Balance Is Key

"Ciubaka" Highline

2011-10-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

… The story about the first highline in the High Tatry Mountains

I published the story from the first highline in Tatry Mountains in GÓRY climbing magazine (9 (208) September 2011). I would like to share it with all of you so I prepared english translation. This version is slightly different from the polish original version. I am hoping you will enjoy it. The photos in the article where taken by Wojtek Kozakiewicz and Jordan Tybon. The story will be followed soon by Wojteks movie production. I want to thank my girlfriend for helping me to correct mistakes in a translation of this article.

GÓRY climbing magazine [9 (208) September 2011] "Ciubaka" Highline (full story and photo-report) (Photos: Wojtek Kozakiewicz and Jordan Tybon, Text: Jan Gałek) [P.1: Jordan sending "Ciubaka" Highline in a dense fog] MORE

GÓRY climbing magazine [9 (208) September 2011] "Ciubaka" Highline (full story and photo-report) (Photos: Wojtek Kozakiewicz and Jordan Tybon, Text: Jan Gałek) [P.2; from the top to the bottom: 1. Jakub "Kwjet Hanuš organizing the gear, 2. Jordan going across "Ciubaka" Highline, 3. Faith Dickey sending OS-FM in a swami-belt] MORE

GÓRY climbing magazine [9 (208) September 2011] "Ciubaka" Highline (full story and photo-report) (Photos: Wojtek Kozakiewicz and Jordan Tybon, Text: Jan Gałek) [P.3: Jakub Hanuš sending the line] MORE

GÓRY climbing magazine [9 (208) September 2011] "Ciubaka" Highline (full story and photo-report) (Photos: Wojtek Kozakiewicz and Jordan Tybon, Text: Jan Gałek) [P.4: Jakub Hanuš sending the line, the view from the top of the Zadni Mnich] MORE

"I discovered the void in between the peak of Zadni Mnich and the west ridge of Cubryna peak during my first climbing experience in Tatry Mountains, and for the next five years the idea of putting up a highline to link that space was growing somewhere deep in my subconscious. In 2006, during climbing, the view of Zadni Mnich and the thought of spanning the line above the ridge of Cubryna caused a big emotional surge, though these emotions where quite the opposite of enthusiasm or self-confidence. At that time I had walked about four highlines, however none of these lines were located in a mountain environment and the longest of them was 20 meters while the highest was 30 meters above the ground. That was my main excuse that I had no clue how long or how high the potential highline spot was. That day I thought, “too long and too high …”

My first climbing experience in Tatry Mountains. On the picture climbing together with Agnieszka Tarasińska the 2nd pitch of 'Sprężyna' route (VII- UIAA) on east face of the Mnich.

First impression of Zadni Mnich ...

Slacklining in Tatry Mountains in 2006

Over the next few years I improved at executing highline projects in the United States, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Czech Republic. While in Poland I never had enough time to visit the Tatry Mountains because I was focusing on other targets, but I never forgot about the idea. I knew I had to go back soon after I completed my other old long-term project, “Potato Power” Highline, which was on the Bolechowicka Gate. For two years I was travelling and facing all kinds of adventures with the same group of friends, and eventually we formed the team named Somewhereelseland. Nowadays the team members are: Jordan Tybon (USA), Faith Dickey (USA), Jakub Hanuš (CZ) and myself. With these people I knew the highline project in the Tatry Mountains was possible. I was sure regardless of the difficulty of the highline at least one of us would cross the gap. It was the time!

L.A.S. Classic - the line which changed my life (OS-FM ascent in 2007)

After reviewing many climbing books, pictures, checking multiple weather forecasts and setting the date we were ready to crush. I left Wrocław with Jordan and Faith. Our friend Wojtek Kozakiewicz a great photographer and talented video-maker joined us in Cracow where we stopped on the way to Zakopane. I had known Wojtek personally for a long time and we had done many slackline projects together, and eventually Wojtek begun co-operating with our team Somewhereelseland. The effects of this collaboration are the movies “Potato Power” and the official video from the 3rd edition of the “Urban Highline Festival”. (I invite all those interested to take a look at Wojteks videos: CLICK HERE)

Six hours in trains and buses were the small price we had to pay to get to Zakopane. After we arrived Jordan and Faith got a taste of the local folklore, as we were flooded with multiple transports, accommodation and food offers. Soon we were rescued by our friend Bartek and driven to our temporary home. My friend, Kamil Kluś was nice enough to let us sleep in his awesome wooden house. That night the last team member, Kwjet arrived. The next morning after packing an amazing amount of bags and 6 people inside a small taxi we left for the mountains. I knew Kamil had organized transport for our enormous bags but I didn’t expect it to be a jeep from the National Park Service. Wojtek stayed at the bottom with our luggage and we started our hike among twenty or thirty thousand tourists up the most frequented trail in the Tatry Mountains.

After a not-so-enjoyable ride with park rangers Wojtek arrived with our bags. A short walk on a familiar trail in the woods lead us to the climbers camping site where we would stay for the next three days. Everything looked the same, as the last time I had been there, the only difference was the campsites chief. We took care of formalities quickly. After a quick breakfast it was time to unpack our stuff and prepare the gear. Our collection caused considerable interest from all the other dirtbags at the campsite. Someone was joking about whether we had come there to climb bigwall style and asked how many days we were planning to spend on the wall. We explained why we were there with all that mess and then started the fun part – hiking. We reached the pass in the Cubrynas ridge after a quite fast but equally exhausting race. Climbing both sides followed speedy gear sorting. Faith and I climbed the route “Uskok” (grade VI- UIAA). The temperature was around zero degrees so after the first pitch I could not feel my fingertips. We reached the summit after another two cold but beautiful pitches. Jordan and Kwjet climbed some virgin terrain without any beta. It looked like quite adventures climb. At the end we left the ascending ropes to speed up the rigging process the next day. We stashed the highline gear inside a haulbag under some boulders, and then we hiked down to the campsite where we enjoyed the warm hut after freezing all day.

The next morning, I woke up and switched off the alarm. It was 3 o’clock and I had slept less than three hours. The only thing I wanted to do was go back to sleep. I forced myself to get up and leave the warmth of my sleeping bag. Wojtek and Kwjet were already up. The inside of the hut smelled like morning coffee. We started hiking in a drizzle. “What a great start”, I thought. The higher we climbed the more rain we had. The fog caught up with us under Zadni Mnich, and the temperature decreased drastically over the next half an hour. While rigging the line Kwjet and I could not see each other. We were preparing the anchors during snowfall with some extra hail on top of it. I was imagining myself lying next to Faith, being warm, thinking “what a dumbass I am being here”. After a full four hours of rigging the line was ready to send and I could actually see it for the first time. It was definitely not as long and high as I thought five years before but I was happy to be there to enjoy the exposure, which was just amazing! If only it had not been freezing cold and windy. Luckily I did not have to fight too much and I sent the 25-meter line on-sight both ways. I could not feel my feet or hands. After me it was Kwjets turn. The Czech-beast Jakub sent the line without any trouble, of course. The weather got even shittier shortly before Faith and Jordan showed up. I knew the only person who was willing to send the highline any time, in any condition was Jordan. That time he went to send the highline in dense fog, during heavy rain. This relatively easy line was not an easy task when you cannot see further than two meters in front of you and everything is wet and cold. Many tries later Jordan completed his full-man ascent. He described it as “he was suspended in space.” I think it is a pretty good description.

The weather the last day was a bit kinder to us. I had an awesome session walking the line a few times in a harness and a swami-belt. Faith sent like a champ on-sight full-man in a swami-belt showing all the boys what it is about. It was amazing to watch Jordan presenting a full palate of tricks on the line and doing exposure turns. Our two friends from Zakopane gave their best too. Bartek Gąsienica-Ladzi sent the line full-man and Kamil Kluś had some good attempts.

At the end of the day we took the line down and hiked everything back to the campsite. It was not easy, but we were able to convince the campsite chief to bring our stuff and us down. I must say the ride inside the Old Russian jeep was a pretty crazy experience to finish our trip in the Tatry Mountains. Luckily we caught the last bus to Zakopane where we arrived late in the night to celebrate our successful project.

I will think about the “Ciubaka” Highline experience for a long time. It was great to face this challenge with all my friends and my girlfriend. I realized that the six years of slacklining made me better person, enriched me with better slackline skills and experiences but most importantly surrounded me with the greatest people I know.

In the morning we went back to our homes where we stayed, as usual, for a short period of time, just long enough to pack our bags and go to Greece for more climbing, highlining and dirtbagging. Did I mention Slacklife?

I want to thank Bartek Gąsienica-Ladzi, Kamil Kluś and Łukasz Janczy for their big help supporting us all the way. It was all easier because of our sponsors support. Big thanks to Gibbon, Deuter, Ortlieb, SteriPen and Five Ten!"

Full Photo Gallery by Jordan Tybon: HERE

Peace & SlackOn!

2010 Trickline Summary

2010-09-29T10:28:00.002-07:00

The current year 2010 is slowly coming to the end. I spent most of it pushing my longline and highline limits. I am really happy with what I achieved and amazed how highline and longline were pushed to the next level by the others in the sport. I was part of some of this but it’s a topic for a separate entry.
Of course I want to focus on tricklining in this "article". I never was a really good trickliner and I do not think I will ever be the best. However, this year I joined Gibbon International crew which really motivated and inspired me to improve my tricklining skills. Being the Gibbon Rider wasn't easy at the beginning. I am more highliner & longliner. Although from a time perspective I think it was good for me because Gibbon is not only a trickline community. I saw tricklining on the highest level, performed live by amazing athletes. It would be hard to name all of them. Some of these guys are also accomplished all-round slackliners.
Being good in all kinds of slacklining became a personal goal for me, so I started tricklining more, and taking part in a trickline competitions. I met many nice people from around the globe because of that reason. I got inspired by all of them and want to thank to the Gibbon Family and other slackliners like Lukas Irmler, Reinhard Kleindl and Slack.FR Crew. I have also learned that you can assimilate nice moves from EVERY slackliner. It doesn’t matter if she or he is slacklining 1 year or 1 month – everyone has an individual and unique style.

Tricklining in Sokoliki Mountains during "Slackline Masters 2006" meeting/competition

The tricklining goals for me are: doing at least one new move during each session and practising on various lines. It should not make a difference if it is 2”, 1” or 3cm wide line. Of course I like some webbing for particular tricks. After this year my favourites are: JIBLINE tensioned with pulleys system at full length (I will post some pictures soon of how to attach 2" line to the pulleys system), SURFLINE tensioned really tight (great for BIG tricks) and old-school but still young, perfect all-rounder: 1” threaded tubular.

