After a very short meditation period, Pierre grabbed just a few cams and carabineers, and was ready. The reasons for the limited kit were two-fold: First, it was all they had left without going back to the supply dump; second, there were only two places Pierre saw that would hold any form of protection anyway.
Lewis let out slack as Pierre backed down the tunnel, trying to keep the rope on the left side so it would be as out of the way as possible. Everyone but Lewis moved behind him so they wouldn’t be obstacles either. Pierre counted down, “3…2…1!” The moment he reached one, he sprinted down the center of the tunnel, eyes completely focused ahead.
As Pierre ran, Lewis retrieved rope as quickly and smoothly as he could, trying to reduce the slack and, therefore, the distance Pierre would fall if he failed to latch on to the corner. The Frenchman was at full speed when he passed Lewis, launching himself through the air towards the far corner. His trajectory took him on a perfect collision course, the last of the line trailing out behind him as he flew directly towards the small crack. Lewis had left the perfect amount of rope, just enough for Pierre to reach the corner. As he collided with the wall, the climber quickly scrambled with his feet, fighting for some sort of traction as he tried to force the tips of his powerful fingers into the tiny crack he had spotted. His left index and middle fingers went in exactly where he wanted. His right hand, however, missed the mark and ended up scraping down the wall. Without the opposing force of both hands, Pierre fell a short distance before the rope got tight and swung him back against the near wall below Lewis’s feet. Luckily, Lewis was ready, arresting Pierre’s fall without being pulled from the cave himself.
Lewis immediately towed Pierre up, expecting him to be upset. Instead, Pierre had a beaming smile. “I was so close,” he said with a shake of his fists. “This is going to work!”
They repeated the process. Pierre backed to the exact same spot while the others got themselves and the rope out of the way. He counted down and then rocketed off with a burst of speed, passing Lewis and lunging for the crack once again. This time, both hands got a hold and he was able to cling to the corner like a super-human fly.
Cheers and encouragement erupted from the mouth of the cave as everyone moved forward, excited to watch Pierre climb. The first ten feet looked easy as he somehow wedged his toes into the tiny crack, quickly scaling upward like he was climbing an invisible ladder. The crack ended there, but Pierre was somehow able to grip two tiny protrusions on the far wall, keeping one foot in the crack as he muscled himself up and to the left, primarily with his fingertips. Next, he somehow stretched for a single tiny hole, just big enough for Pierre to insert the first half inch of his middle finger. He steadied himself before slowly swinging his entire body further to the left by that single finger, before doing a quick jumping pull-up, switching from his left to right hand. He then stretched across the final span to another tiny crack running up the left corner of the far wall.
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.