During my sophomore year at Pitt, construction began on a building just down the street from my dormitory. The first thing to go up was the construction crane. This was a year before I started climbing, but it was clear even then that I was meant to climb. Sort of.

One night, Kevin and I were at a party, when he said, "Atif climbed the crane." I was stunned by the boldness of the ascent. The line was so pure and clean. So obvious, yet I had written such an ascent off in my mind as just too dangerous. Nevertheless, thoughts of a second ascent soon consumed my mind. The objective hazards were very real. The crane was in the middle of a busy neighborhood. A parking garage was next door, with an all night attendant. Our attempt would have to be stealth, and luck would have to be on our side.

About 1:00am one Thursday night, Kevin was studying for a test he had to take the next (or, that) morning. I walked into his room and said, "Let's climb that crane tonight." It took me a minute or two to convince him, but soon he was game. Shortly before 2:00am, we headed out into the night. As we approached the base of our objective, we realized the error of our careful plans. The bars were letting out, and the streets were filled with drunken students stumbling home. We bailed back to the dorm.

At 3:00am, we decided that conditions were right for our ascent, and we began the grueling approach again. We reached the site, and slipped around the fence. First, we had to descend into the pit in the ground that was to be a future underground parking garage. We quietly inched our way down the ramp until we were 30 feet below street level. The only way out was the way we descended. As we ran over to the base of the crane, we realized another miscalculation. We were in a sea of calf deep mud! With cries of disbelief and horror, we fought our way through. The suction pulled at our shoes with every step. I envisioned this quicksand trap sucking us into the bowels of our South Oakland neighborhood. I pushed such thoughts out of my mind as we reached the bottom of the crane.

"Dude, this is crazy!" I said. "Let's get out of here." Kevin scornfully replied, "Come on, you chicken." He headed up the ladder without hesitation. With my heart in my throat, I was pulled along by the wake of his fearless enthusiasm. I didn't enjoy the ascent at all. I was too scared. About halfway up, we noticed the security guard in the parking garage far below. We were lit up in the middle of an island of light in the darkness of the night. I was terrified. All he had to do was look up, and we were toast. Kevin forged ahead.

Soon, we reached the trap door at the top of the ladder. It was locked! Thankfully, we could go no further. After a quick summit shot, we raced for the ground. We survived the mud a second time that night, avoided detection by the security guard, and proudly marched back to our rooms. A few weeks later, some poor fools were arrested in the midst of their own adventure on the crane.

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