Trickline Contest (Slackfest 2009, Chemnitz) 1" threaded tubular from SBI (photo Slackfest.de)

During this summer I started tricklining more together with the Gibbon Crew. I went to Stuttgart few times where I did some tricklining in a parks and inside a gym with big foam-pit inside. Slacklining above the foam gave me the possibility to try totally new moves and tricks I was scared of. It felt totally safe to me but missing some tricks gave me a painful lesson. I got some NICE bruises because I fell really deep inside the pool before the foam stopped my movement. I had a lot of fun jumping on the trampoline. That was the first time I tried a backflip. It was pretty scary for me. A trampoline is great tool to try all crazy aerial tricks before you would try them on the slackline. I was really close to landing a backflip on the slackline many times. Before, there was never enough time or opportunity to warm up on a trampoline and then adapt the move on the slackline. After I will come back from my last highline trips I want to practice on the gym in Berlin. My buddy found a great gym we can use it for free. Maybe I’ll land some flips before the finals of the Gibbon World Cup ;) ...

Vibram Natural Games 2010

Highlining in Millau, "Bunny" Highline free-solo (photo by Jordan Tybon)

This big extreme sports festival in Millau was great opportunity to highline, and that was a main target for me. I walked 4 highlines and got my ass kicked on the 86 meters long beast-highline. I went there together with Faith, Jordan, Andy and Hayley, Mike and Robert driving from Stuttgart with the “Gibbon Van”. It was nice to not hitch-hike this one time. Besides highlining and presenting our slide-show on the big screen in front of a big crowd (thanks again to all the monkeys cheering us on) I took part in the trickline contest. The trickline competition was scheduled for the last day of the festival.

It was hard to talk in front of all these people ... (photo by Jordan Tybon)

In the first round I was competing against Reinhard Kleindl. Reinhard has really unique style. I really like his lemur-jumps with his hands in his pockets or double-turn 180 from the drop-knee.

Reiny in the air (photo by Jordan Tybon)

I had really perfect go and landed all the tricks and combos. It was pure fun in the brutal sun. After the contest I landed my first back-bounce!

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

In the second round I had to deal with competing against “Alpha” Mike. As usual Mike did some HUGE atomic butt-bounces and long perfectly done combos. I was astonished. It was really nice and Mike finally took the first place. Congrats buddy!

Watch out! Mike is coming! (photo by Jordan Tybon)

In the competition two 30mm wide lines from Slack.fr were used. One was a bit higher. I still think the higher one could have had more tension. Heavier guys were hitting the ground during some bigger tricks. As always it didn’t stop Andy from doing all the crazy shit. Lukas Irmler did really well and stuck all his technical tricks.

Andy scoring extra points for amazing tircklining face expression ;) (photo by Jordan Tybon)

Lukas Irmler in Action (photo by Jordan Tybon)

I finished in the 4th place. The contest was judged by Scott Balcom, Robert Keading and Freddy Zimmerman. Big thanks to all of them!

MOVIE:

The final result of the comp:

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

1. Mike “Alpha” Payton
2. Lukas Irmler
3. Andy Lewis

VIVA LA FRANCE!!

Gibbon World Cup in Munich

Brenden Gebhart aka. Crazy-DUDE ;) ... warming up (photo by Jordan Tybon)

It was the first Gibbon competition I took part in this year. It took place in Munich. We had 16 people competing from all around the world and 4000 viewers! I was really tired and stressed. I was nervous because of the “one against one” formula. I don’t really like competing and it seemed to me like really competitive way. I was wrong, and soon I realized it is just fun and I was raging together with all riders. All of us were warming up for a long time. It was pretty hardcore warm-up; Mike and Carlos injured their ankles which sucked.

Injured ankle? AWESOME! ;) (photo by Jordan Tybon)

HARDliners from Chile! (photo by Jordan Tybon)

“Alpha” Mike was trying to stay optimistic but Carlos was really sad for a long time. Luckily his ankle got better soon after comp and he could jump around again.
In the first round I was competing against Bernd Hassmann. I knew he was the guy which won last year “King of Slackline” contest and he’s a good trickliner. I ignored my doubts and just did my best. It was big surprise when I got to the other round!

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

Unfortunately I had to compete against Bernd twice. He won the extra battle which gave him entrance to the next round (Carlos was injured and jury needed someone to make the amount of contestants even). Even though I showed few new tricks Bernd did some amazing butt-bounce combos and won in this round.

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

I was kind of disappointed but still happy for the 4th place. I decided to practice a bit more on the 2” line and work on different styles of tricks and technique. I knew I did some cool moves but they still needed to be landed clean and nice.
The main battle of the contest in Munich was between Andy Lewis and Felix. In my opinion both of them are on the same level and just represent a bit different styles and attitude.

Backflip-360 (photo by Jordan Tybon)

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

It was great round to watch. Andy finished his go with double backflip attempt. Felix landed so many sick tricks and combos that I thought he would win. The verdict of the jury was Andy Lewis wins! It was great time and first big lesson for me.

MOVIES:

1. Warm-up

2. Official Video

Results of the Gibbon World Cup in Munich:

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

1. Andy Lewis,
2. Felix Hachfeld,
3. Luis Meier & Bernd Hassmann

Gibbon World Cup – OutDoor

The second edition of the Gibbon World Cup took a place at OutDoor fair in Friedrichshafen. In a first round I won with super nice guy Nick ten Hoopen from Netherlands (he’s doing really special butt-bounce combos)!

Nick and I jumping (photo by Jordan Tybon)

In the second round I was competing against Andy Lewis. I knew there is no chance to win with this crazy monkey. We raged together and I think that it was a nice round to watch for the audience.

BIG atomic chest-bounce (photo by Jordan Tybon)

It was really nice to observe all the guys in the comp. Luis landed “Misty Flip” during the contest, Felix landed backflip-360 and a lot more.

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

Everyone really rocked. It would take too long to long to write what I enjoyed about each of you guys but it was pleasure to be there with them.

More power, DUDE! )photo by Jordan Tybon)

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

Faith, Jordan and I did a highline workshop too which was a big success.

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

We spent the rest of our time talking to the other companies at the fair. After the man contest we had girls competition. My love took a 3rd place – great job!!

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

MOVIE:

The results of this edition were the same as in Munich:

(photo by Jordan Tybon)

MEN:

1. Andy Lewis,
2. Felix Hachfeld,
3. Luis Meier & Bernd Hassmann

WOMEN:

1. Hayley Ashburn
2. Steffi Seidel
3. Faith Dickey

Urban Highline Festival 2010

Photos and Project by VacasPurpuras

I didn’t plan to take a part in the trickline contest during this slackline festival. Besides Faith and Jordan I was main person responsible for organizing it. Faith decided for me and I HAD to start ;). This year I prepared new formula for a trickline contest. We had two people battles the same as in Gibbon contest. The only difference was that contestants could choose one of three lines in each round, and had to use each line at least once before the contest ended:

- Jibline tensioned with pulleys system (17m),
- 1” threaded tubular webbing (20m),
- 30cm wide Slackline-Tools webbing (10m)

We had a lot of people, different styles and a lot of fun! I think there was no stress. Lots of people which never took part in a trickline contest started that time. My favourite round was between Anatolij and Mich :D. Jakub “Kwjet” did some amazing tricks I never seen before (points for creativity for sure)!

I want to thank to the main sponsor of the comp: Gibbon Poland and two other companies which founded nice prizes for the contest: Slackhop.cz and Balance Community!

MORE PHOTOS: Here

MOVIE:

The results of the trickline comp:

MEN:

1. Jan Gałek
2. Lukas Irmler
3. Jakub “Kwjet” Hanuš
4. Adam "Malaj" Patejuk

WOMEN:

1. Faith Dickey
2. Magda Smorąg
3. Karolina Lis

A few days ago I went to Łódź in Poland to meet with slackline crew from this city. I had a lot of fun! Big thanks to all of you! These are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Props to Maciek “Bor” – it was great to trickline hard with this guy. We had two days of total craziness on the trickline. Both of us inspired each other and made a big progress. Maybe we’ll meet together in Krakow and do some “extras” for the new trickline movie in October.

So, what’s next?

IMS
On On 5th of November I will take part in the big final of the Gibbon World Cup during IMS in South Tyrol (Italy). . People which were in the finals in both eliminations contests (Munich and OutDoor) will fly to battle during this great meeting. During the last round there will be 8 people competing:

I had better train hard ;)!

New trickline movie

Together with my friend Wojtek Kozakiewicz (VacasPurpuras) and my girlfriend Faith Dickey we’re going to produce new trickline movie sometime in mid-October. Watch out for some new ideas and great footage! The movie will probably be shot in Krakow in the old building which is right now a club. Wojtek has a plan to start with this movie in one of the biggest climbing movies festival in Poland. We’ll see …

For more inspiration watch these three movie (definitely my favourite from this year):

1. Andy Lewis "Step IN":

2. BOR – September 2010

3. GIBBON Slackline Allstars Tour “City Slackers”

TRICKLINE HARD & REST LATER!!
Peace & SlackOn!

3:03

2010-09-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

New production from my friend Wojtek Kozakiewicz (VacasPurpuras) is ready. It's the third slackline movie made by him. As you can see it is black and white. This time the main characters are: my lovely girlfriend Faith Dickey and Hayley Ashburn. Both of them are really experienced highliners. They rigged the highline together using 2 webbings (red "White Magic") tensioned with Line-Grip + pulleys system method.

Faith hung in a harness for a long time and the rigging took all together 3 hours in a heavy sun. As we (the male part of the crew) were "not welcome" for the rigging we showed up later in a day and just help with some last pulls.
Hayley didn't have enough time to work on the line because together with Flo she had to take off to Stuttgart.
Faith sent the line both ways and than let everyone else have some attempts (Flo had the first sent that day - he did really well!).

Wojtek's LCD screen in his camera was broken so he didn't know exactly what photos he shot. In my opinion the footage is still really nice quality and the editing is awesome (the same as chosen music). I am always happy to work with Wojtek and right now Faith has the same feeling.

The "inspiration" for this movie was production "Girls Only Highline" trailer from Sebmontaz.com which is about two girls (Jelena Schradi and Ingrid Laillaut De Wacquant) rigging and walking some highlines together. I had pleasure to meet and highline with Jelena in Millau (FR) during "Vibram Natural Games" festival.

