US Highline Tour: Yosemite Valley

Once I arrived back home in lovely Austin, Texas, I had quite a job set in front of me: to obtain a vehicle for our group of highliners for the trip. I had been communicating with a woman about a van to rent for three months, however this fell through (anyways it would have been super expensive) and so I was left checking craigslist five times a day looking for something we could buy cheap, that would drive us all over the west. As time ticked by and the guys were waiting up in the Bay area, I eventually just decided to take the car that was in my name; ze petit 94' Honda civic. This was the car I had driven before departing to Europe. It had about 200k miles on it, and my mother had been driving it for the 9 months I was away. I guiltily decided to swipe my car out from under her (thank you mom!) and fix a few things so it was in order to drive. I named the car Jenny so I could pep talk it the whole way.



I found a nice photographer for a rideshare part of the way. As usual I finally left Austin when it was already dark, then drove the 8 or 9 hours to get out of Texas. It was the first time I had been in West Texas, unfortunately it was dark and I could see hardly anything, though I doubt I was missing too much. After this we switched driving for a while, and eventually made it to Palm Springs, CA. This is where I dropped my rideshare. I was in the California Desert, it was hot as heck and windy, despite it being mid November.

After 33 hours in the car straight through I finally arrived in Berkley, CA. sometime after 10 pm. It was then I realized I had no address for the climbing gym where all the guys were staying. The only address I had was for Damian Cookseys home. After half an hour of walking up and down the street I finally found it, and saw that the lights were all out. Bad times. I knocked several times, waited, knocked some more, then gave up. I felt awfully bad about possibly waking his family up, however I did not know what to do! As I headed back toward my car I stopped by a Police man staking out the neighborhood and asked him where the climbing gym was. He looked it up and gave me directions. Whoo! I was on my way. I drove to the place he told me feeling relieved. When I arrived I headed to the big doors and began banging on them, yelling inside the crack " It's Faith!" however the only sound coming from within was the loud buzz of an industrial vacuum. Soon, I realized this was not the climbing gym where my friends were staying. At this point I was starting to freak out a bit, it had been a long drive, and the night was cold and my car had no heater. I had no way to find them. At about midnight, Janek called my phone. Jesus Christ finally! So, after obtaining directions I finally made it to Bridges Rock Gym, in El Cerrito in fact, not Berkley. I was tired as balls and ready to pass out, but of course with this group that is impossible. We proceeded to boulder around the gym, then slackline, then all get in our sleeping bags and lay on the slacklines, then we went to the sauna, and finally...finally...sleep on the crashpads.

The next day bright and early we awoke and prepared for the drive to Yosemite Valley. I could have used a rest day after the drive, but we were on a schedule! Damian, Kornie and the new addition to the group Brian drove together, while Janek, Jordan and myself took my heaterless car. We met Jordan's parents just before the Valley at a place called Cub Inn; a beautiful wooden house that a couple lived in who also rented out the extra rooms. Jordan's parents treated us to pizza and beer very generously. We slept on the back deck, however the night was cold and wet so Janek and I crept inside and slept on the floor at some point. The next day we finished the drive to Yosemite Valley.



After renting bear boxes, mapping our trail and repacking, we headed up the trail for Yosemite Falls.
This hike was possibly the closest I have ever felt to dying. We started as a group, but spanned out. Janek of course took most of the gear, but still made it second to the top. I had too much weight in my pack for my ability, and it grew more painful at each turn. Food, gear, the giant old tent Jordan's parents gave us, my clothes and sleeping bag...yeah, it was heavy. I arrived an hour later than most of the group at the top, it was grueling, however I just remind myself how great a workout it was. Yeah right! Anyways, it was dark by then and I set up my tent among the snow and natural mulch. Once campfire, a supper and some polish alcohol later we were settling down for the night. I laugh to think that our original plan was to sleep outside. The nights on top of the Falls were below freezing.

