First Alpine Highline
Everything started with Lukas asking me if I'm free on the weekend. Having nothing planned yet I said yes. With out much info except for "We do something alpine", a beautiful WhatsApp group picture and a cabin name I prepared my stuff in the morning. Luckily I was smart enough to check the webcam of the cabin. Discovering horrified that there is a lot of snow there and it was snowing with 0°C. It's not that I'm scared of cold temperatures but I didn't have any clothes for cold weather and foremost no suitable shoes handy. Furthermore some rain was forecasted and my rain jacket broke a week earlier. But Lukas promised me to bring a rain and down jacket along for me. And I packed my whole summer wardrobe.
Preparations
So Lukas picked me up, Juli was already with him. It was a pleasure to meet Juli, such a nice and humble guy constantly trying to support and comfort me. We were having a nice ride to Quirin's place where we decided that we wouldn't start that day because of too much rain. Instead we planned to start at 2am (!!) to catch the perfect weather window to rig and session before the rain comes in the afternoon.
So we prepared everything, going over every piece of gear to carry as little weight as possible during the long approach. After some nice dinner and lots of talking I won a game of chess against Quirin after not playing for years. We went to bed early to be fit to start early. I was quite surprised that everyone got up in time. My plan was to sleep during the one hour car ride and eat some breakfast but there was too much tension and excitement in the air and we were having a great time. Starting our hike at 3:30am from the car we took a few steps until Quirin burst out in laughter and asked where we're heading, he would like to go into the right direction.
Hike
Hiking was quite unspectacular except for an half an hour detour despite of having a local with us. We started in shirts and fantasized about a wonderful sunrise. But we got rain, lots of it. Big shoutout to Lukas rain jacket that kept me dry for most of the time. My trailrunning shoes are not waterproof at all so I had wet feet all the time. A big backpack and no poles made the hike tedious. But we made it up to the cabin and from there went directly up to the spot on more than 2600m. By far my highest highline until now. Actually I've barely been on higher mountains in my life even though I grew up close to them. But I was already exhausted after a short night and long hike.
Rig
Lukas and Quirin took the harder side to climb, Juli and me the easier one. For us it was mostly crawling but we still secured us with a rope to be safe. Getting the connection was a bit hard because the tagline got caught multiple times but nothing too bad. Rappeling down to the anchor and preparing everything for the anchor and pulling over the webbing was a breeze. We hangovered to the other side and before we could get on the line a snowstorm started and we descended back to the cabin.
Session
After warming up in the cabin we went up again. I wasn't really in the constitution of hiking up again. The long hike, corona laziness, thin air, cold, rain and constant fear took their toll on my body and I was feeling weak but I wanted to see at least the others on the line.
Juli got lucky with the weather. While I was still contemplating whether it was a good idea to climb up to the anchor or not. In the end they convinced me to go up while Lukas took his turn on the line. I'm not a climber so I had some difficulties to get up but at least I didn't take a fall. Thanks Quirin for managing my rope. Then I prepared for the line realizing that my feet were too big for the skinners Juli brought along. So I had to go barefoot. The rain just started again as I went on the line. So I tried to get up with my freezing feet and shaky legs. I took a few steps, way more than I expected and then jumped off the line from exhaustion. I always had in my mind that I need to go down to the cabin again which wasn't the easiest path especially in slippery conditions. So after walking a third of the line I turned back and got off the line.
Getting back to the cabin we got completely wet again. While recovering in the cabin eating a soup they made the plan to get up for a sunrise session at 4am on the next day. When the alarm went off I couldn't overcome hurdle of getting out of my warm sleeping bag. Sadly the shoes of the others were locked away and they also couldn't get out. So we started a few hours later but up there was a complete whiteout so I didn't went on the line again. We derigged fast and hiked all the way down getting wet again.
Video
Conclusion
During and after this weekend I asked myself was it worth it? I spent 3 days mostly in cold and rainy conditions with less than ideal equipment and physical capabilities for being 15min on a alpine highline without any view because of the clouds. Seeing it from this point of view I have to say no. But I learned a lot about mountaineering, how an alpine project can go, met Juli for the first time, talked a lot about gear, pushed hard beyond my comfort zone and much more. It was an amazing experience and got a lot of support from the pros. It was the first time that I was the weakest link of a group in the mountains and it taught me humbleness. So if you plan an alpine project, count me in, but I would appreciate nicer weather 😅