Slacklining

Slacklining is a balance sport which utilizes nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut; it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a large rubber band. The line's tension can be adjusted to suit the user and different types of dynamic webbing can be used to achieve a variety of feats. The line itself is flat, due to the nature of webbing, thus keeping the slacker's footing from rolling as would be the case with an ordinary rope. The dynamic nature of the line allows for impressive tricks and stunts.

Tricklining/Lowlining

Tricklining is the most common type of slacklining because it can be set up from almost any two secure points. Tricklining is done low to the ground, and it is also often called "lowlining". A great number of tricks can be done on the line, and because the sport is fairly new, there is plenty of room for new tricks. Some of the basic tricks done today are: standing, stand start, walking, walking backwards, turns, knee drop, opposite turn around, bounce walk. Some of the intermediate tricks are: moonwalk, sit mount, buddha sit, mantle start, sitting down, lying down, jump start, cross legged knee drop, surfing forward, surfing sideways, jump turns,"carrolls mount." Some of the advanced/expert tricks are: backflip on the line and back onto the line, jumps referred to as ollies, tree plants, front flip dismount, back flip dismount, doing push-ups, throwing a disc around with someone from line-to-line, tandem walking, the tandem pass, piggy-back rides across the line, and jumping from line-to-line. See more lowline tricks. Also see the tight rope sub-category of "freestyle-slacklining", aka "rodeo-slacklining."

The History of Slacklining

While rope walking has been around in one manner or another for thousands of years, the origins of modern day slacklining are generally attributed to a pair of rock climbers living in Yosemite Valley, California, in the early 1980s. Adam Grosowsky and Jeff Ellington started their walking on loose chains and cables alongside parking lots, and over time progressed to stringing up their climbing webbing and walking it. The sport blossomed from there among climbers in the valley, and then branched out elsewhere all over the world. More on the history of slacklining can be found at www.slackline.com and www.slackline.net

Common Setups

A slackline is commonly constructed with three sections of webbing: a long section (30-100 feet) strung tightly between two trees, using tree ties (8-12 feet) on either end. Some people use padding between the tree ties and the trunk of the tree to avoid damaging the tree and fraying the webbing. The padding usually consists of cardboard or carpet scraps. The most difficult and widely discussed element of a slackline setup is the tensioning system. Common setups include using a ratchet, a carabiner pulley system, a roped pulley system, or a commercial slackline kit.

World records

Highest highline

Highlining is slacklining at a high elevation. The line is set extra strong with precautions taken to make sure nothing goes wrong while the slacker walks across a gap anywhere from twenty feet to several thousand feet off the ground. To ensure safety, most highliners wear a climbing harness with a leash attached to the slackline itself; however, unleashed walks of highlines are not unheard of.

The highest highline took place in Kjerag, Norway, on 3 August, 2006 by Christian Schou, 1000 metres off the ground.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2006, there have been no deaths while slacklining.^{[citation needed]}

Longest Slackline

The longest slackline on record was walked by Damian Cooksey on July 10, 2007 in Munich, Germany. The length of this slackline was 506 feet (154.29 meters). A forum discussion about this event may be found here.

Longest Slackline History

Long slackline walking was pioneered most notably by Dean Potter, Shawn Snyder, and Braden Mayfield. Rumors of 200-300 foot slacklines were talked about, however there is no known official line length record from this period.

Heinz Zak, extreme climber and photographer, was one of the first to go on record for long slacklining with his walk of a 328 foot (100 meter) line in August 2005. This record stood until March 4, 2007, when Damian Cooksey walked a 405 foot (123.5 meter) line in Warsaw, Poland.

On May 31, 2007, Andreas Thoelke set a new record by walking a 443 foot (135 meter) line. This record was then broken on July 10, 2007 by Damian Cooksey when he walked a 506 foot (154.29 meter) slackline, a record which stands today.

External links

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