As dawn breaks on a cool morning near Lonavala, a group of some 10 people trek to Duke’s Nose in the Western Ghats, rig up a flat nylon rope between two peaks, and begin to walk across the valley at heights ranging from 20m to 200m. This is highlining, an extreme adventure sport, practised by only about 100 people in India, mostly in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, and Bengaluru.
The big brother of slacklining, highlining does not have an official height at which it begins; this young sport has become popular internationally only over the past 30 years or so, beginning in the Yosemite National Park, California, where rock climbers first took to it.
Says Navin Torres, 27, a core member of Slackline India, a group of highlining enthusiasts, “You can call it highlining from the point at which it begins to feel scary!” The line is rigged by either fixing it to bolts driven into a rock, or by anchoring the rope to a rock or tree.
Last year in Lonavala, full-time highlining athlete Samar Farooqui, 29, from Mumbai walked without a harness twice. “But free solos are not encouraged, because if you fall, you fall to your death,” says Torres. With the harness, he says, it’s one of the safest adventure sports. “Mishaps take place because of the improper use of gear, or not following safety protocols, or due to damaged equipment,” he says.
Rishikesh’s hills, Bengaluru’s outskirts with an abandoned mall, and Delhi’s abandoned quarries, all make good spots to walk the line.
Why highline? “It sounds like a cliché, but it’s life-changing — your primal instinct to preserve your life kicks in, and you’re fighting with yourself to keep walking. You rarely encounter this in daily life,” says Torres.
( Text by Sunalini Mathew and photos by Prashant Nakwe )
Such a high: Vinay Tataria, 28, a sustainable architect, balances on a 42-metre-long highline strung 70 metres above the ground near Duke’s Nose, a popular destination in the Western Ghats near Lonavala, Pune. Highlining is extreme slacklining, the sport of balancing on a rope fixed above the ground but not stretched tightly.
Nearly there: Harshdeep on the 27-m-long highline.
Young and restless: Ritesh Kudtarkar, 16, the youngest highliner in India, relaxes on a line.
Barefoot: Harshdeep has to keep his balance for the entire 42 metres.
Rocky: Harshdeep Pawar, 25, a professional skateboard trainer, gets ready for a regular practice session in the steep Duke’s Nose valley.
All geared up: Vinay testing a 101-m-long highline.
Nail biting: Samar Farooqui, one of the first highliners in India, tries to balance on the 101-metre-long highline called Red Jewel near Duke’s Nose. He did two free solos about 150 feet off the ground near Duke’s Nose in 2019.
Published - March 08, 2020 12:05 am IST