The next morning we were going to wake up at 5:30 and get an early start. HA HA. At 7:30 we started to stir and eventually made it over to the spire. This was it; the long awaited Lost Arrow Spire line. The highline that is the most classic and historical of all. The line that every highliner wants to send. No pressure, right? Damian and Janek began the rigging, climbing the spire and setting the bolted anchor. The other anchor was on a flake, created with natural protection. We rigged with Free Feet tubular threaded webbing, with a backup rope taped underneath. During the time they were rigging the winds picked up quite a bit and it grew colder. I befriended two crows, one which flew away with my apple core. I sat on the same outcropping of rock for quite a while trying to hide from the wind, as I walked each person walk the spire line. Kornie went first, sending it full man . Brian full manned next, then Jordan, then Damian. It was my turn. I had built up a lot of pressure on myself to on sight this line, and that day, the more I thought about it the less I cared. I only wanted to walk across that line, it did not matter which try, I just knew I wanted to send it. I belayed down to the flake and prepared. I thought I had more time to sit and watch, but it was my turn right that second! In that moment all I could see was the thin red webbing stretched from my feet 16 meters in front of me. Behind it the whole valley lay exposed, bathed in some strange light from the sun breaking through gray patched of clouds.

I stood up from a chongo, feeling good. The leash came untucked from the side of my harness and caught in my toes, No! That would not be how I went down, because of a leash! I continued walking, and walking and before I had time to even think about anything more I was on the spire. Cheers from my friends trailed over to me caught on the wind, what a relief. Ah, but then comes the return! I walked it back confidently, fighting on the very last step for unknown reasons, and stepped back onto the flake. What a lovely feeling it is to be on solid rock again.

Janek walked the line in a swami beautifully next, and I think the next time we are there he will probably be free soloing that line.

That day we all left the spire with everyone putting a full man under their belt, in my case full tits as I like to say. Janek and Damian stayed behind to rig down in the night (a bit worrying) and we all headed back to camp. There was a chance of rain (snow on top) that night, so we had to pack everything and hike back down to Camp 4. It seemed unreal, considering the sky was crystal clear, all the stars twinkling above and no clouds on the way. But, to be safe we did the hike down. Janek took almost all the gear this time, and was actually in pain on the descent, never have I seen him have trouble with a hike before. Finally reaching the bottom was a huge relief. We set up shop, ate some food and slept. Brian left in the morning to pick up Emily, another female highliner. The morning was clear and blue, and we could see that the descent was avoidable and not needed. Oh well, ti's life.

We went to collect my car the next morning as well as the food we left in some Bear boxes at a parking lot not too far away. When we approached the car I saw some huge muddy paw prints on the windows, as well as some panelling ripped off from around the windows. A bear had attacked my car. Seriously? I had scoped that car out top to bottom to make sure there was no food inside. Later, I would find the four or five tiny dog biscuits my mother had stashed in unlikely places all over the vehicle; in the ashtray, between the seats, in the console... Thanks mom. At least it was funny. There was a note on the windshield, something official that had fallen to pieces in the wet that described the situation: Your vehicle has been damaged by a Bear. I am thankful someone saw the attack and chased off the bear, because as we found out later seeing other peoples cars, it could have been much worse.

That evening we decided to hike back up to the falls to complete the Long Lost Arrow Spire line. Jordan, Janek and I began first, the others would join later. My time going up was an hour and a half shorter this round, so at least I know I had made progress! When we reached the top we were so relieved, and quickly got a fire going and drank some Franzia from an empty milk carton, with vitamin D! Damian and Kornie arrived hours later, chatting about their first experience with the wonderful American beverage; bottomless cups of coffee. We eventually passed out in the giant old tent, after finishing off the wine and having some deep conversations.