Faith always wants to promote the sport to the other girls and get more of them into highlining. This is more urban vision captured by VacasPurpuras fisheye lengths. The title of the movie came from 3 hours of rigging compared to 3 minutes time of walking the line.

So, here we go. "3:03" and girls on the 42m long and 30m high "Sieg Highline!" in Berlin, ENJOY!

Light & Fast HIGHLINE Rig

2010-09-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

I was trying to figure out for some time the way to make highline rigging lighter without sacrificing safety at the same time. The inspiration came from climbing style of course. If you have lighter gear you can do more; ambitious projects in the mountains, be faster and more efficient. Finally, reducing the weight of our backpack will spare us some “pain-in-the-ass hitch-hiking” (if you go the dirtbag way), and make our projects easier on our knees on the way up and down.

Faith and I sorting highline gear before action (Greece, Meteora 2010) photo by Jordan Tybon

That doesn’t mean I want to discard traditional highline rig which requires super strong spansets, usually 2 – 3 ¼ T (WLL) shackles (I’m not sure but Terry might be using even stronger shit :P), heavy slackline-bananas or line-lockers sets etc. This gear will stay on my rack for a long time no doubt, but from my experience if the highline project is not easy approach and I have to carry the highline gear (+ camping stuff, climbing stuff, food …) I don’t want all this heavy stuff.

The idea of “Light & Fast Highline Rig” is not only my idea. As usual, a lot of influence came from observation some great highliners like Terry Acomb, Jerry Miszewski, Bernhard Witz and Landcruising crew. Thank you to all of you guys! BIG Thanks to Andy from slackPro! who helped me a lot with producing some prototypes and always listen to what I had to say. It was really nice to have the guy with big knowledge and all needed tools to help me with that.

Situation NR 1 – One highline, bolts for anchors

ANCHORS

Usually in highline rigging I am using spansets. I have two kinds of them. Green beefy spansets I bought in US (great for wrapping around boulders, they are very durable, and there is a big safe margin) and purple and orange lightweight spansets from Slackstar (700kg WLL).
When an anchors has more than 3-4 bolts it’s really hard equalize the spanset (so on each bolt is the same force) because spansets usually are thick and wide. Than next thing is you have to use steel binners or triangle mailons (quick links) which are wide enough to fit the spanset. To take 6 to 9 of them ((3 to 4) x 2) is already a lot of weight.

Trying to equalize 5 bolts using Slackstar spanset ("The Great Bongzilla" Highline, USA, Moab, UT 2009) photo by Jordan Tybon

The solution is to use oval mailons which are 35kN each and lighter. If you don't want to carry spansets, you can use 11mm diameter static rope for an anchor. You make a loop out of the rope using double or triple fisher-knot. I have two pieces 8.5m long. So, after tying the know I have 4m long sling (maximum). It’s really easy to adjust. You can buy 11mm diameter static rope which has 30-35kN of strength. This is totally strong enough, but to stay totally safe you tie loops from each bolt to the anchor point using some free pieces of webbing (11/16” or 5/8” tubular webbing is perfect). I saw this methods in Moab. Terry and Jerry are using this type of anchor. It’s easy to adjust, lighter than a spanset and takes less space in a backpack.

SHACKLES, ATTACHING THE WEBBING AND BACK-UP

For my light rig I use 12mm stainless-steel Omega-shaped shackles only (you can buy them from example from: SlackPro!, Slackstar, Slackshop.cz or Landcruising). On the longer highlines I like to use two webbings. Till 60 meters I take with me “White Magic”. On the shorter lines I prefer dynamic rope as the back-up. To reduce the weight you can buy smaller diameter single dynamic rope (8.6 – 9 mm) which can be used also to climb to the highline if needed.

TWO WEBBINGS

When you take two webbing across the gap you have to make sure that the lines will stay flat. If it’s windy it could be hard so the best you can do is to hang something heavy on the free tail of the webbings. After that I attach both webbings on the non-rigging side with two lightweight "slackPro! lineLocks". Another person stays there to remove the slack from the top line and adjust the back-up webbing.
On the rigging side I have prepared pulleys system with two lines clipped to it. I use two shackles with lock-mans; one on the top, another one on the bottom + the lines should be taped together close to the lock-mans so they don’t move around. If I know the length of the line I can estimate how much pulley system I need. After I have it ready I let the pulleys system free and my buddy is removing slack from the top-line and back-up (leaving it more slack so there’s only small force on it). After tensioning the highline is ready. I just have to tape the lines together (it’s possible to do before the trip too) and back-up the pulleys system + clip the free tails from lineLocks on the other side.

ONE WEBBING +BACK-UP ROPE

In this case I always bring the webbing and back-up rope across and then use the pulleys system first to tension the back-up rope. To attach rope to the shackles I use double figure eight knot. I don’t need two lineLocks and two lock-mans (only one lineLock and lock-man). Afterwards the same as before: taping, back-up the pulleys + clip the free tail from lineLock to the anchor.

PULLEYS SYSTEM

This is gear for my pulleys system:

- 30m long 10mm diameter static rope,
- 1 x 45kN oval mailon,
- 3 x 35kN oval mailon,
- Gri-Gri,
- 2 x double 50kN CT pulleys,
- 2 x single CT pulleys,
- 1 x oval aluminium binner and Tibloc (for multiplier),
- 1 x 12mm Omega-shaped shackle or Triangle 45kN Petzl mailon (depends if leave pulleys in the system),
- 2 x CT 36kN aluminium rigging plate

Even lighter and still strong enough and effective pulleys is this model from SMC:

Model: SMC MINI Double PMP

More info

SLACK-BANANAS

Together with Andy Riedrich from SlackPro! I had customize light-weight product called "slackPro! lineLock" similar to slack-banana. The first version is not perfect yet but it works good enough and was tested on 56m long “Island King” Highline and 95m long world record highline “Master of Universe” walked by Jerry Miszewski (both lines located in Ostrov, CZ)

SlackPro slack-bananas in action on the "Master of Universe" Highline (Ostrov, CZ 2010) photo by Jordan

Some info about FIRST version:

- it is small,
- it is easy and nice to remove the slack,
- it is pretty light,
- the angle between the bolts is really nice,
- if both lines are tensioned and the lineLock are above each other they don't put to much pressure against each other (there is solution to avoid this problem totally)

PDF file with specs of the lineLock for the back-up line

Closer look ... ("Master of Universe" Highline, Ostrov, CZ 2010) photo by Jordan Tybon

Soon (in about 4-6 weeks), I’ll have version 2 for testing. Some things which will be changed to make the product lighter and easier in use:

- the bolts in front and on the back of slackline banana will be bigger (replace 10mm diameter blots with 12mm)
- the bolt in front will have an option to open it so you don't have to get through all the extra slack (for example like in Jerry's "Web-Lock"),

PHOTO:

Web-Lock (Berlin, 200m longline, 2010) photo by Jerry Miszewski

- the side-plates will be made of aircraft aluminium ( 1 to 2 mm thicker) to make the product even lighter,
- the middle bolt will be moved more to the middle of the banana so there is more space between it and the front bolt,
- the back-up slackline-banana will come with the dyneema slings longer than the top-line banana (so they don't press against each other),

- the back bolt will be easy to remove so you can clip to 12mm U-shaped shackles for the 9:1 pulleys system

SITUATION 2 – One highline, need to sling boulders for anchors

Spansets are not light but they’re really good to sling the boulders. It’s hard to break them, they have a big surface, which means a good grip on the rock. In my opinion 1T WLL spansets are good compromise (still strong enough and lighter than green spansets). The easiest way to buy them is from Slackshop.cz or Landcruising has also some nice spansets to sell as well. I always put tree protection (from example Tree-Wear from Gibbon is perfect) under spanset where it sits on the sharp edges. After I have my anchors ready the rest of rigging goes like in SITUATION 1.

SITUATION 3 – More than one highline

If I want to rig more highlines than one I am taking Line-Grip with me. It’s not super light-weight tool but comparing to the other set of pulleys which takes extra space and weight in my backpack Line-Grip is definitely the winner. If I use Line-Grip to tension the lines I clip shackles with lock-mans on the non-rigging side and lineLocks on the rigging side. After pulling the line tight I remove slack from lineLock and release the pulleys system (always protect webbing from the sharp edges of the pulleys etc.)! If it’s needed I can tension both lines (back-up or top-line / top-line and back-up rope) at any time. It’s always better start from tensioning back-up line first.
We used this method on the 95m highline and it worked perfect!

PREPARATION

Before I leave to set up the highline I prepare everything I can, for example:

- put the ring on both lines and clip it to slack-banana/slack-bananas, tie all the knots I can tie before,
- prepare pulleys system so I don’t have to do it on the top,
- put the things to the back-pack in order (so I don’t have elements I need at the begging on the bottom)

I am sure I can still find the way to make this rigging even lighter and faster. The way to go are new materials and more experience. I will post about it after I use this method multiple times on different projects.
If something is not clear, easy to understand please post about it. I’ll like to hear what you think about it. Any ideas to improve it?

"Active Jarocin" Festival

2010-05-25T04:57:00.001-07:00

Festival Website
Contact number: (+48) 501 748 504
News on wspinanie.pl

"Active Jarocin" - first edition on 5th to 6th of June 2010. On this festival Faith Dickey, Jordan Tybon and myself will present our highline skills on the 20m long urban line. After the "highline demo" we'll play our slide show from "US Highline Trip". We also have 5 movies which will be played on the "4 Elements" movie festival. You can find the list below:

Wojtek Kozakiewicz (Vacaspurpuras):

1. "V"

2. "whiteNoise"

Damian Czermak:

1. "Stone Free" Highline

2. "Epic Trip Trailer 1"

AtelierBusche.MEDIA

Elements

Festival program:

5th of June:

- Highline Demo Presentation (maybe it'll be possible to try for the other slackliners),
- Live Music + DJ from Ictus Collective,
- Outdoor clothing fashion show,
- free consulation with sport fitness nutritionist and trainer,
- Noridic Walking,
- dancing shows,
- speed climbing and dyno contest

6th of June:
- second day of "4 Elements" movie festival and media presentations

Slackline in a Nutshell

2010-05-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

That is the first post which is a translation of the last article I wrote in my "Slackline Corner" section of GÓRY climbing magazine. It'll be published in the May issue. Down below you can find pictures of the original and English translation. Soon I'll translate and post the first three articles from US Highline Trip [trailer]. Enjoy!

