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| Our car 'Karl' ready for the Yosemite adventure photo by Jordan Tybon) |
I have unfinished business with 'Yosemite Falls Classic' Highline since 2007 when Damian Cooksey, Jon Ritson and I bolted and established this line. During this trip I've sent the 'L.A.S. Classic' becoming 1st Pole to walk it and 4th person sending it OS-FM. Although, even I tried really hard, and got 3/4 of the line I couldn't send the Falls line. At that time my longest highline was 20 meters long. Heavy 'Yosemite Falls' Highline rigging (threaded tubular + tubular + 11mm diameter dynamic rope back-up) and massive exposure stopped me. The only people to send at the time where Damian Cooksey (FA, OS-OW&FM) and Corbin Usinger (OW).
Sending the 'L.A.S. Classic' Highline back in 2007
Compilation of Damian Cooksey sending the 'L.A.S. Classic' in 2007
We arrived in Yosemite pretty late and missed closing hour of Wilderness Center by just like 10 or 15 minutes. We registered that day but couldn't get the bear-containers without which we couldn't start hiking up the Yosemite Falls trail. Having no choice we decided to camp one night at legendary Camp 4. It was nice feeling to be back again together there after three years. After setting up tents we cooked amazing dinner to get the power needed for the next day battle.
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| Organizing and packing gear at the morning (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
I woke up at 7am, ate quick small breakfast and started organizing and packing the gear. Our common friend Dave Meyers arrived in a middle of the night together with his girlfriend and few other friends. The plan was to get the bear-boxes at 9am when the office opens but of course we finally it took us way longer and eventually started hiking up the trail at 11.30am.
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| Faith hiking the last brutal part of Yosemite Falls trail (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
I always forget that Yosemite Falls trail is no joke with a heavy haulbag. On the way back met bunch of other slackers I never seen before. The last part of the Yosemite Falls is brutal switch-back in a full sun and on a shitty annoying trail. I was slowly moving forward and finally reached the top after 1 hour an 50 minutes. Not bad considering that was my first hiking in a long time. I went down to Yosemite Falls line to say hello to everyone and see how is the line and the conditions.
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| Jordan's best friend ;) ... (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
I always forget that Yosemite Falls trail is no joke with a heavy haulbag. On the way back met bunch of other slackers I never seen before. The last part of the Yosemite Falls is brutal switch-back in a full sun and on a shitty annoying trail. I was slowly moving forward and finally reached the top after 1 hour an 50 minutes. Not bad considering that was my first hiking in a long time. I went down to Yosemite Falls line to say hello to everyone and see how is the line and the conditions.
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| On top of Yosemite Falls trail, but hiking is not over yet (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
Unluckily the reality was SUPER-windy. Jared Alden was rigging the 1st Yosemite Falls space-line which later he sent (4 time into exposure and twice on the way back). Faith, Jordan and the rest of the crew got to the top soon after me. We set up the camp, left the camping stuff, re-packed again, snacked on something and went straight away to rig the 'L.A.S. Classic'.
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| "It's right there!" (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
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| Almost ready ... (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
It's always really cool to see Lost Arrow Spire emerging while you walk down the slab. I love the view from there. I teamed up with Dave to climb and rig this highline. Faith helped us on the flake side. After organizing the gear we rappelled down building the flake anchor on the way.
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| Building the anchor (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
Climbing went pretty fast. I lead all three pitches mixing free and aid climbing on the way up. It was really fun experience and now I have a beta to do it MEGA-fast for the our 24 hours highline run in Yosemite Valley. On the last pitch Dave had to fight a bit with the trailing rope which got stuck somewhere around the corner so we finished rigging the Spire in a dark.
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| First anchor (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
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| Second anchor (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
We got to the camp around 9.30-10.00pm ate as much as we could and crushed right away. We also came to realization we didn't bring enough food ...
After long and healing sleep we got up, ate breakfast and slowly starting hiking up to the Lost Arrow Spire. Bunch of people woke up at the morning and sent it already but I was feeling pretty destroyed after really intensive day before. Bunch of friends send the Spire for the first time. Andrew crushed it sending OS-OW and FM, Dave also sent FM, and another girl (Sara) sent the 'Lost Arrow Spire' OS (OW)!
I got on the line and sent it twice in a belt-loop swami. It was amazingly windy. The gusts where coming from all directions making the walk pretty challenging and exciting at the same time. It was an interesting experience that's for sure. I wanted to ankle-leash it really bad to get that free-solo feeling but conditions weren't even close to good enough.
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| Belt-loop swami on the Spire (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
Faith crushed the line in a swami walking amazingly stable (but that's casual for her) and Jordan sent it few times too trying some exposure turns (scary stuff) ...
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| Crushing it! (photo by Jordan Tybon) |
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| The photographer is amazing highliner too!! |
We went back to campsite for lunch and then to Yosemite Falls. Again the wind was completely crazy, the line completely loose and Nathan had to go down soon. We didn't see the point to push it especially because we'll be back in Yosemite in 2-3 weeks for a longer period of time. I would like to get on Falls line only in a swami ...
Because Falls line was not going to happen I went back to the Spire ready to de-rig. I rappelled down to the Flake anchor and squeezed in couple ankle-leash walks which just felt perfect. It wasn't so windy anymore and it felt really quite and peaceful. I think after few more highlines during this trip I should be ready for the one of my main goals for a long time which is to free-solo L.A.S. Classic. I will see, it is definitely not worth it to push it too much.
Dave also got on the line again and cruised it like a Jedi ;D After that we de-rigged the line as fast as we could got back to our campsite, packed, cleaned-up and started to hike down in a dark. Again, despite Mike who took our webbing no one waited to help us carry a bit of gear down even though so many people sent the line. I just think it is a bit funny thing ;)
I was hiking down together with Jordan, my headlamp was almost dead and I was surprised how tired I feel just hiking downhill. The part next to a fall was straight torture; slippery annoying path, bad light and the only thought in my head - FOOD ...
Eventually we all got down, packed our car and went back straight to Lodi arriving at 3am to sleep whole four hours before everyone at the dropzone wakes up and makes bunch of noise. Big respect for Jordan for staying awake and driving us back safely when all of us immediately fell asleep ... I feel bad about it.
That was a good adventure, I can not wait to go back to Yosemite and RAGE and hang out with more friends! Thanks to you all!
Peace & SlackOn!
Janek
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