I dragged it out into the light and straightened its kinks.

With this something could be done, assuming I could cut my way to the level of the roof.
I began the climb in my bare feet, and at the beginning it was very bad.

Except on the very edge of the abyss there was scarcely a handhold.

Possibly in floods the waters may have swept the wall in a curve, smoothing down the inner part and leaving the outer to its natural roughness.

There was one place where I had to hang on by a very narrow crack while I scraped with the axe a hollow for my right foot.