The next morning we awoke to the cold, ate something, realized we probably did not have enough food for the next four days, then headed to the Spire. Damian and Janek began rigging while the rest of us hid from the brutal winds. The line is bolted on both sides, one must climb the spire and set that anchor, and the other can repel down the face of the rock to set the other side up. This rig was white magic with a backup rope. It is about 33 meters in length, and in my opinion even more exposed then the shorter Spire line. Janek on sighted it full man of course, which was inspiring to watch. For myself, however, it was such a battle to walk it. Towards the spire I walked on the second try, and boy was I glad to sit on that phallic rock and rest. The winds were cold, and I had to return to the giant wall of rock in front of me. My start felt solid, then all of a sudden, down I was, catching the painful white magic in my hands. I fell 6 or 7 times I think, and each time was a painful gash or bruise somewhere. The last fall was an unplanned vaginal catch, which left me with a not-so-nice feeling in my nether region. That was all I could take, the line was fighting and winning. My philosophy with highlines usually go something like "when you are totally beaten and want more then anything to give up, and feel that it is useless and futile to fight anymore, try one more time." In shorter words, "It hurts so good." So, I gave it one last go, deciding if it did not happen that time I would crawl back across. It was then that I walked it, completing the line full man. Even if there was enough time to get on that line again that day, sometimes you feel that once sent, you should just walk away and leave the line for another day in your life. That was this line. I was happy to get the f off it. Damian on sighted one way, and full manned it, Jordan fought hard and walked halfway, and Kornie also gave it a good shot. We decided to leave the line and rig it down the next day, so then Jordan and Kornie could get more time on it.

The next day the winds were even stronger. They whipped around you and threatened to tear you right off of the top of those rocks! Not exactly ideal highlining weather. Kornie was the only one willing to get on the line. He gave it a couple tries, but was so cold he decided to come off it. Everyone else was really hiding in every crevice this time. We all returned to camp to eat and get warm, and discuss a plan of action. It came to Damian, Jordan and Janek staying behind to rig down the line, poor guys. We would then all hike down that night, sleep at camp 4 and then rig Taft point the next day. Little did we know the road was closed and Taft point line would be a no-go.

So, since Taft point was a lost cause, and we still had time, we headed to the Sequoia forest to find a place for a midline. We searched for a while eventually finding a place to rig a 45 Meter mid line. It was beautiful. We did one line with white magic, no backup. Janek on sighted it, eventually free soloing it as well. Brian and Emily had returned at this point, so they got to walk on it as well. Brian one way and Emily full babe. Kornie had returned to the car to be warm, so he did not get on the line. Jordan fought a bit on it as well. I walked it on sight and full man, very happily.
I was even more happy to get my socks back on afterwards. Damian had a fight in a swami, but decided against it. The fog had rolled into the forest in the meantime making for some beautiful scenery. We followed our usual trend of rigging down in the nighttime, then drove back to the Valley to eat some tourist's leftovers in the Cafeteria. This is a whole other story! Quickly, before the cleaners would pick up the trays, someone from our table would dart over and grab it. We ate so well for two days, dining on leftover french fries, salads, pasta, meat dishes and more. It was awesome. Sometimes we had minor scares when we picked up a tray before a tourist left, on accident of course. But, the longer we hunted the leftovers the quicker and better we got at it. Ah, dirtbagging. We also altered one of the signs a bit to represent the real truth about Yosemite wildlife, with my artwork and Jordan's photography skills :)

So, after this we headed for Southern Utah to go for Gobble Gobble Bitches Yeah 2, and great highlining gathering in the desert, but that my dears is another long post soon to come!

PS. Thank you to Jordan Tybon for most of the beautiful photos in this post!

POSTS TO COME SOON:

I have many posts to catch up on! Here are the post to come:

US HIGHLINE TOUR:

1. Yosemite Valley, California
2. Moab, Utah
3. Vegas, Nevada and LA, California
4. Joshua Tree, California

I have tons of photos and information to add, will get on it as soon as the trip is over and I am home again.
It has been epic! New personal records for almost everyone in the group!

