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Slacklining
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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 long and narrow trampoline. 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.
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Encyclopedia
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 long and narrow trampoline. 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, drop knee, opposite turn around, bounce walk. Some of the intermediate tricks are: moonwalk, throwing a disc around with someone from line-to-line, sit start, buddha sit, mantle start, sitting down, lying down, jump start, cross legged knee drop, surfing forward, surfing sideways, jump turns "180","carrolls mount." Some of the advanced/expert tricks are: backflip landing on the line, jumps referred to as "ollies", tree plants, front flip dismount, back flip dismount, doing push-ups, tandem walking, the tandem pass, piggy-back rides across the line, and jumping from line-to-line, 360's. 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.
Highlining
Highlining is slacklining at large distances above the ground or water. They are commonly set-up in locations that have, or are still used for Tyrolean traverses. When rigging highlines, experienced slackers take measures to ensure that solid, redundant and equalized anchors are used to secure the line into position. The line itself is often threaded. This means that 9/16" webbing is threaded through the hollow core of the normal 1" webbing. Highliners may further ensure security by doubling the line and even running a climbing rope along the bottom of the line(s). It is also common to pad all areas of the rigging which might come in contact with abrasive surfaces. To ensure safety, most highliners wear a climbing harness or swami belt with a leash attached to the slackline itself; however, unleashed walks of highlines are not unheard of.
Common Setup
A slackline is commonly constructed with three sections of webbing: a long section (30-100 feet) strung tightly between two trees, using "tree slings"(8-12 feet) as anchors on either end. Padding (known as "tree friendlies") are used between the slings and the trunk of the tree to protect the trees and avoid fraying the webbing. The padding usually consists of cardboard, carpet scraps, or branches placed around the trunk of the tree to distribute the pressure of the webbing over a greater surface area. The most difficult and widely discussed element of a slackline setup is the tensioning system. Common setups include simple friction methods, using wraps of webbing between two carabiners, a ratchet, a come along, a carabiner pulley system, a roped pulley system, or a commercial slackline kit.
World records
Highest slackline
The highest slackline on record was walked by Christian Schou on August 3, 2006 in Kjerag, Norway. The slackline was 1000 meters high. The project was repeated by Aleksander Mork in September 2007.
Longest slackline
The longest slackline, which is , was walked by Stefan Junghannß on July 1, 2008 near Dresden, Germany. It had a length of 171 meters.
Longest slackline history
Long slackline walking was pioneered most notably by Dean Potter, Larry Harpe, Ammon McNeely, 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 (100 meter) line in August 2005. This record stood until March 4, 2007, when Damian Cooksey walked a line in Warsaw, Poland.
On May 31, 2007, Andreas Thoelke set a new record by walking a (135 meter) line. This record was then broken on July 10, 2007 by Damian Cooksey when he walked a 506 foot (154 meter) slackline in Munich, Germany. A forum discussion about this event may be found .
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