Polovičná kupola

Na štvrtý deň sa Polly rozhodla zdolať Polovičnú kupolu. Nie tú slávnu cestu s lanami vzadu, ktorá bola aj tak ešte zatvorená na sezónu, ale vzdušnú trasu. Rovná severná stena Polovičnej kupoly sa takmer vertikálne týčila z dna údolia, 1 500 metrov holého žulového masívu, ktorý bol vyhladený ľadovcom, čo ustúpil pred 15 000 rokmi. Horolezci ju zdolávali bez istenia. Polly mala v úmysle ju preletieť.

On the fourth day, Polly decided to climb Half Dome. Not the famous cable route up the back, which was still closed for the season anyway, but the air route. Half Dome's flat north face rose almost vertically from the valley floor, 1,500 metres of bare granite, polished smooth by a glacier that had retreated 15,000 years ago. Climbers free-soloed it. Polly intended to glide it.

Začala za prvého svetla. Vzduch v údolí bol hustý a chladný. Stúpavé prúdy z otepľujúcej sa skaly na úpätí kupoly ju mali zdvihnúť na prvú časť výstupu. Vedela to, pretože deň predtým sledovala belorítky. Belorítky bielohrdlé krúžili okolo steny kupoly celé hodiny, jazdiac na tom istom vzduchu.

She started at first light. The air in the valley was thick and cool. Updrafts off the warming rock at the base of the dome would lift her for the first part of the climb. She knew this because she had watched the swifts the day before. White-throated swifts had been screaming around the dome face for hours, riding the same air.

Vzlietla z porastu borovíc ponderosa pri Zrkadlovom jazere. Stúpala pomaly, v tesných špirálach. Stena kupoly sa dvíhala. Krivka kupoly sa menila z krivky na strmú stenu. Sledovala, ako sa jej okuliare v rannom vlhku zahmlievajú. Uprostred letu ich jednou nohou narovnala proti zobáku.

She flew out from a stand of ponderosa pines near Mirror Lake. She climbed slowly, in tight spirals. The face of the dome rose. The dome's curve became less curve and more sheer wall. She watched her glasses smudge in the morning damp. She tilted them straight against her beak with one foot, mid-flight.

Asi tristo metrov hore sa pridala k belorítkam. Bolo ich tam desiatky. Pohybovali sa v rýchlych voľných kŕdľoch, biele hrdlá sa mihali, navzájom si škriekali. Polly bola najpomalším vtákom vo vzduchu s veľkým odstupom. Belorítky sa zdali byť spokojné. Jedna z nich preletela okolo nej na dosah krídla a cvakla.

At about three hundred metres up, she joined the swifts. There were dozens of them. They moved in fast loose flocks, white throats flashing, screeching to each other. Polly was the slowest bird in the air by a wide margin. The swifts did not seem to mind. One of them passed within a wing-tip of her at full speed and clicked.

Na päťsto metroch sa vietor zosilnil. Žulová stena už vydávala teplo, hoci slnko na ňu sotva svietilo. Teplo zdvíhalo vzduch. Zdvíhaný vzduch zdvihol Polly. Stúpala v dlhých pomalých oblúkoch, šetrila si svaly na krídlach, nechala skalu, aby odviedla prácu.

The wind picked up at five hundred metres. The granite face gave off heat already, even though the sun was barely on it. Heat lifted air. Lifted air lifted Polly. She climbed in long slow arcs, conserving her wing muscles, letting the rock do the work.

V polovici cesty si oddýchla na malej rímske, kde v praskline rástlo niekoľko zakrpatených jedlí. Odtiaľ videla cestu s lanami. Kovové laná, ktorých sa horolezci držali na zadnej strane kupoly, ležali na holej skale ako dlhá tenká chrbtica. Boli uzavreté na jar. Do júla sa po tom drôte denne vyšplhá stovky ľudí.

Halfway up, she rested on a small ledge where a few stunted firs were growing in a crack. From there she could see the cable route. The metal cables that climbers held onto on the back side of the dome lay along the bare rock like a long thin spine. They were closed off for spring. By July, hundreds of people a day would haul themselves up that wire.

Na vrchole bola žula rovná. Len rovná. Sto metrov naprieč, mierne naklonená, s niekoľkými malými kôpkami kameňov, kde ľudia označili svoje vrcholy. Vietor tu hore bol stály. Polly kráčala k okraju skokanskej dosky, slávnej previsnutej doske, a pozrela sa.

At the top, the granite was flat. Just flat. A hundred metres across, slightly tilted, with a few small piles of stones where humans had marked their summits. The wind up here was steady. Polly walked to the edge of the diving board, the famous overhanging slab, and looked.

Údolie bolo malá stuha pod ňou. Rieka Merced bola zeleno-sivá niť. El Capitan, na druhej strane, bol tak blízko, že mala pocit, že k nemu môže doletieť. Stromy neboli stromy. Boli to zelené chmýří na dne kaňonu.

The valley was a small ribbon below. The Merced River was a green-grey thread. El Capitan, across the way, was so close she felt she could fly to it. The trees were not trees. They were a fuzz of green on the canyon floor.

Stála na okraji dlho. Potom urobila najmenší, najpokojnejší sokolí ponor, aký dokázala, len cez okraj, a takmer okamžite sa vytiahla, aby kĺzala pozdĺž krivky kupoly cestou dolu.

She stood at the edge for a long time. Then she did the smallest, calmest peregrine-style dive she could manage, just over the lip, and pulled up almost immediately to glide along the curve of the dome on the way down.

Dole, na chodníku, sa mladá žena sklonila, aby odfotila belorítku. Nevidela, ako Polly pristála na zábradlí lavičky za ňou. Fotoaparát ženy cvakol. Lavička bola teplá. Polly zavrela oči. Celé údolie voňalo borovicami a teplou skalou.

At the bottom, on the trail, a young woman was bent over taking a photograph of a swift. She did not see Polly land on the rail of a bench behind her. The woman's camera clicked. The bench was warm. Polly closed her eyes. The whole valley smelled of pine and warm rock.