Page 1

Page 2, [PHOTOS DESCRIPTION: "Surfing" - Jan Gałek/ photo by Jordan Tybon, "Longline" - 124 meters line on the Slackfest in Chemnitz 2008/photo by Uwe Glaubach, "Urban Highline" - Bernhard witz in Radolfzell Highline/photo by Marty Schmidt, "Tree-Highline" Jan Gałek on the "Walk the Line 3" festival/photo by Marty Schmidt, last picture: Faith Dickey on the "For Your Eyes Only" Highline (42m length and 150m height) OS-OW & FM, Greece, Meteora/photo by Jordan Tybon]

Text: Jan Gałek
Photos: Jordan Tybon

Title photo description: Bernhard Witz on the "Heaven's Gate" Highline - OS & FM ascent with a 5 meter long leash, Meteora, Greece

"After the three-part report from the US trip it is time for the explanation. The US trip was specifically a highline trip, which is why it lacked the definitions I present in this article. I am hoping that earlier publications made this extreme version of slackline more clear to everyone. Right now it is time to start from the beginning and describe this fairly new discipline. I am sure that for some this will be a revision of the knowledge you already have, or maybe making order of some information you found before in our magazine, different publications or on the Internet. Let's make it clear - it's difficult to define slackline on two A4 pages. If you want to know more visit my blog on goryonline, where I'll add an expanded version of this article.

SLACKLINE
It is a sport and an art of balancing on 1" (25-26 mm) nylon webbing stretched between two anchor points.Webbing used in slacklining is stretchy and dynamic which allows one to do many different tricks on it. One uses only their body to maintain balance (NO helping devices such as a balancing pole). Many people mix up slacklining with tightrope walking but the only similarity for both activties is balance.

GEAR
In the first slackline rigs only climbing gear was used. After some time the first companies appeared which were producing special slackline gear. The first slackline company, "Slackline Brothers Inc." was born in sunny California. In about 30 years the gear evolved a considerable degree. Nowadays besides the "original" 1 inch nylon webbing there is also polyester webbing in use. Not a long time ago a new super-strong and ultralight webbing made from "vectran" (material common to dyneema, but with a lower melting temperature) was produced (more). Another change is the width of the webbing. Besides traditional 1" webbing is webbing from 5/8" to 2" in width (2 inch webbing is a main product of the German company Gibbon, for example). In a circulation are also some "industrial" elements, such as shackles or spansets. It looks like slackline equipment is becoming more and more specialized, and slackline varieties are more independent from each other. Stronger and lighter gear enables people to push the limits.

HISTORY
Originally slackline came from USA. Today this 'sport' is about 30 years old. Rumour has it that the first slacklines were rigged between trees at Camp 4 in the Yosemite Valley. At the beginning it was a rest-day activity for climbers. As time passed slackline became a separate discipline. Scott Balcom was one of the slackline pioneers. In his book "Walk the Line: The Art of Balance and the Craft of Slackline" you can find that the first people slacklining were Jeff Ellington and Adam Grosowsky, which the author of the book saw in 1983 during summer in Yosemite. Balcom was fascinated with what he saw. When he was leaving the Valley he made a promise to himself that he had to come back and walk a slackline stretched across the Lost Arrow Spire (Ellington and Grosowsky attempted the L.A.S. highline right after Balcom left). After one year of training including walking the first highline in a history, (in November 1983 around Thanksgiving - 2" webbing stretched between huge cement arches of the Pasedena Bridge, CA) Scott arrived to Yosemite ready to face the Lost Arrow Spire challenge. Unfortunately he did not cross the gap that year.

Photo from Scott Balcom's archive

After gear and training modifications, on the 13th of July 1985 Balcom walked the Lost Arrow Spire highline [video].

Photo from Scott Balcom's archive

During the next two decades it would be the highest highline on the world (880m height, 17m length). L.A.S. Highline is still today the biggest highline icon and has only 3 free-solo ascents: Darrin Carter (1995), Dean Potter (2000) [video] and Andy Lewis (2009) [video].

Kinds of Slackline
You can divide slackline into categories because of the types of gear, length, height or even amount of tension on the line. There is no official system. The slackline categories written here are used by the majority of the slackline community but that does not mean by everyone. The three basic kinds of slackline are: SLACKLINE (different names: "lowline", "trickline"), LONGLINE and HIGHLINE.

Slackline - I already wrote the main definition earlier in this article. This is webbing tensioned close to the ground ("lowline" - fall is relatively safe). In use is also the name trickline - it is a short slackline, which is a great way to practice tricks. It depends on preference how much tension is on the line - personally I think for jumps and dynamics tricks tighter webbing is better and for static tricks and surfing I prefer a looser one.

Longline - basically it is just a long slackline. Of course a lot of people would ask what is "long?" There is no official border separating a slackline from longline. For the beginner 30m webbing would be considered a longline, and for the more experienced person that could be trickline. For a long time the 100m mark was unreachable. Damian Cooksey was the first to break this distance [video]. Rigging longlines requires special gear, rigging experience, knowledge and a lot of imagination (breaking the webbing under big tension could be really dangerous!).

Highline - it is a slackline stretched between two anchors up high. In this case it is also hard to give any official numbers. If falling off the line has death potential and you therefore must use a leash, then it could be defined as a highline. You can also divide highline to a couple groups. Because of the location we have: urban highline (in a city/urban environment), tree-highline (highline between trees) which is actually a great preparation for the "real" highline, and of course highline in the rocks or mountains.
In the highline groups you can also define a midline - which is a slackline stretched high. Although a fall from this kind of slackline would have some serious consequences you probably would not die. Whether it is a highline or a midline is subjective (the same subjectivity as the difference between a free-solo ascent and highball boulder problem).

On the highline you can also use multiple types of protection:
- harness + leash,
- swami-belt (piece of webbing or a cord tied tightly around your waist) + leash tied at the back (taking a fall in it could be painful or damage some body parts),
- belt-loop swami - you tie your leash around your waist (quite serious fall consequences),
- extra long leash - usually a highline leash is about 2 meters long. Something 2 or 3 times longer can increase your adrenaline rush. It is just another good mental training method, before free-solo ascent.
- free-solo - I don't think I need to explain this one.

Not a long time ago Dean Potter walked a highline in Moab (UT) using only a parachute for protection [video]. So, than we have the next term - B.A.S.E.lining.
What is next? Deep Water Solo Highline (DWS Highline)? Who knows ...?

STYLES
OS - on-sight (first try),
FM (full-man) - both directions ascent,
OW (one-way) or HM (half-man) - one-way ascent,
OS & FM - walking the line both directions on the first try,
FA - first ascent of the line (opening of the new project).

RECORDS
- longest highline - 85 meters (Mischi Aschaber) [video],
- longest "classic" highline - 67 meters (Jerry Miszewski - 2 lines [FM] [video], Faith Dickey [OW], Damian Czermak [OW], Jan Gałek [FM]),
- longest longline - 217m (Mischi Aschaber),
- highest highline* - 1000m - north Eiger Wall - "Mushroom" Highline (Bernhard Witz and Johannes Olszewski),
- highest free-solo - Bernhard Witz - "Mushroom" Highline [video],
- longest free-solo** - 30 meters, "Taft Point" Highline, Yosemite (Dean Potter) [video] [article].

Slackline has come a long way. Nowadays there are far more people with the "incurable slackline disease." The slackline community is not short of new outstanding talents. Similar to climbing we have rapid changes in each new generation. Limits are being pushed further and higher. In Europe and United States there are many different slackline festivals. I will write info about them on my blog as well. This year we should have a couple nice meetings in Poland too.

"Those who pushed the limits... will eventually find them".
Scott Balcom

I have two questions in my head: if slackline parallels climbing, is it slowly approaching it's limit? Or will we ever reach that point? Time will show..."

* - in the article I made a mistake - sorry about that! The highest highline was rigged and walked by the guys from Slack.fr and Mischi Aschaber in Norway (1100m height) [video],
** - The longest free-solo by Dean Potter was walked on Amsteel-Blue which is round rope and not flat webbing. Personally I still consider it as the longest free-solo and think it was bad-ass.

Highline trip to Meteora 2010

2010-03-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

In a few days Faith, Jordan and I are leaving to Meteora in Greece for 3-4 weeks of highlining and climbing. Before that we have to hitch-hike about 1800-2000km with all the heavy gear in our backpacks. It will be 'interesting' adventure. Our journey has small delay, but in 2-3 days we should be on the way. Today we'll prepare, split and pack all our gear.

Gear <3 ... (not all we have to take)

I played a bit with my slackline gear (of course). I bought some nice 6T stainles-steel shackles from Kwjet not so long time ago. Right now I have my perfect longline-system

Soon, more serious slacklife and dirtbagging with my love and friends :)

Peace & SlackOn!

Through US on the webbing

2010-03-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

So on 14th of March 2010 Faith, Jordan and I had presentation about slacklining and highline on the travelling and climbing festival "Kolosy 2010" (eng. "Colossus 2010" - basically about our 3 months highline & climbing trip in US. I was quite surprised when finally the room was filled to the last seat. It was really nice for us that so many people was interested on our presentation.
It was long journey by trains straight from Prague in Czech Republic.

On the way - salami and bread for 3 days straight ... dirtbag life for ever

Polish trains - Securing the door, making sure our threesome wasn't disturbed ... ;)

Day before our presentation I got really sick after trickline session. Anyway it was worth it. We set up short line using Type-18 webbing and SBI pulleys. It was kind of scarry to pull some tricks above the concrete floor (like chest-bounce etc.)

The outside of the presentation hall

Yeah! Got it one time for a short period of time :)

Faith doing 'not so easy' static trick :)

Rest ...

We didn't have enough time to talk about everything, so I describe a bit some photos during slide-show and talked couple funny stories from Yosemite and J. Tree.

Presentation poster: ""Through US on the webbing", Jan Galek's lecture (about) Slackline and Highline, special guests: Jordan Tybon and Faith Dickey, 10.30 on Saturday, seminar hall". On the picture Faith Dickey walking "60ft. Cave Corridor" Highline in a swami and Jerry Miszewski sending "Big Boy" Highline

We used slide show (by Ruthie Taylor and Jordan Tybon) and movie trailer "Epic Trip" (by Damian Czermak) - you can find them down below:

"Epic Trip Trailer 1" by Damian Czermak

"Grolsch Expedition US Highline Tour" by Ruthie Taylor and Jordan Tybon

After presentation many people said to me it was great and ask me more questions about slacklining and highlining.
We came back to Wrocław during the night. We travelled by small bus with all "GÓRY" magazine crew first(it was really fun).

