Malham
I'm extremely excited to have a new highlining spot not too far from where I live with the possibility for longer lines. Here is a little update on our first trips to Malham and some of my experience on the line.
After Tom had the idea to highline at Malham and checked it out I was hoping this would turn out to be a good highline spot. One thing that was realy appealing was that is a natural cliff where as many other UK highlines are in quarries. As I want to regularly go to this place I was concerned about access and wanted to make sure to make a good relationship with the landowners (Malham Parish Council). Also to respect the climbing community who have had to agree on bolting access here. But so far we have had no problems and I hope this will continue to be a highlining spot.
We organised a trip to go and establish some lines with a group of 4 of us heading up on a snowy weekend. After rigging and playing on a 65m line (type-18 and DMM 10mm back up) and some fun and adventures in the snow I had to go back for the week. Jake and Jed stayed to establish a 200m line, from what I heard Jed crossed in an amazing feat of endurance, skills and what sounds like madness (read his blog his story is much more exciting than mine!). Me, Dan and Tom went back the next weekend and this was a really good chance to session the line - which we did with two full days and two night sessions - sleeping under the line and loving life.
As always highlining trips have many crazy experiences which are hard to share as its about the feeling at the time but I can describe them and if you have been in these situations maybe you will understand and if not I recommend you try!
1. Nightlining is getting to be a regular occurrence and we went on the line every night that we were there and the line was rigged. I still found it pretty difficult and was not really managing to walk that far but seeing nothing and trying to balance always feels amazing for me and I love making the line a massive challenge.
2. Some of the weather conditions gave me great experiences and although I am always complaining about the bad weather in this country these things really make the experience more intense and enjoyable and I can't really complain as I know many others are out in the cold and snow too. So having to clean snow off the line in the morning (thanks Dan!) and highlining with snow all around was pretty special. The rain coming up towards me as I look down to the bottom of the cove and walking the line as it arced in the wind felt like the wind was lifting the line up making in light and stable so I felt like I was floating even more than usual.
3. Bouncing in exposure with a blindfold felt pretty wild, the bounces make you feel like your flying and the lack of vision makes you feel air all around your body.
4. Finally a less thrill seeking experience of being calm getting in the zone and actually walking a line for once. I do not usually want to talk about sending lines because thats not particularly important to me and I don't manage it often to be honest. As I may have mentioned before I have been trying to walk 60m nylon lines for a while now so this was a big achievement for me and it really did feel great! Now I'm ready to start on the next difficult challenge....
5.The people on this trip made it magical for me. Three of the highliners that inspire me most Dan, Jed and Jake these guys are ever positive, pushing boundaries and excelling at life. Its so fun and uplifting to spend time with these guys.
So I'm pretty in love with Malham Cove right now and I'm looking forward to many more sessions there!! Check out Dan's video of our first weekend there.