Krakow Slack Session

Once back in Wroclaw, I went with Janek, Damian and Kornie to get their visas to go to the US. I just went because I had never seen Krakow and heard it was a beautiful city.



We went early on Polish train, and arrived so early we had much time to kill before the guys appointments. It is beautiful as they say, with old buildings kept in great shape, all colorful and built in polish style. The main square is huge, big enough for a longline (unfortunately there are too many tourists) and it has a large beautiful old church called St. Mary's in the center. There is even a man playing trumpet in this tower of the Church, the Cracovian Hymn four times each hour. The city used to be the capitol until they switched it to Warsaw. There was one street I tried to pronounce, and I cannot remember the correct spelling but it sounded like "shityourpanska." This was a good laugh for Kornie and I.

Since we had time to kill we found a coffee shop and camped out until the guys headed out for their Visa meetings. I stayed behind, thinking it would not take too long. Coffee disappeared, hours passed, people came and went, I heard many English speakers there, and eventually the guys returned. Since they were done with their visa stuff they wanted to return to Wroclaw. I had paid for a ticket and came to see Krakow, so Janek and I stayed behind to find something to do.

We first went searching for a slackline location. The only spot within walking distance from the main square and the station was a small beautiful park covered in dog shit. We set up a sort of long line, something around 45 meters. It was a bit cold and wet, so taking off our shoes was not a pleasant thing. I had unfortunately worn tights, and therefore could not be entirely barefoot. It was a slippery experience! Janek did various tricks, surfed and such. I primarily worked on laps with no hands. But doing laps on this line felt great, and passers bye would stop and watch curiously. One woman with two young children came and spoke English very well, and asked all sorts of questions. She was very kind, and never once asked something silly about circus' or back flips. I wrote some info for her before she left to google, as her young son was interested in slacklining.

After we were cold and had worked up a massive hunger, we rigged down the white magic line and packed the pulleys and went to find some food. One huge pizza later we were on the train back to Wroclaw. I was somewhat satisfied with what I had seen in Krakow, and besides I figure I can always return.

London Calling

After returning to Wroclaw and finalizing the trip to the US, I realized I was going to have to return to London to visit a few important friends, take care of some police business (will explain later) and gather some things I left there in the possession of my dear friend Sue.

A big part of me wanted to stay in Wroclaw and continue the lovely routine of staying up late, sleeping in, eating polish food, going to the opera, walking around the historic center of town in the cold nights, and breaking chains trying to walk on them with Janek, but I needed to go. I booked my flight to London and headed out. The way to the airport was one of those times you think the cosmos is working against you. First, I missed my bus to the airport by 5 minutes, and they only came every half hour. The next obstacle was a ticket controller, halfway to the airport. I had to get off the bus at some stop I could not pronounce. I called Janek and got a taxi number. I called the taxi and tried to pronounce the name of the stop, they understood. Finally, I arrived at the airport half an hour before my plane would depart. I waited in line, got to security, then they informed me that I needed to go back to the front of the airport and receive some stamp. So, after this I waited in line, went through security (they pulled me aside to search my pockets.) Then, right before I made it to my gate I came to Customs. Since I had spent the last few months hitchhiking I had no stamps in my passport except from Bremen, dated June 10th. I was leaving Poland in October, and according to them I was only allowed on mainland Europe for a total of three months at any given time. They informed me that it was a serious offence and I could be denied access to Europe in the future. I was in the shitter, and did not know how to get out of it. Eventually, after discussion among the officers, they decided to let me out of Poland and just told me to get stamps even when hitchhiking. Lucky again. The best was that my plane was late, and therefore I made it onto the flight. I arrived at the gate half an hour after it was supposed to close.

Ok, so made it to London, Irish Sue gathered me from Victoria Station and took me to her home in Brixton. This area is famous for being dangerous, however it is quite a cool and cultural place. There is a huge Reggae and Carribbean influence there, as well as some hippies and indie folk. Sue and I started our rampage of London, usually staying out all night and arriving back at her home in the early morning as the sun came up. We also managed to get a 1 pound sandwich from either Tesco's or Sainsburys to fix that hungover hunger. I hung out with some friends I had not seen since I took off dirtbagging, went to a couple lame houseparties, and unfortunately only slacklined one time.

