MHP & KHP

MHP

At the beginning of July 2017 together with my friend Kamil we set off for the Marmotte Highline Project – a highline festival in one of the highest spots in France. Since both of us were used to highlining at heights up to 50 meters, the prospect of crossing the gap that goes 300 meters down and with a view to over a kilometer below, was a thrilling opportunity we simply couldn't pass by.

So, with big hopes and backpacks of size quite definitely beyond Easy Jet carry-on limit (with which we managed to sneak in anyway ;-) ), we boarded the plane from Kraków to Genève. After a juggling session at the airport and a sleep there (brutally interrupted by loud music about 4 am), we took a bus to the town and admired the sunrise over Lac Léman, paired with the outburst of the city's most recognizable landmark: Jet d'eau, a fountain spitting water 140 m high at a speed of 500 liters per second. I ran up as close to the Jet as possible, getting my clothes wet, but it was worth for the amazing sensation of the wind trying to push me off the pier and seeing a full circle of rainbow formed in the falling droplets. That's not something you see everyday!

Jet d'eau, the epic fountain of Genève, and on the left two little towers that would make perfect waterline anchors (the line would probably be about 100 m long and it would be amazing :-) ).

Later we walked around the town a bit, discovering some old buildings and picturesque sites, but also sourly discovering how expensive Switzerland is: prices in the shop didn't scare immediately, but seeing in the shopping cart how little food was I able to collect for 20 Frank was, well, rather daunting. Luckily we weren't going to stay there for long, soon we were on a bus that took us on the French side, with Grenoble welcoming with equally beautiful views and much more pleasant prices.

Playing on the roofs of Genève, Jet d'eau in the background

Kamil tries chain surfig

From there it was just a quick ride in a local bus to Lans en Vercors, walk up the road and a hitchhike once we realized it was quite long, and we were on the campsite. The highlines weren't open yet, but there was a nice looking longline about 110 m long rigged over a mountain field. It was super hard – neither tight nor loose, it had some really weird vibrations. After a while I managed to work it out to the point where I was falling around the middle, but it soon turned out I oughtn't have touched it – at one point I fell on the side and felt a strong pain in my arm. Suddenly I began to worry that the injury was serious and I wouldn't be able to highline at all! Specially so after I woke up in the morning with even greater pain. But I hadn't come to France to just sit there, so I took a painkiller from Kamil, and, holding my left arm with the uninjured right arm, I set off for a hike to the highest highline spot.

The view over Grenoble had already looked impressive when we were on the bus up to Lans en Vercors the day before, but after I reached the spot and looked over the cliff edge, well, it was simply mindblowing. For a moment I panicked inside, not sure if I would dare to walk on lines rigged so high, asking myself what an insanity have I embarked myself upon. But I queued up for a 40 m long highline, and although it took me a moment to muster the courage for standing up, once I did it, I felt I'm in my own world again, pulled off a flawless Full Man On Sight and held the exposure stand first try!!! Pain in my arm pretty much didn't matter, it was only an annoyance during leash climbs. Afterwards I challenged an 80 m long highline that was probably the most beautiful, the most exposed line of the festival, as it led straight to the edge of the overhang section of a rock and, most astonishingly, I also sent it On Sight! And to think that just a month earlier 80 m was my personal best…

The amazing 80 m line "Vive la violence" which I sent On Sight. On the picture Nir, a real highline machine from Izrael.

