As I sat straddling the sharp ridge, I wanted to cry. I should have cried. A normal girl would have been sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. I sat there for a few solid minutes just feeling the heavy rain soak though my yoga pants while the wind toyed with my balance. One side of the ridge was a vertical drop. The other was a sketchy 20' section of 5.9 slab that I needed to down climb to a ledge. I was completely exposed to the elements. Stupid girl, you should never wear cotton in the mountains. You don't belong here. You don't know what the fuck you're doing. You're going to die.
Lightening illuminated the eerily dark late afternoon sky & I could hear the distant rumble of thunder. I ran through my options one more time before deciding that proceeding to follow my partner was more dangerous than retreating and risking spending the night exposed to the elements alone. I pressed the talk button on my walkie-talkie and told my partner that I couldn't proceed. She didn't understand. She was safely tucked in a cave 50 meters below me eagerly staring at a set of rap rings.
The rock was wet and my sneakers were failing to gain any friction on the slab below me. I told her that I was retreating from the ridge and heading back to the safety of the belay ledge. All of our supplies, including my food, water & climbing shoes were in my partner's pack. How did a casual day of trad climbing in Colorado turn into such a life or death situation? Why did I not have my headlamp on me? Why did I not have my own pack?
I notified my partner via walkie-talkie once I was safely back on the belay ledge. She told me to untie my end of the rope. I refused. At that point, my only lifeline was the rope. She tried to convince me that if I untied my end, she could rappel and get mountain rescue to come back for me. She didn't want to climb back up to me. What the fuck? She had a safe top rope belay to come back to me. The 50 meter down climb from the ridge was so sketchy that my partner had placed several pieces of trad gear to protect her dry decent on a top rope. However, she failed to take into account how I was going to safely second her, while retrieving her gear; all while she couldn't take up the slack in the rope.
We were at an impasse and I wouldn't budge. Eventually the storm passed through and the rain subsided. My partner, now realizing the situation we were in, was willing to retrace her path back to me. She set up a belay below the section of sketchy slab where she had placed several cams & I set out again to retrieve her gear. With a tight belay, I was able to retrieve the gear and slide down the slab on my side as my shoes still would not provide any friction on the wet rock. We proceeded to work ourselves towards the rap rings and successfully rappelled to the base of the climb in the dark. Needless to say, I was quite upset with the course of events that day.
Several major life & climbing lessons were learned that day:
1) There's no such thing as a casual trad day. Always be prepared for the worst elements and circumstances to happen.
2) No one is going to look out for your safety more than you. Never allow yourself be pressured to go beyond your safety limits.
3) Know your climbing partner's ability. If you can't self rescue, your partner is your lifeline & should accept that responsibility freely.
