 Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.
 Then, Sunday long weekend came along with perfect conditions: warm weather, minimal wind and no excuses left since we started feeling a little better. We had been training for half a year and pushed our long-lining skills so the natural next step was the highline. However, we had been avoiding the obvious: the beast in our backyard! Corroboree Walls at Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains is far enough away to come up with excuses but the highline at North Head is very close to home, almost a little too close for comfort. It packs a punch and has it all: maximum exposure, suburb height with more than 60 meter to the sea below, and to make matters worse the line is established at the very edge of the seacliff for maximum verticality across a giant gash in the rock. In a sense it is perfect and punches straight through the horizon, providing a perfect sensation of unadulterated vertigo.
Roman Junior was also keen for some exposure so we took him along for the experience ! Lucky we did because when we arrived at the sight, the crashing waves below and the sheer depth of the drop took our breath away. Rigging the line was hairy so say the least. The platforms with the belay points is a few meters below the cliff top and requires a short climb-down in extremis. Without the junior we would have probably just walked back home again, but it was a shame having lugged tons of gear to this magic place. So we decided to check whether we could actually set up this monster through space.
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Leo Working Out |
It was our first rig and the technical difficulties became apparent straight away. Getting the line across is tricky and we used a 1mm tagline thrown across the cliff gap with precision. It got caught on all the sharp bits of bush several times before Leo managed to hit the target on the other side. A drone would have been nice but we used the tag line to pull the main line(s) across - main and backup for security. The wind tangled them up straight away and it was difficult to straighten the main line. The next trick was the position of the anchor system (three main bolts with two backups) which werr very close to the cliff edge. Getting the line in position was tricky and then setting up the tensioning system was worse. Calculating the length of the pulley system so that the tension is just right and the pulley is close enough to the cliff edge so that you can still get on the line was tricky but somehow we got it first shot.
 If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.
Then the tensioning begins and your whole body weight hangs out over the void while you put pressure into the line. Once again we hit the jackpot and got it right first go. To our dismay, the line looked perfect, the tension was superb and there were no tangles. Once again we were out of excuses. The sun was hitting the line at the perfect angle now and it shimmered like a spider threat in the empty air. I decided to go for two carabiners instead of the specialised steel ring normally used, a fatal flaw in our system as it turned out. Once the line is rigged the full steel rings can not be placed on the highline again.
It was time to roll across the line and check the safety: using tape to glue the main and backup line together. The void below sucked heavily on our bodies as we rolled back and forth across the line. But that's not why we came here ! It was time to take a few wingers to test the rigging and safety. The first couple of falls showed right away that the impact of the locking gate carabiners on the highline was not good. There was abrasion and the line actually appeared to cut into the aluminum alloy of the carabiners. Shock horror - we almost got it perfect. The rigging was a full success, but took a little longer than expected, then one little mistake of not using the correct steel rings meant we needed another date with destiny.
Our next appointment has been booked and the headspace is now there.We will be back soon for take two............
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