Securing the Ascent

Standing balanced atop the wooden thread spool, I reached up and gripped the rounded lip of the first stair tread. The polished overhang offered sufficient clearance, but ascending with full gear required a mechanical anchor. Unslung my rifle and rested it securely in the groove behind the spool. In the dust along the riser seam lay a discarded steel binder clip with folded wire arms. Methodical extraction followed: I flipped both chrome handles outward, slotted the triangular black body beneath the stair's bottom edge, and squeezed the tension prongs until they locked flush against the vertical wood. A rigid handhold now secures the vertical breach.