There was too much gear to carry in one trip, so everyone worked to bring the dry bags and smaller dive gear down first, then returned for the ten remaining tanks. All told, it took nearly five hours to get the gear moved to the new chamber.
Miller and Stonewood had managed to locate the remains of another glowing rune symbol on a large boulder near the pool. This one was worn or weathered somehow, making it much harder to discern the original image. Stonewood felt it resembled some sort of serpent, but Miller was not convinced. What they had determined was that the runes had been created a long time ago with some sort of phosphorescent paste. Light from their headlamps excited the phosphorescence, causing the paste to glow. The purpose behind creating the symbols in such an obscure location, however, remained a mystery.
Pierre was not even slightly interested in the runes or any sort of ancient glow-in-the-dark magic paste; his focus was on the climb ahead. He had gathered the gear he would need and was now meditating at the base of the wall, near the spot he selected as the starting point for the climb. Lewis stood back and waited. The solution engineer liked to get outdoors and occasionally went rock climbing with friends, giving him enough experience to belay Pierre — meaning it was his job to feed the climber rope as he scaled the wall, and to stop him from falling to his death if he slipped. Lewis was staring at the ledge overhead when Pierre stood, giving him a single, shallow nod. It was time.
Pierre turned around and stated boldly, “Climbing.”
Lewis gave the standard reply, “Climb away,” signaling that he was ready to do his part.
Watching Pierre scramble the first twenty feet was simply amazing. His movements were quick and fluid, like he was a spider. Lewis was confident that he himself could not climb even the first pitch, and yet Pierre ascended like he was climbing a ladder. Everyone watched as Pierre grabbed one of his smallest cams from a sling looped over his shoulder, sliding it into a tiny crack. Spacing the cams out as he climbed was what kept Pierre from falling all the way back to the ground if he were to slip.
After a few more feet, Pierre came to the first tricky move. He was now six feet above where he had left the cam, meaning he would fall twelve feet if he slipped — six feet back to the cam, then another six until the rope went tight. “Slack,” Pierre called down. Lewis responded by letting out an extra three feet of rope; enough for Pierre to lunge up and to the right to a long vertical crack, just wide enough for someone’s fingers. The increased length of rope would also increase the length of a possible fall, but there was simply nowhere else to anchor any protection. The team had originally packed a drill and some specialized caving bolts, which would have allowed them to rig the cave for a more permanent climb, but those items were in one of the many dry bags that remained behind on the beach.
Pierre steadied himself, focusing his eyes on the narrow crack he was targeting with his upcoming jump. He rocked on his legs to build momentum: one…two…three! Pierre lunged for the crack like a frog for a fly. His left hand couldn’t reach but he was able to get the first two fingers of his right hand into the bottom tip of the crack. That was enough. He hung there for a moment, looking up at the thin crack running up the wall. With a quiet groan, Pierre pulled with his right arm, lifting his body just enough to reach the fingers of his left hand into the narrow crack as well. After three more pull-ups, alternating his hands upward, the amazing climber was high enough to get the toes of his climbing shoes into the crevice as well. Finally able to take some of the weight off his arms, he paused, resting for a minute after slipping a new cam into the crack. The other team members, who had breathlessly watched every move from below, gave Pierre a round of applause.
“Very impressive, Monsieur Dubois!” Lewis thundered.
Pierre grinned as he looked back down. “If you liked that, you’re going to love what The Amazing Pierre’s got coming up in a few minutes.” He followed the crack upwards as it slowly angled away from the ledge, quickly gaining almost 40 feet of elevation before the crack disappeared. There was nothing but smooth rock above; it appeared Pierre had climbed to a dead end. The Frenchman set another cam as high as he could, clipping his rope through the carabineer before calling for Lewis to lower him.
Stonewood became instantly nervous. “That’s as far as he can get?” he asked Lewis.
Lewis smiled down at the shorter man before responding. “That’s as far as he can get in that direction. Sometimes you have to take a step back before you can go forward again.”
Stonewood was about to ask for more detail when Pierre called, “Hold!”
All eyes were on the climber once again. Lewis held Pierre in position, allowing him to turn sideways and essentially stand on the wall with the rope supporting him. He seemingly defied gravity jogging across the wall to the left a few feet before turning and running back to the right. When he had made it as far to the right as he could, Pierre turned a final time, sprinting to the left. It was amazing to watch the magic running man as he followed the arc of the rope; down and then back up again, the rope swung, guiding him across the wall. As he neared the end of his momentum, Pierre twisted his body, diving for a decent handhold that protruded from the wall. He was met with loud gasps from below as he caught himself, his body whipping violently to the side.
Gonzalez blinked forcefully a few times then shook her head, hardly believing what she had just witnessed. “Wow!” was all she could manage in her bewildered state.
Craig and Stonewood both agreed. “Yeah… Wow!”
Pierre was now almost 75 feet up — approximately half way there. From here, the wall slowly curved into the ceiling, requiring Pierre to climb in an ever more inverted position. The next part of the route again angled up and to the right, away from the ledge. The good news was that Pierre had found a nice section of cracks, allowing him to use his hands and feet together, quickly gaining an additional 60 feet of height. He was now almost as high as the ledge but was a little over 50 feet away. He was also completely upside down, somehow clinging to the ceiling as he scanned ahead.
Everyone on the floor focused their lights on the ceiling, trying to help him see as much as possible. “Hold me tight,” Pierre called after running the rope through another cam he had just fastened in a small hole. Lewis was now able to take his weight, allowing Pierre to dangle from the ceiling while resting his aching arms.
“You’re looking great!” Lewis hollered up for encouragement. Lewis could hear Pierre’s labored breathing from the exertion of the climb. His muscles had to be on fire.
Pierre scanned the area ahead multiple times before looking down to Lewis. Everyone could hear the dejection in his voice when he said, “I thought this was another crack, but turns out it’s just a vein of different colored rock. I can’t go any further.”
Stonewood almost collapsed at the news, and Samantha moved next to Miller, who put his arm around her. Lewis was at a loss. “Do you see any other routes from up there?” he asked.
Pierre paused, looking around again. “Nothing…”
Lewis didn’t like the sound of that one bit. This climb was the only remaining option for escaping the cave alive. He had an idea. “Do you think you could do another pendulum trick, but through the air this time?”
Pierre looked down at Lewis then back to the small cam that was supporting his weight. “I’ll give it a try.” Pierre added two more cams for extra support, knowing that the force would be greatest as he swung through the bottom of the arc.