He picked up the rope and pulled it through his hands, quickly measuring
eleven yards of itHe took a folding knife from a pocket of his parka and
cut the rope, dropped one piece to the floor. He tied the cut end of
the shorter section to her harness, so that she was attached to the
window post by a thirty-foot umbilical. He took one end of the other
piece of rope and tied it around her waist, usirig a bowline knot.
Patting the windowsill, he said, 'Sit up here.'
She sat facing him, her back to the wind and snow.
He pushed the thirty-foot rope out of the window; and the loop of slack,
from the post to Connie's harness, swung in the wind. He arranged the
forty-five-foot length on the office floor, carefully coiled it to be
certain that it would pay out without tangling, and finally tied the
free end around his waist.
He intended to perform a standing hip belay. On a mountain, it was
always possible that a belayer might be jerked from his standing
position if he was not anchored by another rope and a well-placed piton;
he could lose his balance and fall, along with the person whom he was
belaying. Therefore, a standing belay was considered less desirable
than one accomplished from a sitting position. However, because Connie
weighed sixty pounds less than he, and because the window was waist
high, he didn't think she would be able to drag him out of the room.
Standing with his legs spread to improve his balance, he picked up the
forty-five-foot line at a point midway between the neatly piled coil and
Connie. He had knotted the rope at his navel; now, he passed it behind
him and across the hips at the belt line. The rope that came from
Connie went around his left hip and then around his right; therefore,
his left hand was the guide hand, while the right was the braking hand.
From his anchor point six feet in front of her he said, 'Ready?'
She bit her lip.
'The ledge is only thirty feet below.'
'Not so far,' she said weakly.
'You'll be there be ore you ow it.'
She forced a smile.
She looked down at her harness and tugged on it, as if she thought it
might have come undone.
'Remember what to do?' he asked.
'Hold the line with both hands above my head.
Don't try to help. Look for the ledge, get my feet on it right away,
don't let myself be lowered past it.'
'And when you get there?'
'First, I untie myself.'
'But only from this line.'
'Yes.'
'Not from the other.'
She nodded.
'Then, when you've untied yourself-l' 'I jerk on this line twice.'
'That's right. I'll put you down as gently as I can.'
In spite of the stinging cold wind that whistled through the open window
on both sides of her, her face was pale. 'I love you,' she said.