The parkour guys I had met in Berlin at the YOU fair happened to be in London at this time, and one of them had a slackline. We met at Waterloo Station to find a spot to slack, it was nighttime but the city is quite lit up. We first set up on the sidewalk lining the Thames, between two trees with a simple system. As soon as it was rigged, security came by and informed us that we could not put our line up there as it was private property. I asked the classic question of "Are you sure? Have they told you to prevent slackliners from slacklining here?" But sometimes you can see that resistance is futile. The parkour team wanted to argue on, however eventually it was clear that arguing was just using precious time to slack. We went over the bridge and began searching for a spot, however it was slim pickings. Finally we ended up hopping a fence into a closed park, and setting up a line over the walkway between two trees. It was not the best feeling line, just because of the rigging, I only walked a few times. The Parkour guys practiced swinging from the tree onto the line, then from tree to line then onto the lamp post which they would spiral around. This appeared to be the beginnings of a new sport: Slackline meets Parkour. Slackour! The new sport!

The last night I was in London Kieron (Parkour dude) and I hung out on Halloween and went on a balance rampage around southeast London, balancing on poles, rails and walls. It was fun, but not quite slackline.

So, after my trip to London I vowed to stay in touch with these guys and set some shit up when I make it back to Europe.

Then I returned to Wroclaw with no problem from customs to prepare for the US.

Berlin: YOU fair, Working for Freewalker, Windy Longline

While still in Wroclaw with the Polish guys, staying at Janek's house, I received and email from Slackline Freewalker stating that they urgently needed someone to work for them in the next couple weeks in Berlin, at something called the YOU Fair. I did not know many of the details, however I was strapped for cash and it sounded like a good deal. After some discussion with Janek, we decided we would take trains to Berlin and stay at Iana's house, the women who co-owns the Skatehalle in the RAW Galänder. We set out, and I seperated from Janek to travel all the way across Berlin for this Fair. I arrived at the appropriate Train Station, however my phone was out of minutes and I was unable to contact the manager of Freewalker to let him know I was there! After much waiting and exploring I walked about 2 kilometers to finally reach the fair. I will add that this center was massive, and it took another hour to find the entrance and get in, as my ticket was inside at the booth where I was to work. So, after a clusterfuck of a day I finally made it to the Freewalker area. I was sorry to be late, however the day just had not gone as planned.

Naturally I was tired as balls from the overnight journey from Poland, and yet I proceeded to slackline on the freewalker setup for the next 6 hours. It was a short set up since there was not much room in the building for a slackline. Freewalkers set up involves the line, a ratchet, and two A-frames. The webbing is wider than the usual, being about 2 inches. It took some getting used to, however after a couple hours I was practising my lemur jumps and jumps and some static tricks. The fair was oriented for youths, primarily highschoolers. I was assuming I would be surrounded by Children. Boy, was I wrong. Highschoolers in Berlin are much harder to handle then a bunch of tots. There were so many arrogant guys who had no respect for the set up, would jump over it and on it when others were trying to walk, asked me for kisses etc. I was so ready to send these kids to boot camp at the end of the day.

There were a few who knew what slackline was, some who owned their own, but generally it was a new thing to most kids there. What made the scenario worth my while was when a kid was genuinely interested. I was basically there to give an example of what one can do on the Freewalker slackline after some practice. Who knew slacklining on a small line can wear you out!? By the end of the day my feet were throbbing and my legs were sore as heck. I was so happy to return to Iana's, hang out with her and Tomek 'Soya,' and the dogs and of course getting some nice warm sleep next to Janek. The nights were filled with Beer and movies and rest. Early the next morning I had to head back to the YOU fair. The best part about this fair was getting some interesting people on the slackline. Girls in highheels, sexy nurses and the Parkour guys!

