Over The (High) Line
By Chris Van Leuven
On June 10, Bay Area brothers Moises and Daniel Monterrubio, along with a few of their friends, crossed a new highline at TaftPoint—a highline that was three times longer than the previous one in the park, setting a California record. Of the two brothers, only Moises managed a clean (fall-free) walk, taking 37 minutes to balance across the span. Joining the Monterrubios were 18 climbers and professional slackliners who set the complex rigging. This allowed the highliners to walk 2,824 feet (861 meters) along one-inch-wide webbing stretched between fixed points.
“It’s a beautiful line with a view of El Cap, the Cathedrals, and Yosemite Falls,” say Yosemite local Ryan Sheridan, who helped rig the line by using only natural protection—no bolts–as anchors.
Highliners put intense force on slacklines, and the longer the line, the higher the wind loads. Sheridan said that even without a person on the line, the system is already loaded with 7kN of force (carabiners break at 24kN). As carabiners were too weak, the team used steel shackles and Amsteel (high-strength Dyneema, which breaks at 72kN). The line was also exposed, as it hung 1,600 feet above the Valley floor. The highline extended nearly as long as El Capitan is tall. The record for the longest highline in the Us in Moab, Utah, at 3,313 feet (1,010 meters).
The Monterrubios had arrived in Yosemite in early June via a converted school bus containing other highliners searching for a record-setting location. “They came here, and we buckled down and made it happen,” Sheridan says. Eugen Cepoi was the only other person to walk the line cleanly.
Yosemite is the birthplace of slacklining and highlining (slacklining is close to theground; highlining spans cliff edges). Pioneers of the sport include John Middendorf in the1980s, who walked a slack chain in Yosemite parking lots before walking tensioned webbing. Others in the 1990s and beyond include Chongo Chuck, who taught the late Dean Potter. Potter often walked highlines at Taft Point—once free solo. (Taft was also the launching spot for his fatal wingsuit BASE accident on May 16, 2015.)
Climbing Ranger Christian Black also crossed the line, though he fell 17 times and required over an hour to traverse the half-mile-long ribbon. When he wasn’t on the line, Black provided interpretive services—explaining how and why highliners do what they do—to park visitors.
By working with the Park Service, Sheridan says they aimed to set an example for best highline practices in Yosemite. This meant following all National Park Service rules, forgoing the use of drones (which are illegal in the park), and placing no bolts.
In addition to quickly removing the line after they were done, the team picked up tourist trash from the trail and made sure to leave the area cleaner than they found it.
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