Jordan eating 'polish burger' on the way back ... What happened to his face ;) ?

They took us to Katowice and then after 3 hours in a train we got finally to Wrocław. Everyone of us was totally exhausted but the same time, really happy! Faith and I went to sleep and rest and Jordan hitch-hiked to Berlin the same day (RESPECT o_O!).

It's hard to live the 'SlackLife' ...

Thanks to everyone who helped us a lot! Especially to Piotrek and Marek from "GÓRY" climbing magazine, the ride to Katowice, to the company Campus which sponsored our presentation and all people which came to watch our photos and movie!

BTW Down below you can read the third part of "US Highline Trip" article in "GÓRY" climbing magazine (GÓRY Nr 3 (190) Marzec 2010, "US Highline Trip - część 3" (p. 74-75) (click to enlarge the photo):

Peace & SlackOn!

V

2010-03-17T11:52:00.001-07:00

New movie by Wojtek Kozakiewicz. This time highline theme.

Movie description by Wojtek:

"25meters long "V-Shape Extended" highline was rigged 30meters above the ground in Wrocław (Poland).

slackliner: Janek Gałek (balance-is-key.blogspot.com)

thanks to Benjamin "BenGie" Sandqvist for Giddabush music (giddabush.com)

filmed by nikon d90 with following lenses:
- nikon 50mm;
- tokina 12-24mm;
- samyang 8mm fisheye;"

More details on Wojtek's blog
Full report here

whiteNoise

2010-03-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

Wojtek already got permission to use all songs in a soundtrack and posted video on the internet. Enjoy!! :)

More details (lens, music etc.) about this movie on Wojtek's blog
Full report from "whiteNoise" longline session here

Peace & SlackOn!

V is for "V-Shape Extended" Highline

2010-02-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

A couple days ago together with Wojtek we set up new highline on V-construction (which actually is holding the gas main) in Wrocław. We met at 12 o'clock and then the highline-crime begun. We were a tiny bit stressed at the beginning. As soon as we realized people down below even didn't see us (or just don't give a fuck) we started rigging our line. I used only one piece of "Type-18" webbing clipped to the slackline-bananas and spansets (main anchors). I padded with carpet every surface where the webbing or spansets were touching the structure. Soon the highline was ready and Wojtek could start shooting his footage. I walked 25m long highline 6 times (full-man) (it's about 30 meters above the ground). Still I was quite scared. It was weird feeling, unusual kind of fear. Focusing on this thin blue beam at the end was really difficult. In my opinion this highline has totally different kind of exposure.

Anyway it was fun for sure! I think it's really good place for mental training and I'll come back soon. Next time - longer highline or just walking steel cable on the top connecting structure 'arms' (have to think about some new leash for it, or like Damian said - "just do not fall" - it's so simple :P).

Wojtek decided to name this movie "V". Down below you can find some frames:

Karol showed up too and took some pictures of setting up and "behind the scenes".

photo by Karol Osowiecki

You can find all of them here:

Photo gallery 1
Photo gallery 2

We were done at 4 o'clock. We didn't get any troubles from anyone. I rigged down, took all the equipment and went back to my home.

You can find all updates about new movie on Wojtek's blog

Today I went for some longline session. The day was sunny and almost all snow was gone (fuck yeah, common spring!). I set up alone 139 meters line - it was really hard work, even with nice gear. I walked it 3 times (FM) and it was already almost dark. Usually I posted all info on the forum but only Karol visited me in a park. We set up trickline too. It was good day.

All photos from longline session by Karol Osowiecki

I'm looking forward for the trip to Meteora - hopefully Faith and I will get some sponsorship. It will not only great highline time. I'm happy to meet my friends again, especially Jordan, Bernhard and Marty. After US Highline Trip I feel motivated to do more projects - go longer, higher ... next level - where is it?

photo by Bernhard Witz

Peace & SlackOn!

"White Noise"

2010-02-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

The movie from first longline session is ready. Wojtek called it "White Noise". After watching the video it's easy to figure out why he chose this name. I already saw final footage and really liked it. Right now Wojtek is waiting for permission to use one song in the soundtrack. I think we will co-operate on some slackline projects together.

Official premiere on vimeo in a few days ...

I went again for the winter longline session. I set up the same line and walked on it a bit more than 1km (10 times/5 full-man laps) without any falls. It was sunny day, but felt colder then the last time. I used the same method - during brakes warming up with down jacket and hot tea from my vacuum flask. Next time I have to bring sunglasses (it's hard to focus during sunny day, walking above the snow) more tea because my new goal is to walk the line 10 times full-man (4 times/2 laps full-man in one run without sitting down). My plan for the future is to find out the best training for longlines and highlines. Probably the solution is simple - just do this things systematically, but I just like to have some kind of plan. Soon I should get 270m piece of webbing from Landcruising and hopefully start long-term partnership with this great company.

Talking about slackline projects - tomorrow I'll set up an urban highline on the "Y-construction" in my city. Together with Jordan Tybon we set up one highline ("V-Shaped" Highline) on this structure (2009).

photo by Jordan Tybon

More photos

Tomorrow I'll set up longer highline, and Wojtek will try to do some sick footage from some different angles (also from above the highline, hanging on the steel cable on the top). Hopefully the weather will be good enough, we'll have fun ... without any police (he, he).

Checked out Wojtek's blog

Peace & SlackOn!

Winter Longline Session

2010-02-20T06:24:00.000-08:00

I spent already one week in Poland since I am back from the "US Highline Trip". Finally I decided to do something ... The weather in Poland is not perfect but it was way colder when I was in US. I'm really happy that I skipped the biggest frosts hear and didn't have real winter this year. Yesterday I went to longline. The ground was cover by deep snow. Together with Wojtek we set up 104 meters line. I used my new equipment and I'm really excited - SMC pulleys ("NFPA Prusik Minding Pulley-DBL") and rigging plate are working perfect! Beefy spansets are also nice thing to have (I got them from "Western Rigging Products, Inc." in San Francisco). My friend made some video footage with his camera. I think so the final product should be interesting. Wojtek just started with making and editing movies but his experienced photographer. You can find really nice photos on his website - "vacaspurpuras" , or check out his last (first production) movie from bouldering:

"A day without friction"

http://www.vimeo.com/9295144

It was really good session. I want to longline more and more - it's such a good feeling. The only problem is that I need something longer than my 130m piece of webbing to get better. I can always experiment with tension and make my line not so tight but it'll be nice to walk something really long.
I made 4 laps without falling and some tricks for Wojtek's movie (surfing on +100m line is fuckin' hard!). I had great time and probably will repeat it on Sunday (maybe something longer).
You can find photo of my longline rigging down below (photos by Wojtek Kozakiewicz):

More photos

List of the gear used for this line:

- 2 x double SMC "NFPA Prusik Minding Pulley-DBL",
- SMC rigging plate,
- spansets from "Western Rigging Products, Inc.",
- 2 x shackle 3 1/4 WLL from "Slackstar",
- 2 x 65kN binner from "Omega",
- ID,
- one double "Gemini" pulley from Petzl and one simple CT pulley for multiplayer (+ 2 non-locking binners and Tibloc from Petzl),
- 2 x slackline-banana from Kwjet + adjustable slings "Missing Link" from SBI,
- 100m piece of "White Magic" from Landcruising.de,
- 60m static rope (diameter 11mm)
* rubber tree-protection from Slackline-Tools.de

In the nearest future I'll start posting some articles from 'US Highline Trip'. Right now I'm trying to organize some stuff, earn money and hopefully go to Meteora together with Faith :)

Peace & SlackOn!

US Highline Trip - short summary

2010-01-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

It's difficult to write about everything which has happened after almost three months of highlining and slacklining in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Yosemite (CA), Moab (UT), Terry's place (CO), and Joshua Tree (CA). For sure there is a lot of backlog, so after returning to Poland I'll have something to do. I can say that everyone of us has become a better highliner, and personally I have already walked 20 highlines, and still have 2 weeks left, so hopefully I'll rig and walk the 65m long "Big Boy" Highline in Joshua Tree + some new lines here. I'm really happy about it. Last year I walked 40 new highlines, and on this trip I walked half of this amount in 3 months. After J. Tree all of us are leaving to L.A. and then to San Luis Obispo to meet with Jerry Miszewski, rig an 80m long highline and probably walk some of the local 'classic-lines'.

Down below list of highline which I already walked:

(2009)

San Francisco:
- Nov 13: "Mt. Tam" Highline (39m length, about 10m height), [OS & FM] + walk in a swami FM,

Yosemite National Park:
- Nov 17: "L.A.S. Classic" Highline (17m length, 880m height), walk in a swami on a 1st try (I walked this line in 2007 OS & FM),
- Nov 19: "L.A.S. Long" Highline (33m length, 880m height), [OS & FM],
- Nov 21: "Black & White" Highline (45m length, 15m height), [OS & FM] - it was a tree-highline in Sequoia Forest in Yosemite, after that got also free-solo FM ascent,

Moab:
- Nov 22: "The Chillum" Highline (19m length, about 20m height), [OS & FM in a swami] + couple days later free-solo ascent one-way,
- Nov 22: "The Spliff" Highline (23m length, about 25m height), [OS & FM in a swami],
- Nov 24: "The Bub" Highline (31m length, about 30m height), [OS & FM in a swami],
- Nov 24: "The Trundler" Highline (12m length, about 30m height?), [OS & FM in a swami] + free-solo FM ascent,
- Nov 26: "The Great Bongzilla" Highline (54m length, about 60m height), [FM],
- Nov 27: "Fuzzy Peach" Highline (19m length, 60m height), [OS & FM in a swami],
- Nov 27: "Wet Beaver" Highline (28m length, 50m height), [OS & FM in a swami],
- Nov 28: "Double Trouble Madness" Highline FA (45m length, 50m height), [FM] + one-way in a swami,
- Dec 03: "Terry's Backyard" Highline, [OS & FM in a belt-swami],

Joshua Tree National Park:
- Dec 21: "Chongo Gap" Highline (7.6m length, 25m height), [OS & FM in a belt-swami] + free-solo ascent,
- Dec 24: "The 60ft. Cave Corridor" Highline (18m length, 20m height), [OS & FM in a swami] + walk in a belt-swami,
- Dec 25: "The 90ft. Cave Corridor" Highline (27m length, 30m height), [OS & FM] + FM walk in a swami,

2010
- Jan 08: "EBGB" Highline (50m length, about 30m height), [FM],
- Jan 14: "Mahavatar's Gap" Highline (12m length, about 10m height), [OS & FM in a belt-swami] + free-solo FM ascent,
- Jan 23: "Hall of Horrors" Highline (25m length, 30m height) [OS & FM] + FM ascent in a swami-belt,
- Jan 25: "Astro Domes" Highline (42m length, 40m height --> exposure about 70-100m :D), [OS & one-way]

I want to say thank you to everyone from our "Highline Crew", everyone who helped us and of course sponsors who are helping us in some way:
Grolsh, Slackline Brothers Inc., Balance Community, Petzl, SLACKSPIRIT.PL, Gibbon, Slackline-Tools , SlackLIVE and Free-Walker.