Kamil attempts "Vive la violence"

I could go on with details about every session I had and watched, and all the slacklife parties going on in the evening. But let's try to get it down to one paragraph. Overall I had 10 sessions, sent two 40 m, one 55 m and two 80 m highlines, almost sent 110 m and 120 m (but once you start repeatedly stepping on twisted rope backup it's really hard to control). The thing I'm most excited about, though, was trying the really long highlines: a 250 m and a 350 m. I had never had the pleasure of being on something that long before, and it was a delight. Especially a 1.5 hour session on the 350 m was the most positive experience ever, and I crossed it with only 10 leashfalls! I even managed a long exposure stand! And honestly, what excites me most about this is not the sport and competition aspect of it, but the sheer pleasure of being in the middle of such a huge gap, super high, completely alone and just focused on this fascinating activity of walking onwards. This is what I dreamt of ever since I started highlining. The rest of the Polish team also did a great job, congratulations for Kamil and Michał who also nailed some On Sight sends on the highest spot on the first day, and for Filip who equaled his personal best of 80 m.

Kyryl, another member of the Polish team, enjoying a 40 m line on the highest spot, where he pulled off some epic exposure stands.

Finishing my session on the 350 m line,  the most magnificent highline experience in my life.

And that's me on a 110 m line which I sessioned twice, and both times came super close to sending, only to fall a few meters before the end.

Hitchhike back

Originally I was supposed to hitchhike back with Kamil, but in the end he flew back home, so I ended up hitchhking on my own. Despite being repeatedly showered by heavy rains and despite the misfortune of water spilling out inside my backpack three times, overall, I very much enjoyed this journey.

I set off on Monday evening (for a moment I thought I won't leave the town that day, cause I kept meeting slackliners in the park and always had to stop for a chat), and made it to Annecy in 3 rides, where I was caught by the most merciless downpour, which forced me to give up on moving anywhere further and spend the night under the roof of a roadside toilet (but huge thanks to people from one car who gave me an umbrella while I was still trying to hitchhike in the rain <3 ).

It wasn't easy to sleep by the toilet, because inside the radio kept playing quite loud, but I read a book for a while and eventually managed to catch a few hours of sleep. As I woke up before dawn I went for a walk to the town, where I did some shopping and found a better hitchhiking spot. On the gas station outside of the supermarket it didn't take long to find a ride to the Swiss border. On the border I got stuck for a moment: I tried to cross it on foot and ask for a ride on the other side, the way I did in Serbia, Macedonia and Greece, but I was stopped by a police officer who didn't speak English, it seemed to me as if he tried to say that hitchhiking is illegal in Switzerland and I should go back on the way through France. I was extremely angry for a while, because that would mean I'd have to make a big and pointless detour. Luckily another officer on the French side explained to me, that it's only illegal to hitchhike from this very place, because the border was on a highway, but he would be okay with it if I tried to ask for a ride on the parking lot outside of the exchange office.

Annecy. Abandoned gas station?

There wasn't much activity there, but I managed to get a ride from the kindest couple of old people, who despite not speaking English at all, were able to make a sort of conversation with me, and even offered me some fruits on farewell. Crossing Switzerland went very smooth, from one gas station to another, so I figured I should be able to reach Munich that evening and contacted a friend there. However, I was held back near the border, with rides few kilometers each, jumping between Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Austria. Finally I managed to get to Munich from Austria in two rides, but it was almost midnight and I was dropped at the Airport. Well, better late than never, I decided to visit my friend anyway, so I jumped on the S-bahn and reached her house within an hour. We hadn't seen each other for three years, so it was a very nice reunion.

Swiss-Liechtenstein border. Since I was dropped there I couldn't just pass by the opportunity to visit another country, and went for a brief stroll on the Liechtenstein side of the river.

