After the new women's world record in highlining and conferences in the USA for Faith, a lot of studying and art performances for Ancee, giving birth to her little daughter for Jelena and a very long winter for everybody, the three girls finally went to the “Calanques” near Marseille for the second edition of G4Gproject.
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| Faith in TED-Talk |
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| Ancee on slackline performance |
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| Jelena with her one month old daughter Liv |
Summer, sea and rocks---everything was there to have fun for 10 days of highlining. Chloé, one of the best French highlining girl’s, joined them for the first week of the adventure. Big ups to her performance and her good mood!
Some numbers?
4 girls,
10 days,
6 highlines (10m, 40m, 45m, 62m, 32m, 20m) three of which were new.
The journey began with some waiting, while Ancee and Faith hitchhiked over 1500km from Prague to Cassis. It was a 3 day journey, and both girls were quite surprised to wait so long in Lyon, France, which in the end added an extra day to get to their destination. While waiting, Chloé and Jelena had fun on a little 10m line rigged on natural anchors and established a new 40m line called “Neptune” to welcome the other girls for some easy riding in the afternoon.
No rest was permitted from the start, and the next day a new line awaited them. The assumed 35m line turned out to be 45m and the access to one of the towers was more difficult than imagined. It involved some bush-wacking, free solo down-climbing, and rappelling off of tiny bushes in order to sling a chossy tower all the way around. It was lucky no tourists were below because many stones fell. New rigging always takes time, and rigging on natural protection takes even more time. The other side was also creative, the girls slung a hole and used the tower as an A-frame.
Finally after several hours of rigging, the line felt good, but heavy. Chloé walked it first, Faith easily, Ancee had some difficulty (with one sprained ankle) and Jelena spent her time fighting and trying to get her highline feelings back after one year without slacklining.
The line deserves her name “Venus” by her beauty and the creative – even artistic – rigging. Yes, rigging can be creative and lines can be poetic.
Some numbers?
4 girls,
10 days,
6 highlines (10m, 40m, 45m, 62m, 32m, 20m) three of which were new.
The journey began with some waiting, while Ancee and Faith hitchhiked over 1500km from Prague to Cassis. It was a 3 day journey, and both girls were quite surprised to wait so long in Lyon, France, which in the end added an extra day to get to their destination. While waiting, Chloé and Jelena had fun on a little 10m line rigged on natural anchors and established a new 40m line called “Neptune” to welcome the other girls for some easy riding in the afternoon.
No rest was permitted from the start, and the next day a new line awaited them. The assumed 35m line turned out to be 45m and the access to one of the towers was more difficult than imagined. It involved some bush-wacking, free solo down-climbing, and rappelling off of tiny bushes in order to sling a chossy tower all the way around. It was lucky no tourists were below because many stones fell. New rigging always takes time, and rigging on natural protection takes even more time. The other side was also creative, the girls slung a hole and used the tower as an A-frame.
Finally after several hours of rigging, the line felt good, but heavy. Chloé walked it first, Faith easily, Ancee had some difficulty (with one sprained ankle) and Jelena spent her time fighting and trying to get her highline feelings back after one year without slacklining.
The line deserves her name “Venus” by her beauty and the creative – even artistic – rigging. Yes, rigging can be creative and lines can be poetic.
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| "Venus" - 45m |
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| Ancee on Yoga-session |
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| G4G in girly dresses going to the beach |
Though they were already tired but still motivated, the team took some rest in the afternoon on the beach. They only had a moment to show their femininity because the BIG project of the trip waited for them just above their heads – 62m at 100m high and very exposed over the sea.
It took one day to rig the line, and the first walk from the girls was on-sight by Faith while the sun disappeared behind the Calanque mountains. Ancee loved this special moment and the nice lighting of the sunset, and had her best try which was to the middle of the line.
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| Faith on her 62m on-sight walk |
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| Ancee sleeping in her hamac |
That night three of the girls slept nearby the highline, paying attention that no French “voyou” cut and stole the line by night. Ancee even hung on the line in her hammock. It was no doubt that having so many girls around scared away any potential robbers.
The second day brought some nice tries from Chloé, Ancee and Jelena, but the hot sun (and the bad night spent for some of them) won the fight and lead them to de-rig the line before nightfall.
Beautiful and exposed, the line was very nice after all. The team had imagined that the line was new to the area, however it was discovered that it had, in fact, been rigged and walked before. In the end, G4G was happy to repeat it.
Faith left for work the following weekend, and Jelena, Ancee and Chloe continued to rage. Three girls and one baby is not the perfect conditions to rig another big project, such as “la candelle,” so in the evening they decided to rig something nice, easy and beautiful: a line Ancee and Jelena established 2 years ago, 32m to relax, play, laugh and feel good. “Enculé de lapinou” -a nice name for a nice line!
Jelena finally felt good on a line, got her highline-feeling back and walked it on sight. It was a very relaxed day without pressure, some wind and some shadow from the sun. Ancee decided that the French sun is very healthy and sun-tattooed the team's name on her back.
Exhausted by all the lines, the sun and the rigging, Chloé left and the girls had two entire days of resting, sleeping, swimming and shopping.
But the trip wasn't over. More girls arrived the day after, Laure and Capucine, two other talented French highliners from Montpellier. As the G4G team had no time and energy left for another big project, they rigged a 20m line with 100m exposure. It was a beautiful line but the day had a lot of wind, which added a challenge to the small highline. The girls also found time to climb a few beautiful crystallized routes, and so in the end the experience of the area was complete.
But the trip wasn't over. More girls arrived the day after, Laure and Capucine, two other talented French highliners from Montpellier. As the G4G team had no time and energy left for another big project, they rigged a 20m line with 100m exposure. It was a beautiful line but the day had a lot of wind, which added a challenge to the small highline. The girls also found time to climb a few beautiful crystallized routes, and so in the end the experience of the area was complete.
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| 20m line high above the town and sea |
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| Jelena and Liv |
After 10 days in the Calanques, we headed to Montpellier, where Jelena took some rest from the most exhausting 10 days of her life. Baby, nursing, driving, hiking and highlining took a lot more energy than she had imagined.
The following days, Ancee and Faith discovered the most beautiful waterline spots around Montpellier, before heading to Millau for Natural Games.
In the end, the second installment of G4G was a success. The girls came together with a simple goal, to rig highlines and have fun. This was easily accomplished, thanks to Jelena’s good preparation and the productivity of the team itself. It was a new idea to invite other girls to join the expedition for parts of it, and this also proved to be a great idea. Overall, women empowering women, having fun together, and sharing their knowledge, abilities and experiences is exactly what G4G is about.
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