After three days of the YOU fair, I was exhausted.
It was a great job, to slackline, however being surrounded by thousands and thousands of teenagers and slacklining virtually non-stop for 7 hours a day is tough stuff! What worked out great was that after the job I was able to negotiate with Freewalker and they ended up agreeing to sponsor my plane ticket for the US tour.


Janek and I met up with Jordan Tybon, who was still living in Berlin, and we had the amazing opportunity to get on an olympic trampoline in one of the climbing gyms. Two very nice guys helped us out, Andreas and Mattias. We arrived at the gym quite late, and there was one other guy who was extremely good on the trampoline who did the spotting for our backflips. So, after a few hours I successfully did a few backflips with a spotter. He suggested I wait to try a backflip on the slackline until I had a bit more practice (with no spotter) on the trampoline. I have to say the trampoline is quite addictive. Once on it, you don't want to come off!

The following day we went to a Volkspark Friedrichshain and set up a 140 meter longline. We used CT pulleys for the system. The location was unique, because the anchors were trees, however they were seperated by a huge ditch. This was a Long-mid-line. The first two meters were just about a meter and a half high, then it just sloped down and dropped off. Even though I had walked just a meter shy of this line previously in Wroclaw, I was unable to even come halfway on this line. The wind was so strong that day (did I mention it was cold as well?) that the line was flopping a meter on its own! When sitting on the line to get into a chongo, your body was constantly bouncing up and down with the line, despite being so close to the anchor. Janek walked three quarters of the way, and he had the best try. Mattias came and had a few good tries, and Jordan and I fought a bit but did not make it so far. Seeing Janek fall from the center was a bit nerve racking since he was so high off the ground, but the pit had sand in it which broke his fall somewhat. I was relieved to unrig and get back to a warm place.

This pretty much wraps up my trip to Berlin, so Janek and I headed back on the lovely train system. We were stuck at the edge of Germany overnight, where our Train stopped a couple kilometers away from the Train Station over the border. A very nice Polish woman gave me a ride in her car to the other station, and Janek rode my bike there in the cold icy weather. She was a very nice woman, and we conversed in german the whole way there. Janek and I ate some healthy McDonalds meals as we spent the night in the un-heated station, listening to some Polish business man snore away in his little red wind jacket atop his briefcase. We slept a bit on two benches pushed together, and early in the morning headed the rest of the way to Wroclaw.

Windy Gap and Little Wind highlines, Hejszowina, PL

The night before we headed to Hejszowina for highlining I barely slept. I was actually working on the blog almost the entire night. I also skyped my mother and sister back home briefly, was great to hear from them. This night was also the first time I took off my cast from my broken wrist. At 5 am I met Damian and Janek at the train station in Wrocław, made it there all by myself! I am usually lost everywhere I go alone, so this is a big accomplishment for me. They both slept on the way, however I could not get a wink of shut eye for some reason. It could possibly be due to the caffiene in my system at the time. After the train we took a bus the rest of the way. It was raining and cold in Hejszowina when we arrived. The place is basically a tiny town at the base of a big rock peak. I was feeling like shit and slightly sick from lack of sleep, but you cannot let this interfere with the opportunity to highline. Us three hiked up the infinite amount of stairs to get to the top of the rock, stopping just before the summit to get off the stairs and leave our belongings under an overhanging rock. This rock would be our "Hotel Bel Canto" for the next night.

After eating a small snack we headed up the rest of the way to rig some highlines. Damian and Janek started rigging, and while usually I would be over their shoulders trying to learn the details of rigging highlines, this day I felt pretty awful and cold. I suppose I was feeling pretty sorry or myself, with my wrist still a bit in pain, no sleep and the wet and cold of my surroundings. Despite all my woes, I could recognize how beautiful the location was we were in. The hills in the distance were almost invisible due to the low hanging clouds, gray and misty. It almost felt as if we were floating on a rock in the clouds themselves.

