damage to the ladder whilst allowing the ladder to be deployed quickly with the buffering occurring toward the lower end of the deployment action the rung head 13 functions in a dual capacity as a means to buffer the deployment of the ladder and contemporaneously the provision of the catch on the catch 16 on the inverse side of the lobe 14 is configured to cooperate to form a latching system in cooperation with a sprung keeper 18 positioned within the inside of the channel formation of the fixed vertical riser the sprung keeper 18 is preferably formed of spring steel and can be formed around a keeper pivot lug 27 and will include a mating configuration to the catch 16 such that movement of the movable vertical riser from the deployed to the retracted position will cause the relative rotation of the rung head 13 which is drawn up closer to the keeper as the ladder is retracted and the catch 16 will be cause to engage sprung keeper 18 against its natural spring bias and the ladder can be clicked and latched into its retracted position in order to deploy the ladder and release the latch system a primary release.