Soon, more to come!

Peace & SlackOn!

Santa Monica Beach Trickline Sesh (L.A.)

2009-12-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

After a couple days of blissful rest (abundant, healthy meals and sleeping about 12 hours everyday), we finally moved our lazy asses to do some slacklining.

Faith was cooking some delicious food for us ... :)

Korny spent his rest days on a couch recovering from a stomach-flu and some infection

The first slackline outting we went to the Santa Monica Beach, which is an old-school meeting place for slackliners from L.A. They meet there every Sunday (as one of them told me). This last Sunday we met couple of local slackliners. On of them was an older guy named Larry. I can say he was really good on his slackline for his age (1 and 5/8 inch single tubular webbings). In total I saw three slackliners with their own equipment (mainly it was primitive systems, aka binners + tubular webbing).
We had really nice time slacklining and talking to the other slackliners. I especially remember one of them - a guy asked if we knew Slackline Brothers Inc. He was quite surprised when he heard that while in L.A. we were staying in the SBI owners house.
We set up two parallel lines (one with tubular 1 inch prototype Gibbon line and one tubular threaded from Free-Feet) in the same spot you can see in Harlan and Aron's movie from 2007:

"Slacklining - Santa Monica"

Our two tricklines on Santa Monica beach - in the air (from left) Damian and myself

We spent almost all day on the webbing. We can feel the effects to day: sore back, leg muscles and a strange feeling in our knees and ankles. I think it is because during our rest days we hardly moved at all. Everyone pushed their personal trickline limits further. With some help from me, Faith finally tried a "Korean-Butt-Bounce". I think she is really close to sticking it and soon she will land it without any help.

Faith surfin' the line

Jordan landed a back-flip again, not once but twice! Many tries he was very close to landing it, and almost every time he at least hit the webbing with his feet. 'Mozobosei' improved his surfing as well.

Jordan 'Mozobosei' sticking the back-flip

Damian and Jordan almost stuck the trick called "Back-Bounce". I thought it was hard but when Itried it, it seemed doable.

Damian doing a "Double-Drop-Knee"

From what I observed Korny concentrated on practising surfing and jumping. Both were looking better at the end of the session.
Everyone of us had a lot of fun, and after a long break it felt nice to trickline again. It was funny what one of locals said to us about the temperature; he said it was the coldest period in L.A. all year. For us, it was the first warm day in a long time. If this is the coldest time here, I want to live in L.A.! I invented some new simple tricks, combos and almost stuck the "Tree-Plant". Right now I feel new motivation for more trickline sessions.

Michał "Korny" getting some air

"Tree-Plant" in progress

You can find more pictures in my photo-gallery - all photos by Jordan Tybon (link below):

"Santa Monica beach TS" photo-gallery

More informations about our trip - link below:

Slackspirit.PL

BTW I'll try to write about everything what happened before L.A. as soon as I can ... (a lot of work to do again)

Peace & SlackOn!

Praha - Slackline Paradise

2009-10-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

I received some news from 'czech brother' Kwjet about big longline and highline session in Prague. In this case word "BIG" was really suitable. In the plans were a 152 meters longline in 'Stromovka' Park and a 57 meters highline called "Wild Sarah". That was Kwjet's one year old highline project. This was so tempting that I didn't even think about the decision - I just went there. I decided to hitch-hike to Prague because I did not have enough money for transportation and living expenses on the trip. I took Faith to the bus to the airport (she went to London for a week) and then started hitch-hiking. It took a very short time to get to my destination (5 hours and 3 rides). I went by metro from "Cerny Most" to "Ferenc" station where I met with Kwjet. We spend the whole evening drinking beer and smoking joints with our czech friends (Smolda, Peeto and Klara). The night before I left I only slept about 2 hours so I became tired very quickly. When I got to Kwjet's apartment I fell asleep like a brick.
The next day Kwjet woke me up really early and we went for some longline action. We set up 97 meters and 152 meters longlines.

Our set up for 152 meters longline :)

More friends arrived to longline (I don't remember all names). Kolouch and my polish friend Damian showed up when the lines was already hanging.
For the warm-up I on-sighted 97 meters line which had about 1,5 meters of sag. Before me Kwjet walked it in this style without any problem of course. He must be some kind of longline-machine ;).
I tried 152 meters longline and I walked it OS & full-man. I was really happy. I pushed my longline limits again in the best style.

On the 152 meters longline in "Stromovka" Park

Damian Czermak also walked this line. He did it one way on his 2nd try and other OS. For the rest of the day I was playing on the lines, listening to some really good D&B sets, having fun. I walked 152 meters longline 4 times without falling and many, many times 97 meters line.

Damian on the 152 meters longline

After the longline session we moved to Kwjet's house to rest and eat a bit and then went for some Urban Ninja Highline action in the centre of Prague next to the National Theatre. We rigged 36 meters long highline 6 meters above the river, between the stone column of a fence and a tree on the other side. We didn't use any back-up, only webbing - "White Magic" attached to slackline-bananas (this webbing is 31kN strength). That was enough, and even if we would add back-up there you would fall into water anyway. It made this highline a little bit harder (you didn't want to take a whipper) and it was pretty dark. It was really hard on the way to the tree. You could hardly see the end of webbing. The other direction it was easier because there were some lamps on a street nearby. Kwjet went first. After a couple of catches he walked it full-man.

Kwjet going for the first ascent :) ...

Kwjet after perfect slackline/highline day - pure happiness! ;)

I went after Kwjet. Luckily I walked OS & full-man, but at one time I was really close to falling and catching the webbing.

Prague's Ninjas Gap - OS & full-man

After me was Damian. He walked it, and on the way back he even surfed the line a bit.

Damian "Daemon" Czermak - surfing on a line

This highline was walked by Petr "Peeto" Kucera and Kolouch as well. Congrats for everyone!
After beautiful end of this epic day we went to a bar, drank some beer, listened to rock music and went back to Kwjet's to sleep. We needed to rest a bit before D-Day - setting up and attempting the 57 meters long highline "Wild Sarah".

Photo gallery from the 1st day (longline session and urban highline action)

Video from the "Ninja Urban" Highline by Kolouch

Next day we went for the most important part of our trip to Prague - "Wild Sarah" Highline. It is located on the outskirts of the town. To get there from Kwjet's place we had to go by tram, metro and one more tram. The way there took almost one hour, but it was worth it. It's really rad that right in this city you have beautiful highline place with a lot of potential (Kwjet has one highline project there called "Mother-fucker" and it's about 80m long. There is space even for something longer!) .

Highline Paradise

Rigging was really nice. Both anchors were totally natural. We used 9m long 2 tons slings (with 7:1 factor) and clip to them webbing and 8mm diameter dynamic back-up rope. We used 3 tons orange webbing and leave pulleys system on a webbing. Everything was backed-up. After pulling and taping the line Kwjet went for the first ascent. The line looked really shaky, and Kwjet which is really good in highlining and looks normally really stable that time had big struggle on the line. I thought it's not a good sign ...

Kwjet attempting 57 meters long "Wild Sarah" Highline

I tried the "Wild Sarah" highline after him. I had some really good attempts. My best one was when I got somewhere to the middle and then took a big whipper. The line was too lose. I even didn't expect that I would fly so far away from the webbing! It just happened in a split of second. Damian also had some really good attempts.
After this we decided we needed to un-tape the line, release the pulleys system, remove slack from slackline-banana on the other side and then tight the webbing more. That was a lot of work, but it was good decision. I went again with a good mood and hopefully quite a clear mind. On my second try I was really close to the end however the leash fell out from my harness belt and I stepped on it a couple of times the fell at the end. On the third try after big fight I reached the second and.

Going for the first ascent ... :D

For me it was the best highline moment ever. I felt so pumped and happy. Kwjet tried it one more time and after some nervousness and shakiness at the begging he got in the zone and walked the rest of the line as if in a trance. It was great to watch him. Damian had some really good attempts, but it was getting dark, and all of us were quite tired.

Damian on the "Wild Sarah" Highline

I was talking with Kwjet about our ascent about half an hour without any breaks. We were so happy! That was really a special moment. We didn't have time and strength to walk it back but we'll return to finish. Damian and I had to go earlier to the railway station. We missed out train and stayed in Kwjet's apartment one more night. In the morning we went back to Poland and that was the end ... Thanks again for everyone who made all of this possible!

Pictures Gallery from the "Wild Sarah" Highline

Video from "Wild Sarah" by Kolouch :)

Peace & SlackOn!

Autumn Longline Session

2009-10-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

On 8th of October together with Faith and Korny we set up 100 meters longline on a new spot - in Park Szczytnicki.

Location of the new longline

After many rainy days that was the first time when sun came out and it was warm, not too windy ... Perfect conditions for a longline session. We tensioned the webbing with 4 double pulleys + ID and simple multiplayer. It was strange how easy it was to tension.

Tensioning the line ...

Maybe this length of webbing was not so special for Faith and I, but Korny had been trying to walk this distance for a long time. That day he walked it OS both ways. It was his first send of 100 meters. He looked really stable on the line and I have to admit it was quite impressive. I was really happy that he finally got what he wanted. Michał "Korny" Korniewicz is the third person in Poland who walked a slackline at least 100 meters long - CONGRATS buddy!

"Korny" on the longline

I could see that something switched in his mind or the way he moved (or both). It's hard to explain, but you could see the difference!
Korny left after he completed his ascent. Faith and I stayed there a bit longer, playing on the 100m longline. We did a couple of chongo-starts from the middle, double-drop knees, walk the line without using your hands etc.

