For Allegra with fond memories of climbs we’ve done together in the past and looking forward to more adventures in the future
Chapter One Take any climbing accident where someone gets badly hurt or dies Try to figure out what went wrong Say at the climbing gym a climber falls from near the top of the wall Nosebleed territory Two broken ankles bruised ribs maybe a concussion Maybe passed out cold Maybe on a really bad day dead Dead Dead Ayla Just go for it My neck is killing me Lissy my belay partner is three stories below me She takes up the slack in the 11
Nikki Tate rope as I climb Even though the music is blaring through the gym speakers I can hear her just fine But nothing blocks out the voice in my head the one that always starts nagging as I get near the top of the wall Seven things the voice reminds me In a bad accident an average of seven things will go wrong Are you ready to die I lean back away from the wall my arms straight to help save what little strength I have left You can do this Lissy shouts up to me What I should be thinking about is where to put my feet Which of the small blue knobby holds will give me the best route to the top Instead I look down at the knot snug at the front of my climbing harness This is my end of the same rope that loops up to the top of the wall and back down to Lissy If that knot slips if the rope snaps if Lissy gets distracted and lets go if I fall But any one of those things is not likely to happen alone That’s the point of the seven-factors-behind-every-disaster theory 2
Deadpoint Both Lissy and I would have to forget to double-check the knot Something weird would have to happen to distract Lissy One of the gazillion boys Lissy likes would have to phone her and her phone would have to be turned on with the ringer loud enough for her to hear At the same time the music in the gym would have to be so loud that I wouldn’t notice she was being distracted Maybe there were already seven factors I didn’t even know about all lined up Maybe I was about to plummet back ward toward the ground with no hope of surviving Come on Ayla Christmas is coming I let go with my left hand and reach around behind me to dip into my chalk bag Sweaty fingers won’t help with the final few moves Maybe sweaty fingers is factor number seven I’ll slip off the hold take an awkward fall and distracted Lissy will be caught off guard at the same moment she stops to unkink her neck Just go This isn’t about speed Not tonight It’s about getting it right 3