The anchors for the highline Windy Gap were each attached to the viewpoints atop the peak. On both sides we used the rails around the viewpoints to hold the anchors, although one side was also attached to a big boulder. We put some carpeting underneith the gear so that it did not rub against the stone too much. On Little Wind the rails were used as well, though one side was attached only to a boulder.

We first rigged only Windy Gap, which was 33 meters(108 feet)and Damian and Janek both onsighted it.


When it was my turn I began to feel my usual nervousness, dread and excitement. The first attempt I took one step and fell off. Ok, not so nice a feeling. Climbing back onto the line was difficult as any pressure on my wrist was still quite painful, but eventually I settled into a chongo again. I asked Janek and Damian to sing to me, hoping their singing would make the situation less stressful for me, maybe even funny. It sure was half-assed singing, which eventually trailed off and I was left once again with only the sound of my heavy breathing, thumping heart and the murmurs of some tourists on the viewpoints. I walked it. Second try, I walked my longest highline yet. I talked myself across the line, made it, then sat for a minute to calm down, and walked back. It felt nice on the way back, I was more confident, however just at the end, 1 step before I was to sit down and finish my send, I fell! What the heck?!?! I was so pissed off at myself, however I walked it 1.5 man. I guess I sent it one way for sure, but I cannot count that as a full man.

That day after walking I did some exploring atop the rock we were on. It is a lovely peak, full of toppled boulders coated in green moss, with passageways here and there that have been there since before WWII. There are even engravings of men's initials from the early 1800's.

That night we returned to Hotel Bel Canto, ate sandwiches and drank vodka shots out of the bottom of a waterbottle, cut in half. I was naturally wasted by the time we all went to sleep. We slept in a row, me in between Janek and Damian. Unfortunately we all slept on a slant, so every hour I would wake up because I had slid down my sleeping mat onto the wet ground. Then I would have to inch up the mat in my sleeping bag like some giant fat worm. Good times. On top of this predicament, I was completely congested so in the middle of the night would wake up and use a fern or dead leaf to blow my nose. Yes, I am sexy.

The next morning we headed up to walk some highlines. We rigged Little Wind, which is the 13 meter brother of Windy Gap. It appeared much shorter then the 33 meter, especially after my fight with it. I felt no pressure walking Little Wind, and in that zone I Full manned it On sight. It would have been a perfect first highline; short, exposed, and only about 30 meters (100 feet) high. Its big brother is quite a bit longer and another 10 meters higher. That day the weather treated us not as kindly as we would have liked, and it drizzled for hours on end and was cold. I had to stash the bags and extra gear under an overhanging rock, and I lay layered in the guys jackets while they walked. I got back on the Windy Gap again this day, though I was feeling reluctant because of the cold. On top of this, with some lines, one send is enough. I cant really explain this feeling, yet there have been at least three highlines in my list that I fought on and sent and was happy to leave in good spirits about. When I got back on the Windy Gap, it was true to its name and the line tattered along to its own rhythm. I fell about 6 times before finally walking across for my second send. Frustrated, I sat near the second anchor and took a breather then started to walk back across. I sent it going back with more ease, and after that decided to leave it for that trip. Damian took some beautiful photos of me on the Little Wind and Janek on the Windy Gap at the same time. The energy of having multiple people walking lines at the same time exudes the surroundings, it is a fantastic experience. In this case neither of us fell, however in some cases hearing another highliner fall on the line can be distracting. This of course can be tuned out when you are in the zone.

We stayed one more night in Hotel Bel Canto, then the next day we rigged down the lines and headed back on the lovely bus ride back to civilization. It was a long journey back, and the warmth of Janeks home and his mothers fresh polish cakes was a welcomed environment. I was happy to leave with two more sends and at that point my longest Highline so far.

I would like to thank Damian Czermak for the photos from this trip.