Gear ... <3

Faith :)

At the end of the session we loosened the line totally (as much as we could) and walked it both ways. It was totally fun! I could see it was right decision to go for longlining. The weather from that time in Poland is still the same all the time - rain, wind, cold ... I want to go to US right now ...

Pictures Gallery

Posts to come (MORE BACKLOG)

2009-10-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

I wrote a couple of posts yet, but there's still a lot to do. So before I write about the present I want to deal with some action from the past. I think that it will be a lot of writing because I was slacklining and travelling a lot this summer ... So down below is a list of things I should write about, and it's a bit like a chronology of my last summer time ...

1. "Walk the Line 3" - slackline festival in Radolfzell,
2. Working as slackline presenter on the outdoor fair in Friedrischafen
3. Climbing in Chamonix together with Faith and Tomek,
4. Hitch-hiking back to Poland,
5. Urban Highline Festival in Lublin,
6. Tree-Highlines in Kraśnik,
7. "Wide Space" Highline
8. Next trip to Berlin,
9. Longlining in Wrocław (new polish longline record, and women longline record),
10. Presentation about slackline in Lądek Zdrój,
11. Highlining in Hejszowina together with Damian and Faith,
12. Urban Highlines in Warsaw

It's a lot of work to do ...

BTW Some news about the present and near future. Right now I'm training before the trip to the US. Together with Damian Czermak, Michał Korniewicz and hopefully Faith Dickey I'm going to do some rad highlining and climbing in Yosemite Valley, JTree, Moab and maybe some rocks in Texas. The weather is shitty right here in Wrocław, so probably I'll train more in a climbing gym then on a longlines and highlines, but I think it'll be good to come back to tough climbing training on the "Nora" and "Eiger" climbing walls. I hope the weather will be better and then we can climb in the rocks, longline and highline again before the trip.
Yesterday Faith and I went for some longlining in a new spot in my city. I tested a new pulley system, and set up a 100m longline alone without a big problem.

New pulley system ... (more pictures)

Walking this line was really difficult and I fell near the second anchor, Faith made it on her 2nd try. Anyway it was good to walk some longline after such a long time without slacklining, also checking new gear possibilities :) ...

Looking forward to the future ...
Peace & SlackOn to everyone!

Life is good in Berlin!

2009-10-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

Even the trip to Berlin was quite an interesting adventure. We had some troubles with police on the railway station in Jelenia Góra. At the beginning it seemed that the reason was the mess of trash around us. We explained politely it was not our mess, and we put all the trash to dumpster. Next argument of the police was that we could not sit there if we didn't have tickets. We had our train in the evening, but probably to them sitting there should be for us a big privilege. They couldn't stop asking us questions about everything. Finally they asked Tomek: "Where you met? What is your profession?". After Tomek's explanation, which was also presentation of polish slackline and highline history, they left us alone. Probably these officers didn't want to admit they did not know what slackline and highline is.
We reached Zgorzelec late at the night, or maybe it was early in the morning already. Totally tired we jumped to the train going to Berlin. Tomek and I decided that we would not buy a ticket. Anyway I thought nobody would have the courage to wake us up and check our tickets, because we were so dirty and sleepy. Steeling a ride was a success, and on 6th of July 2009 we turned up "Warschauer Strasse" station in Berlin. From there we had really short distance to the climbing wall "Kegel", where Tomek is working. Soon it appeared that I would be there almost all the time, also a couple of nights. I could describe this four days I spent in Berlin as one big chill-out time. Together with Tomek I planned to set up a new waterline somewhere in a city centre. Last time when I was there, together with Tomek aka "Soya" I set up 30-40m meters length slackline above "Spree" river. That line was walked by Tomek, Matthias and I.

Slackline above "Spree" river (20th of June 2007)

Tomek aka "Soya"

Matthias

We found a couple of really good spots, but at the end we decided to set up highline ... above big half-pipe in skatepark ("Skatehalle-Berlin"). It turned out that Tomek had some connections, specifically with Jana which is co-owner of this skatepark. After a short talk our project on the highline was confirmed. On 7th of July, at night we began our 'action'. We placed two bolts in concrete pillars on both sides, and then we connected them into one anchor. We placed crash-pads (borrowed from climbing wall) under the webbing on the ledge.

Drilling ...

Tomek has walked new highline as the first person. This was probably his first OS & full-man style ascent on a highline.

Tomek on the highline above half-pipe (1st ascent, OS & full-man)

I walked it after him in a swami-belt. I walked it many times this night, also free-solo at the end.

Free-Solo ascent

When we had enough highlining we tried skateboarding. Tomek was practising a little bit before this night. We borrowed skateboards and knee protectors and under Jana's supervision we were learning riding on a small half-pipe. This was totally fun and so addicting that last three days I spent riding on a half-pipe, and the rest of time I worked on slacklining and climbing on "Kegel" climbing wall.

Tomek un-rigging the highline. In the background "beginners rider team" ;)

Next day I moved to the big half-pipe. Riding on it is way more fun! It also makes your body really fucked up ... I think never before my leg muscles were so sore. Despite this obstacle I was riding till late night and total exhaustion.

First lessons on the small half-pipe ...

... and riding almost under a rail on the big half-pipe :)

All in all this four days I spent in Berlin was great in every respect. We set up the highline over the half-pipe two times. I almost forgot that during the second night highline session some Spanish friend of Tomek also walked this line (I don't remember his name, but this was his first highline).
At the end of my stay in Berlin Jana gave me a new skateboard as a gift (fuckin' niiice!)! BTW I recommend "Skatehalle-Berlin" to everyone. It's a really nice place even just to sit and drink some coffee with nice people.
Thanks for ton of fun and all help especially from Tomek and Jana! I think I'll be in Berlin more then one more time. It is definitely my favourite city right now.
That Friday I went by train to Radolfzell to take part in "Walk the Line 3" slackline festival as the 'special guest' ;). More to come ...

P.S. Thanks Faith for all help with my poor english ;)!

Summer Time – Part 1: „Sokoliki Highline Trip 2009” – making up backlog

2009-09-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

It's really strange that vacation went so fast. So many things happend yet, still I didn't follow through with many plans. This was a vacation of slacklining, longlining and highlining for sure, but I didn't climb as much as I wanted to. It was however a time of lucky coincidences, I met a lot of nice people, saw new places, visited old ones, and developed my skills to some extent. I'm convinced I spent this time in a good way. Once again I have to make up backlog on this blog. As always I didn't have enough time to be up-to-date with writing.
I'll start from the first part of my summer trip - highline week spent in Sokoliki Mountains in Poland.

Damian on the "Tabor" campsite - happiness at the sight of all this gear?

Damian and I arrivet to Sokoliki on the 30th of June. On the first day we set up (for the second time in history) "Big Air" Highline between "Sukiennice" and "Krzywa Turnia" Rocks (36 meters length, 30 meters height). Rigging as always didn't go smoothly but definitely faster than the last time.

Rigging - on the picture you can see two Climbing Technology metal rings taped together

I was the first to go. Somewhere before the middle I unexpectedly took a leash-fall. I was feeling a little bit surprised because the last time I walked the line OS & full-man.

Coming back after leash-fall

On the second go I walked it both ways. Still such a length was a little bit challenging for me. I thought that I would put off walking it in a swami-belt. Damian had really good try walking the highline in the direction of "Sukiennice" Rock. Unfortunately he fell dwon two or three steps before the end. His foot slipped off from the new webbing (the webbing was really slippery!).

So close!

On the way back he went on his first try! Damian is the second person now which has walked the longest highline in Poland!

Damian cruising ...

That day Damian was tried to walk "Big Air" in the direction of "Sukiennice" Rock one more time, and Kajtek sat and fell down on the highline.

Kajtek

Finally, because of cold and windy weather we went back to "Tabor" campsite. On the second day we went with all needed equipment (driller and 4 bolts bought from Micaj) to place anchors for the new highline between "Sokoliki" Rocks. We were really enthusiastic about the possibility of doing something new. Right as we placed an anchor on the "Duży Sokolik" Rock, raindrops began falling from the sky. What we could do? We just covered the bolts with duck-tape and ran away to hide under "Sukiennice" Rock overhang.

Team ...

... drilling.

And if you don't have enough glue ... just use chocolate evaporated milk ;)

The thunderstorm was raging for about three hours, the black clouds pouring out a huge amount of water and clapping with thunders into surrounding rocks. Finally the wall started to getting soaked more and more, so we moved under a bigger overhang. After some time our location got terribly wet. We were just waiting for when the storm would subside ...

Raining again ... Kajtek under "Sukiennice" Rock overhang

While we were hiking down at last, the storm got stronger again. Hiking down changed quickly into a downhill-slide ;). We reached campsite totally wet.
Because we couldn't do anything in those weather conditions, together with Tomek, aka "Soya", we decided to take a walk to the small village in the valley to buy something to eat and see what was going on down there, what with the huge storm and all. What we saw in Karpniki was definitely worse than we had imagined. A small mountain spring changed into a fast river. Some guy was explaining to us that the water level was even higher then before.
You could see everywhere damage, broken bridges, and destroyed routes. Practically everyone in the village had a flooded house. We bought something to eat and went back to our safe campsite.

"Big Air" Highline - view from Karpniki village

On the way back it cleared up and soon the sun was shining again - really strange weather!
Tomek showed off with his culinary talent by cooking delicious soup. We spent the rest of the day on a slackline just to keep on moving. Tomek probably walked his longest slackline OS that day. Damian and Kajtek went home for two days to take care of some business.

Tomek "Soya" slacklining on the "Tabor" campsite

Rainy slackin' (photo by Radek)

During the next couple days we were fighting with the weather. We were alternating hiking up and down escaping from rain/storm on a steep trail with all the equipment in our backpacks. We decided to deposit our gear near "Sokoliki" Rocks after a few of the laps, but when we climbed to the highest rock in the area we were right in the eye of the storm. That was just too much for our psyche. We packed all needed gear into Tomek's haul-bag and put it into a plastic bag. Then we hid under some boulders. Apparently the tactics seemed to be effective and next evening we placed the second anchor on the "Mały Sokolik" Rock.

Drilling ...

Evening view from the top of "Mały Sokolik" Rock

In the morning my 'czech brother' - Kwjet showed up. Tomek and I set up a new highline, "6th Avenue". Everything was going smoothly and after an hour the highline was ready.

