Rock climbing enthusiasts used rappelling to help a resident on the fourth floor retrieve New Year goods that had fallen from their home.
A newly purchased batch of New Year goods fell downstairs—now they could only be looked at but not eaten. What could be done?
The day before yesterday, Ms. Yang, a resident living on the fourth floor, Unit 3, Building 39, Feicuiyuan Residential Community, Huanggu District, was troubled by this.
Yesterday, two rock climbing enthusiasts, upon learning about Ms. Yang’s situation, decided to help her “rescue” the New Year goods.
New Year goods fell downstairs, and the owner checked on them seven times in one night
“At noon on the 28th, I bought 10 pounds of lamb and 10 pounds of pork as New Year goods. But the fridge was already full, so I thought about putting the newly bought meat outside the window,” said Ms. Yang. She put the meat in a convenience bag, then tied the bag to the window handle and hung it outside the window.
“Before hanging it up, I even tugged on it several times to make sure it was securely tied, afraid it might fall. But just after hanging it at noon, the New Year goods fell downstairs by 5 p.m.,” Ms. Yang recalled. At the time, she was cooking, and the sound of the goods hitting the roof of the second-floor shop startled her.
Yesterday around 1 p.m., reporters visited Ms. Yang’s home and, through the study window, saw the New Year goods that had fallen onto the roof of the second-floor shop. Ms. Yang’s building faces the street—the first and second floors are commercial spaces, while the upper floors are residential. Currently, all the north-facing windows of the third-floor residents have installed non-opening security bars, making it impossible for people to exit through the windows, let alone retrieve the fallen goods.
“These New Year goods cost me over 400 yuan. Now I can only look at them but can’t eat them. It’s really frustrating!” This worried Ms. Yang greatly—she didn’t sleep well that night, getting up every now and then to check if the goods were still there. She looked a total of seven times.
Neighbors' suggestions and calling 119 didn’t work
Solution 1: Hook the goods back — Failed
Yesterday, Ms. Yang got up early, found a pipe nearly two meters long, and went to her third-floor neighbor’s place hoping to hook the goods back. “The meat had spilled out of the bag, and the pipe had no hook. There was no way to get them back,” Ms. Yang tried three times but was unsuccessful.
Solution 2: Poke the goods down — Failed
A neighbor suggested, “Since you can’t hook them back, why not poke the goods down with the pipe?”
But there was a half-meter-high low wall on the street side of the second-floor roof, so the goods couldn’t roll over the wall to the ground. The neighbor’s solution didn’t work.
Solution 3: Call 119 for help — Failed
“Call 119—they have ladders,” another neighbor suggested. Ms. Yang tried calling 119, hoping firefighters could assist. However, the staff said the situation was not within their dispatch scope, so they couldn’t help.
Solution 4: Seek help from firefighters — Failed
“There’s a fire station nearby. Why don’t you go ask them for help?” This was the third suggestion from a neighbor.
Ms. Yang rushed to the fire station, but firefighters explained that dispatches had to be centrally coordinated and individuals couldn’t request assistance on their own.
After a morning of effort, Ms. Yang still hadn’t retrieved her New Year goods.
Solution 5: Rock climbing enthusiasts step in — Successful
Left with no other options, the reporters contacted two rock climbing enthusiasts. Around 2 p.m., “Xiaowuge” and “Guzidi,” the two climbers, arrived at Ms. Yang’s home with over ten pieces of professional climbing gear including a 50-meter rope, carabiners, ascenders, and figure-eight descenders. The pair formed a “rescue” team.
The “rescue” began. “Guzidi” tied the rope to the stairway railing. “Normally we’d tie it to an iron heating pipe, but the pipes in Ms. Yang’s home are all plastic and not sturdy enough, so we chose the relatively solid metal railing,” he explained.
After tying the rope, “Xiaowuge” gripped the rope tightly with both hands, squatted halfway, and leaned backward to test its load-bearing capacity. Once safety was confirmed, “Xiaowuge” tied one end of the rope to the figure-eight descender for rappelling, while “Guzidi” secured the other end with tools and fastened it around “Xiaowuge’s” body.
With preparations complete, “Xiaowuge” stood halfway squatting on the windowsill, gripping the rope with both hands, leaned back, and stepped out of the window, forming a roughly 45-degree angle with the building. In less than a minute, he descended to the second-floor roof.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” As she received the rescued New Year goods thrown down by “Xiaowuge,” an emotional Ms. Yang repeated “thank you” four or five times. “Watching that young man leap straight out of the fourth-floor window just for my little bit of New Year goods—I felt touched, worried, and full of guilt all at once.”
After safely “rescuing” the goods, “Xiaowuge” tied the rope to his ascender and other equipment, used flat rope as makeshift footholds, and climbed back up to Ms. Yang’s home. Without even drinking a sip of water, and amid Ms. Yang’s heartfelt thanks, the two packed up their tools and left.
(Note: This is a professional's action—do not imitate.)