feet.

Pierre dusted himself off before saying, “I have fallen thousands of times, but never anything like that.” He shook his head as he looked from Craig to where Lewis still lay on the ground. His expression was plain and serious when he added, “Thank you both for saving my life.”

Samantha and Gonzalez joined the boys for a round of awkward embraces and high-fives, before they all moved to the mouth of the cave to marvel at the slice of rock that now lay below them in a pile of rubble. Lewis followed Pierre’s gaze back up to where it had broken loose. He could see the Frenchman’s eyes already probing for a new route to the top. The lower cam was still anchored in the corner across from them, but the hole where the other had been placed was gone, having been part of the wall that gave way. After examining the walls of the shaft for an hour, Pierre delivered the bad news. “There is no longer a route.”

The news was a blow to morale, but everyone remained calm and turned to look at Lewis. He shrugged as he looked into their expectant faces. “I did catch a glimpse of something that might help us,” he said. Lewis went on to describe the trunk of a ponderosa pine tree he had spotted just after he and Pierre collided with the opposing wall. The tree was directly above their heads.