Amazing rainbow in Liechtenstein

Next morning I strolled around Munich a bit, grabbed some cardboard from a trash deposit as I had run out of this important hitchhiker's resource, and set off onwards. Journey through Germany was also smooth, and there was only one roadside stop where I had trouble finding a ride, but once I did, it was a ride all the way to Prague. I reached the Czech capital around 7 pm, so I could theoretically keep on hitchhiking, but decided not to. My plan was to reach Wrocław on Thursday evening or Friday morning, because another event, the KHP (Kantyna Highline Party) near Wrocław, was going to start on Friday, and my hometown wasn't on the way. It wouldn't make sense to reach Wrocław sooner, so I needed to slow down a bit. Therefore I went for a walk through Prague, going from the suburbs where I was dropped all the way to the central area (and the pain from carrying my backpack all the way made me really appreciate just how big the city is). Eventually I found a good spot to rig my hammock, and had the most comfortable sleep. On the morning I strolled around the center of Prague for a few hours. Also I tried to do some street juggling by the Charles Bridge, but although I attracted attention of a lot of people, only one person threw me a euro, so I gave up. Well, I guess street show isn't very lucrative, unless one has a very good business plan.

Million star hotel in Prague

In the end I left Prague quite late (around 2 pm), and although I reached Liberec quickly, there I got stuck again, until I found a truck driver going to Poland. He dropped me on a big stop for trucks, but it proved a very bad place, as it was too late and all the truck drivers were going to sleep. I tried on the road with cardboard for a while, eventually gave up and went to the forest to rig a hammock and sleep. On the morning everything was much easier, and in 3 more rides (closing the tally at 25 rides from Grenoble) I reached Wrocław.

KHP

Finally, Kantyna Highline Party, the second half-official gathering of Polish slackliners in an abandoned quarry in Chwałków near Wrocław. It was EPIC! Not just because of the highlines, but it was really a party, and a crazy one, too. If a night where aside of drinking there was fireshow fun, massage chain and, last but not least, group naked swimming while singing see shanties, well, if that doesn't sound like a good party, then I don't know what does :D All day and night I experienced the slacklife atmosphere at it's finest!

Night session on a 30 m line in Chwałków. After two editions it's practically a tradition that we open KHP this way.

Slackline fireshow attempts during the night party.

I was also able to take my revenge on the amazing line we first rigged on the first edition of the event one month before. The highest highline in Poland when it was opened, this 100 m long and over 80 m high beauty had been far beyond my reach at the time, and just crossing it with numerous leashfalls had seemed like an achievement. But this time I came much more confident and comfortable with such lengths, and sent it in my second session on the line. I named it “Zamknij się!”, which in Polish means “Shut up!”. Originally I intended for a different name, but here's how it went: I was just starting my second session, when a friend shouted: “Kuba, but remember that we need to name this line today!” (and to name it, you need to send it). But I was just starting to enjoy myself and didn't want to think about sending yet, so I replied “Zamknij się!”. And then I sent it on the way back, so it seemed a perfect name, completely spontaneous, but that perfectly fits in the overall spontaneity of the KHP.

Finishing my send of the 100 m line "Zamknij się!"

However, the most epic session I've had was a nude swami session on a 44 m long and 15 m high line. The point was, that the line was rigged above water, and people even jumped from it to the water before, so I thought it would be a nice and relatively safe place to try free soloing for the first time (going without a leash). I asked Kuba, who organized the party, if he would mind if I tried this, and he suggested that maybe before I get to free soloing I should try going swami, and borrowed me a belt. The way swami works is the following: you do have a leash, but instead of a harness, it's attached to a thin belt wrapped around your belly. Might seem safe, cause it would save you from falling to the ground, but actually if you walk swami you should also do all you can to catch the line rather than leashfall – a swami leashfall might result in haemorrhages and internal organ damage. Nevertheless, I decided to try it, I had started catching more and leashfalling less recently, so I felt quite confident. Originally I didn't intend to go nude, but one of the girls sitting by the line was like “Kuba, why not take off your pants so on the pictures it will be more visible that you are not wearing a harness?”. It was meant as a joke, but be careful about jokes with me :P The session went better than expected, I managed to send the line first try! On the way back there was some hesitation, I had a few catches before finally getting into a good mode again and walking back to safe ground. Once you start having free solo oriented thoughts you gotta be very careful or you're gonna die, but I think if approached delicately, step by step, the matter is not out of question :-) 

Nude swami session on the 44 m line