Philly's Emergency Preparedness

Philly is on the ball when it comes to disaster and emergency preparedness. Should you expect anything less from the greatest city on earth? Anyway, the city Office of Emergency Management has gotten really serious about this in the last few years and has put together some great material. Check out www.readyphiladelphia.org for everything from evacuation maps from every neighborhood to a sign-up to have emergency updates texted to your phone! Its really out-of-the box stuff. Check it out.

The Sound

The sound. It was only my second solo aid climb ever, but for some reason I’d felt compelled to move up overhanging, rotten rock on two body-weight placements with ground fall potential. The first, a trusty pink tri-cam placed actively in an upside down flaring pocket, had been dumb enough. The second, though, a #1 BD wire in a crack I’d had to clean the moss out of just to consider, was pure lunacy. Soloing with a grigri up a short rock in the woods I discovered for myself the dark side of my confidence.

I weighted the wire carefully, eyeing it for movement and wondering why I would consider hanging off something so small and thin in the first place, never mind its lousy placement. Committing entirely to the aiders, I moved a slow foot up and sat slowly back loading my fifi hook. It seemed solid, but if a piece was ever going to blow, it would be this one. I studied the nut closely, examining its placement in the constricting but far from solid crack. “I’m here now, better look for something to back it up on.” I felt the cracks above hoping for a small cam placement, but this funky rotten rock wasn’t biting. I put the cams back on my rack and as I did I thought I saw the nut shift.

“Must be my imagination, it still looks like it hasn’t moved.” I reached up again to feel the rock in search of holds, feeling two positive edges that may yield a solution. Only a foot from the top, maybe I could call it quits now and huff my way over, or maybe one more placement exists to finish this properly. I happened to glance at the piece for assurance. In that moment, there was none to be found.

Ping…

I don’t know, maybe it was more of a bong, or the “ugh” someone makes when they get punched in the gut. Either way, I heard a distinctive sound I’ll never forget and after a blurry instant I was dangling free by my fingertips at the top of a climb. It’s amazing how aware you become of your surroundings in a moment like that. Aware that I was very much alone. Aware that though brother pink may hold, he may not, placing me on my ass on the ground, very much alone, and very much broken. Aware that I knew that piece wasn’t going to hold so why did I trust it? Aware that maybe this aid climbing thing sucks. Aware that I was hanging by my fingertips at the top of a climb and maybe I should save all of the other awareness for latter before I’m too dead or maimed to be aware. Back to reality…

“Wow, my hands are still holding on, that’s a good thing. Can I make it over the top? Sure. Pull slack through the grigri. It’s jammed, not letting me pull it through with one hand. Screw it, just undo the grigri and go ropeless. You sure? Yes, any other ideas?”

A few grunts and scrapes later I’d belly flopped my way over the top of the climb, scrambling a few feet from the edge to bask in my new found safety. Aware of life once again, I rigged a rappel to retrieve my gear and packed my bags in silence. It was silent anyway, after all I was soloing. But it was a sober silence I’d never before felt, perhaps induced by the sound of a failed piece, a sound that demands all others pay it reverence and respect for the gravity of awaking it from its much deserved slumber. From now on, I’ll let it sleep.