26-November-2001
Alexander Chiang 

"The Dying of the Light"

"I really wish I had a headlamp right about now," I murmur to myself
as I gingerly set my foot and prepare for yet another friction move on
the endless slab disappearing upwards in the darkness of night.

Cara and I are two pitches up, and while nightfall has beset us,
thankfully panic has not. Yet. We don't have headlamps, and I'm not
completely sure where I'm supposed to be aiming towards. Left. That's
all I know. Up too. And although the protection is sparse, and there
aren't many features on this slab, I am somehow climbing with
confidence. "Strange," I think to myself.

We hadn't planned to be on the rock this late so woefully unprepared.
But then again, who ever does? When we started, the sun was well above
the ridgeline. Plenty of time to do the two pitches the guidebook
claimed. Perhaps we shouldn't have taken a twenty minute nap on the
gigantic first ledge while enjoying the sun set smokily on the North
Carolina mountains.

"Hindsight is 20/20," I quietly giggle to myself. I can't laugh too
loud, as I have already alarmed Cara once with my seeming sillyness. I
repeat little mantras to myself to take my mind off the sheer
stupidity of the situation. A defense mechanism. Laughter helps too,
although Cara does not seem to appreciate it as much.

I'm getting closer to the top now. I can tell because my feet are
starting to slip due to the abundance of pine needles and lichen. Each
move requires absolute concentration now. There's not room for error.
I can't remember the last time that I placed a piece. Yesterday?

A light winks at me. "Hey!" I holler out. Hey is hollered back. It's
my friend Eric. He and Karen are at the rap station where I wish that
I was. They are much smarter than us in that they have headlamps. They
stayed on route too. 

Now I know where to go. I shoot for a clump of trees near Eric and set
up my belay. As Cara carefully climbs up, I explain the situation to
Eric. I don't ask him to stay and help us, but he does. I decide that
I owe him a keg of beer. We discuss strategy. Traversing across the
slab to his position is risky.

Instead, I climb upwards until I hit the tree line. Now, I can at least
sling the pines as I make my way over and above his position. I anchor
into a dead tree the size of my wrist and start belaying Cara. She
laughs fearfully as she sees some of the things I have slung for
protection.

We're almost out of the woods now (ha ha). The plan is to rap down to
where Eric is. Cara doesn't like the dead tree and requests that I
back it up with another dead tree. Her arms are cut and scraped from
fighting with evil thorny things, I notice as I acquiesce. She raps
first and soon is safely in the inviting radius of Karen's headlamp.

I look at the skinny dead trees. For the first time, I allow myself to
be fatigued. Our epic is over. I hope Cara will still want to climb
with me after I got us into this mess. One last shake of the dead
trees to test their strength. Soon we'll be home.

I go gentle into the good night.