Rigging ...

I went first. I think for the first time in my life I decided to try on-sight a highline in a swami-belt. That was quite intense but luckily I walked it OS and didn't have to check if a leash-fall in a swami is painful.

"6th Avenue" Highline - 1st ascent (OS & full-man)

Tomek has been trying hard after me but the atmosphere was really tense. Nothing strange - groups of tourists observing and commenting on every move you do is not so helpful if you want to walk the first highline in your life!

Stress ...

Next in turn was Kwjet. Of course walking 15 meters long highline wasn't a problem for him. Without any problem he walked OS both ways. I was really happy that he liked the location, highline and my rigging style.
BTW I'm recommending this place for a "first time" highline. The distance between this rocks is not so scary - it's only 15 meters, the highline is perfectly horizontal and you can start really safe from the standing position on both sides. Maybe exposure is not so small but it's a highline. Isn't it:D ?!

Kwjet Oslaf - 2nd ascent

Reaction from comparing anchors with the old anchor used on a "Big Boy" Highline - "really, that was the anchor?!" :P

After this short 'warm-up' we went for the "Big Air" Highline. Kwjet played some of his 'psytrance' sets on his earphones and literally walked this highline as if in a trance (there must be some connection with his psytrance sets on his mp3 :P). His walk did not go without some fight but mainly it was really smooth and impressed me very much! I was probably almost as happy as Kwjet was. I walked the highline both ways also. Then together with Tomek we relaxed on the top of "Krzywa Turnia" Rock with some special herbs ;) ...

Kwjet Oslaf - 2nd ascent in OS & full-man style, 3rd in general

Next morning Tomek woke me up really early. I was thinking, "How can he wake up so early? How is it possible?". Anyway, early in the morning we hiked up to the "Sokoliki" Rocks. Tomek was ready to go before "tourists attack". This time "soya" started from "Mały Sokolik" side. He was definitely motivated that day. After a short moment of hesitation he stepped on the line and walked it on the first try this day. After a minute all Sokoliki and probably even people on the campsite below heard Tomek's scream of victory. We hiked down in really good mood to the campsite. During the rest of the day I was climbing and highlining.

Tomek "Soya" Ostrowski on the "6th Avenue" highline (3rd ascent, one-way)

Damian returned on Saturday. Michał "Korny" also arrived to Sokoliki Mountains and Artur "Idil". Straight away we went for a shorter highline between "Sokoliki" Rocks. Damian went first, in a swami - the same as me. He walked it without any problem OS both directions.

Damian "Deamon" Czermak (4th ascent, 2nd ascent in a OS & full-man & swami style)

Next person to go was Artur. After a couple of tries he decided to rest. Respect for all his attempts. That was his first highline and he was starting from "chongo" and catching webbing every time!

Artur "Idil" Kwieciński

After Artur went Michał "Korny". On his second try he reached the second end. Unbroken calmness on his first highline - I guess it means he has strong psyche :P? The way back he walked it on his first try. All this after only 5 or 6 months of slacklining in general!
Wonderful slackliner! :D

Happiness - "Korny" style

Michał "Korny" Korniewicz on the "6th Avenue" Highline (5th ascent, full-man)

That day we met two czech guys climbing on the route near "our ledge". One of them walked the highline OS & full-man. Bravo!

Next happy person :) ...

Ondra on the "6th Avenue" Highline (6th ascent, OS & full-man)

That was the last person which walked this highline on our 'highline trip' in Sokoliki Mountains. Never before in polish slackline-history had so many persons walked one highline on one trip. Sometimes it was really crowded on our small ledge. The name of the highline came from the number of people who walked it. We had a lot of fun and a good atmosphere for sure! I'll remember those moments for a long time. I think besides walking on a highline the most pleasant feeling is sharing "highline-time" with other "dudes". Thanks for everyone for a really good time and beautiful fights on a highline! It's a pity that Artur and Kajtek didn't reach the second end of the webbing, though I know they were able to do it. It's not the most important thing, but next time we will not allow you to leave without walking it ;) !

The "EVERYDAY SLACKLINE CREW" on the ledge

Korny

Damian

Party? Kwjet and his psytrance dancing ... he, he

Despite bad weather, Damian completed his full-man ascent on the "Big Air" Highline the same day.

Damian "Deamon" Czermak on the "Big Air" Highline - full-man ascent

"Fuck Yeah!" ?

That time I walked "6th Avenue" Highline in a swami a couple times to make my mind stronger.

After this together with Kwjet we tried new tricks on a highline. Then we went to check out a new spot for a highline between "Jastrzębia Turnia" and "Rogatka" Rocks. We climbed on both of them to check if there was a need to place some extra bolts. It seemed that place is ready to walk!* (* I executed this project together with Faith Dickey on 17th of August 2009, but about this I'll write later)

Kwjet on the ledge of "Jastrzębia Turnia" Rock - in the background "Big Air" Highline

For a good end of the day together with Kwjet we climbed on the route "Ambroży" (7a) on the "Krzywa Turnia" Rock.

Kwjet on the "Ambroży"

and 'vigilant' baleyer ;)

On Sunday we were highlining on "6th Avenue" Highline for the last time. "Korny" walked it again confirming his good slackline-shape. Kajtek and Artur were trying hard for the last time.

Artur - "the last battle"

I was training my new exercise; breaking main rule - "don't look down!" by looking down while walking. I think it's a good way to improve your sense of direction and mind-strength.

"Don't look down!"

In the evening we broke down both highlines and all friends besides "Soya" went home. Tomek and I packed our backpacks again and the next day we went to Berlin.

"This is the end ..."

Jarek "Blondas" Liwacz gave us a ride to the railway station in Jelenia Góra and at that point starts new story ...

Gallery:
Damian on the "Big Air" Highline (movie)

Slacker's Life

2009-04-23T05:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't been writing for a long time, and many things have happened. For a couple of days slackline completely dominated all my activity. I've put away climbing, especially indoor training. Nevertheless, after four days of slackline, longline, and two highlines I was completely tired. Not only I felt this way ;) Let's start right from the beginning:

Sunday (05.04.09)

"Night Urban Ninja" Highline [15m long, about 6m high] (50ft. long & 19ft. high) [OS, full-man]

It was a boring afternoon in my house, I was trying to think of some occupation. I remembered an idea of urban highline between "Tamka Bridge" and the riverside of Odra.

Localization of the "Night Urban Ninja" Highline

I came up with a plan, and packed indispensable stuff. I thought the most important thing is to rig fast and not stand out (a little bit unworkable nearby main street :P).

Minimum highline gear ...

I hoped that after dark in the city there shouldn't be so many onlookers. I've made an appointment with my friends and at 8.00 pm we started rigging. All in all there turned up a couple of people: Kajtek with his buddy (I don't remember his name), Kasia with Wojtek. Kamil "Wiewiór" and my girlfriend Karolina :) After half an hour of rigging highline was ready.

"Night Urban Ninja" Highline - READY TO ROCK!

I used one threaded SBI webbing clipped to oval line-lockers to improve strength of the highline, left tensioning system on the line (of course I tied a back-up, clipped the rope into Gri-Gri, and released the pulleys brake).

Rigging side

I didn't apply any back-up underneath the line duo to the small high and nearness of water ;) If webbing would brake, I'd fall into water anyway. I walked it both ways without falling many times that night. In the end I was walking in a swami-belt. It was nice to overcome again my fear of falling into it.

"Highline Ninjaaa!"

Kajtek was really close to send it all the way ...

Kajtek in action

Wojtek had some really good attempts too. All ended after a couple of really showy (but also painful) leashfalls - but for the air acrobatics definitely 10/10 points :D :P

Wojtek at the start :)

Fortunately nobody had any problems with our highline-action. We saw city police patrol once, but they didn't see us. After midnight cold and tiredness forced us to go home.

More photos

Monday (06.04.09)

Next day I spent with friends on a trickline and 50m (165ft.) longline in a park nearby Panorama Racławicka. Together with Damian and great pulleys system we tensioned our longline ;) We even didn't notice that the webbing is already stretched enough.

Our pulleys system

Details

During the rest of the day we just chilled-out on the longline and had some jam-session on a tickline ;)

Tuesday (07.04.09)

Another proper day began. A big crew slacklining together ...

Marcin "Dziober" on a 15m (50ft.)trickline

Borys

Tricks ...

Damian in his 'hot' snickers trying 540

After this slackline party we went to "Tamka Bridge" to repeat last highline and set up a new longer one. This time Damian also showed up. I was hoping that Krzysiek "Laarum", Damian and Kajtek would walk at least one of the highlines. We set up really fast "Night Urban Ninja" Highline. I walked once to check if everything was correct and the webbing is tight enough. Damian walked as a second person OS, full-man and in a swami! We agreed about highline difficulty - although small height, fast current underneath your feet makes you dizzy.

Damian, 2nd ascent, OS full-man

During rigging the second line City Police came. They asked us what we were doing there, what it was, who was in command? etc. e.g. In the end two of officers just went away. They even asked for a website address about slackline and were quite friendly. They told us about one more visit - this time - Police patrol ;)

"Red Light" Highline [25m (80ft.0 long, about 6m (19ft.) high] [2ng Go, Full-man]

We've tensioned webbing too much but there was no time to correct it. We had it in our minds that Police would be there soon. On the first try I fell down catching the webbing. On the 2nd go I made it all the way. Straight away I walked it second way. On my "way back" Police patrol arrived. They weren't as nice as City Police and forced us to take our lines down. Next to us there people who were behaving loudly. The policeman seemed not to notice that. Apparently we presented biggest public menace, right ;) ? Never mind, that's just the system. I remember - when Tomek "Soya" Ostrowski and I set up a slackline above Sprewa River in the centre of Berlin, police officers were just friendly waving us. It's a pity that Kajtek and Krzysiek didn't manage to have it a try. When we took it down we heard: "That's great you don't drink in public & take drugs, but you understand - you have to put it down". So what? We just went to drink some beer :P

About action in a polish newspaper

Wednesday (08.04.09)

The last slackline day close to Panorama Racławicka. Apart from a lot of friends showed up Freddy & his friends from France. General tiredness and sore in arms and legs muscles was "quite" noticeable ... Thanks to everyone who was there for a really good fun!!

Michał "Corny" taking his first steps on a slackline

Freddy from France on a trickline

Part of a Wrocław Crew :D ;)

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Peace & SlackOn!