After a relaxing entry to 'The Mountains' we were greeted by the warm members of the Sydney Slackline Crew, (Luke, Sandrine, Ryan, Thea, Travis, Aiden, Chris, Richard, Gui, Nico & Marcus).
I had never made the long walk out to Hanging Rock previously, however it was the top priority this time around.
Joseph and Myself had been dreaming of the time spend interacting with such a notorious rock feature.
Due to previous fires in the mountains the Rangers have locked the gate into the area. So what used to be quite a short walk in has now turned into a 5.5km trek through undulating fire road. The benefit to this has been tourists mostly avoiding this once popular lookout. Leaving perfect conditions to conduct Highline activities.
Arriving at the lookout above Hanging Rock will accelerate anybody's heart rate and knowing what was about to happen down there gave me butterflies and smiles.
The nerves did not get to me at all by this stage, only building excitement at each step towards building and executing our visions.
We firstly rigged up the classic Hanging Rock Highline (35m Long x 150-200m direct height)
The defining feature of this highline is walking out to the point of a 2m thick nose that hangs precariously above jagged rocks that once were at home on the vertical cliffs and an endless valley (one of the best in the mountains)
Surrounding the highline are intimidating red sandstone cliffs and evidence of massive landslides, these landslides make you wonder just how much longer Hanging Rock will stick around for before a violent and spectacular fall into the Grose Valley below!
The challenge Joseph and I had set was to set the line with minimal tension for maximum exposure and testing conditions to begin with.
The backup was less then hand tensioned through the weblocks and the main line tensioned with a line grip/ hangover roller and two people.
Thanks to Travis for letting us all share some of his Balance Communtiy Type - 18 MKII (it only saw 2 whips over two days, great effort guys!). Walking any highline on nylon fibre webbing will result in smiles all around everytime due to the high stretch and soft edges.
Joseph walked out to hanging rock on his onsight attempt, rested at the end whilst taking in exposure he hadn't ever experienced before. He quickly turned to walked back and again walked it without falls to complete the traverse an inspirational display of calm movements and solid walking.
Travis and Chelly tried their skills on the slack line and showed promising results both getting a few solid attempts at the line.
I was up next and enjoyed a 1/3 crossing out to hanging rock on my first attempt, catching the line when the exposure and fear reached breaking point. I felt good and I was controlling the line without too many mistakes. I stood up from where I fell and managed to cross the rest of the line without issue.
Walking back saw me reach 2/3 without issue and then an overwhelming fear took hold and I reached to catch the line. After calming my heart rate I made it home to the hard ground with a huge smiles on my face. Not clean but an experience in itself.
We tensioned up the highline with four people, a line grip and hangover roller and enjoyed a periodically sunny afternoon despite the thunder, lightening and hard rain that passed through a few times throughout the afternoon.
The walk out of a highline has never felt so hopelessly tiring as Friday night did and we were glad to arrive back to the cars to enjoy a hot dinner and a camp chair.
We returned to hanging rock on Saturday to enjoy another day on the 35m highline and brought out another collection of gear to rig a new line at the location. Shane and Gui surprisingly came out to join in and it was good to catch up with these guys.
The new line is slightly lower than the main line and approximately 25m long. The line was put up with help from many ideas and plans and it was an honour to follow Luke for the second crossing on a new line. I walked it onsight full man and enjoyed the more direct exposure walking out to the Grose Valley.
Towards the end of the day we spotted a storm crawling over the mountains on the horizon and knew we'd be in trouble. The de-rig was called and within 10minutes the front had arrived and we were battered by strong winds and torrential rain. Props to Gui and Luke standing out on the nose for the de-rig of hanging rock in scary weather conditions.
We walked out with everything drenched but still with smiles on our faces knowing that we'd all safely made our first dream of the trip come true of walking not just one but two Highlines at Hanging Rock.
It has rained ever since Saturday afternoon and it does not look likely to stop for a few days yet, as we move around different cafes and pubs well and truly over staying our welcome.
We have gone into intense planning with topographical maps and Internet research trying to find what other beauty exists through highline paradise.
Happy Slacking!
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