Being fairly short, I think I've always been fascinated by being in high places. Seriously though, in the last year or so I've learned to appreciate the sense of accomplishment of seeing somewhere you don't immediately think you'll be able to reach, but when you solve the puzzle and haul yourself up there, it's such a physical and mental reward!
I can't do that in the natural environment, and would like to know how. I know Utah is a mecca of rockclimbing but 'd never try such a thing without trusted instructors coaching me.
Also, slacklining is new to me but the idea of being able to overcome the mental block of something so emotionally daunting is very high on my list.
I've always lived in the mountains, and my hiking slowy expanded to steeper, and steeper, until I was climbing scree fields to the base of walls, and free climbing the walls as high as I could. I did free climb the face of Guye Peak @ Snoqualmie Pass one summer, but shouldn't have, and had climbed onto ledges that I would never have been able to go back down. Fortunately, I made it to the top and was able to hike the saddle down, and they didn't have to call King County Airlift. I still free climb soft faces whenever I am hiking. I plan to spend some time on the wall at Western Washington University here in Bellingham, practicing holds, and honing my balance. What I would like get out of this is the opportunity to do a climb using ropes in a place that I've never been. My only equipment I currently have is a chalk bag, and helmet, which I use. A harness, and belt of assorted size nuts, that I don't. By next year I hope to have an elementary grasp of using my harness, D-rings, and some basic knowledge of my ropes, and knots. From there, I am hoping for a super Utah experience. I'm amped about this trip; already X-ing out days on the calander, and making time to train, both in the gym, and with my photo gear! Can hardly wait!
Guye Peak, Snoqualmie Pass, Washington
EDIT: Oh yeah, and make new friends, hear new stories, learn new things, and see new places!
As far as the climbing and slacklining goes I like the idea of seeing things I would not be able to see without the assistance of ropes.
Hanging off the side of a cliff to get a unique perspective, repelling into a cavern to see whats there and get shots looking down and up.
When I am hiking/photographing the remote areas of Arizona that I do- I often have to stop because it is unsafe to continue any further without ropes. I hoping I can learn how to safely navigate such areas.
It should be a fun time and a very internal growth experience for many of us!!
"The Journey of life is as much in oneself as the roads one travels"
Other than dealing with work and kids, my life's been pretty boring. Given this chance, I just want to try something new and different. This is the first time I heard of slacklining and highlining, and the pictures certainly worth many thousand words. I'm excited about this trip and this would be my motivation to get in shape.
I'm always amazed at how people can crawl up sheer rock walls. I would like to try some easy climbing, slacklining, highlining and come back in one piece.
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
What is it that you would like to be able to do? What is it that interests you most?
Never tried a highline before, that'll be neat. Always good to learn how other folks place their anchors, everyone's got different tricks. Although, by then, after more than a year away from the US and my gear, it'll be nice just to climb again!
But most of all, after reading all your posts and seeing all your climbing photos, I just wanna hang out and do some climbing with you and John!
So, while John and I work on some helpful things that will be beneficial for this friendly gathering I was wondering what everyone would like to get out of it? What is it that you would like to be able to do? What is it that interests you most?
The older I get, the more afraid of heights I become. I've been working for the past several months to over come it. Usually I can buckle down and just cope with it, go out onto something that I know is "safe" and come back. But sometimes I freak out while I'm up there and have to make a bee-line back to something stable. High buildings and airplanes don't bother me. When I was teenager I did some rock climbing, not much, but a bit and I never had a problem with the height.
With that background, I'm interested in testing myself in a safe environment. Also I want to go to cool places to get unique shots.
Okay, the second reason really is the important part here :P
Being fairly short, I think I've always been fascinated by being in high places. Seriously though, in the last year or so I've learned to appreciate the sense of accomplishment of seeing somewhere you don't immediately think you'll be able to reach, but when you solve the puzzle and haul yourself up there, it's such a physical and mental reward!
I can't do that in the natural environment, and would like to know how. I know Utah is a mecca of rockclimbing but 'd never try such a thing without trusted instructors coaching me.
Also, slacklining is new to me but the idea of being able to overcome the mental block of something so emotionally daunting is very high on my list.
Your first in my book Schmooo
Overcoming that mental block will definitely be something we will work on. If you don't have that opportunity to push that mental block some then we didn't show up in Moab!
leaforte that looks like a good hike / climb! Ive done that a few times myself and had that "what on earth am I doing here?" feeling. Its a great day when we make it back down alive and realize we should never do that again (although we probably will). Its great we have all levels here of experience and I look forward to meeting you on the trip!
anwmn1 - that is an excellent reason to come and join us for this. Its always more dangerous going alone places but if you are going to go alone its great to know how to get yourself in and out of places! Dropping into a canyon and knowing you can get yourself back out is a wonderful thing.
yukio - I am excited to have you in the group! Some of my favorite people to get out and enjoy the outdoors with are those who don't feel they get out often or feel their life is boring! Its always a different level of excitement to enjoy.
DoctorIt - We will get some climbing in...oh yes...we will!
zweiblumen - When you walk out on a highline you'll think the heights of climbing are suddenly not so high! Like John says "Once youve walked a highline you can do anything." Glad to have you in the group!!
What kind of cost are we talking about and how much gear? For those flying it could be difficult to bring gear back with them.
Did you two find anywhere to climb when you were in Chicago?
We climbed in Kentucky and John climbed at Devils Lake in Wisconson. I did some climbing in Iowa as well it was about a 3 hour drive I think. Let me know if you want anymore info I didn't find anywhere in the direct vicinity of Chicago other then the Evanston Climbing Gym.
As for as costs go i have been assessing what the extra cost for this friendly endevour would be and its actually turned out really well. I am going to assess it a bit more before I announce the costs (suppose I should have thought of that first!) but it won't be much and the gear you would get to bring home would be a Gri-Gri (belay Device), Helmet, Harness, and perhaps a portion of Static rope for your own home use and practice. In all this would probably fit into a nice backpack.
Alright, time for a QUICK word on setting up a slackline, so everyone who is interested in perhaps walking the highline can have PLENTY of time to get started. Like Kelsey says, if you can't walk a slackline on the ground, you're gonna have a bit of trouble when you take it up in the air. I've seen it tried though, and they did have tons of fun, so if that's enough for you, you won't be disappointed!
I'll keep this very basic for everyone interested, so if you try all this and decide to get more into it, the door will be open, but if you don't figure on going anywhere with slacklining, you won't be out a lot of money and have a bunch of useless gear.
For starters, the gear: For a basic setup, you'll need a length of 1" tubular nylon webbing somewhere around 100 feet long. This length will allow you to cut some off for anchor slings (I like about ten feet for my slings), and use the tail of the line itself as a tensioning system for short to medium length lines. Webbing is typically around 35 cents a foot these days and can be purchased at a lot of outdoor equipment stores. I personally like REI, cause it's a sure thing you'll find it there, but feel free to shop around and support your local guys too! You can also find it online at places like Gear Express (good people), REI online, and oddly enough even Amazon.com
Along with the webbing, you'll want to have at least three carabiners, which you should be able to find at most places that sell the webbing. Plain old symetrical oval biners are best due to their symetry, and also conveniently the cheapest. This is just enough gear for the most basic setup of a slackline. More carabiners are optional. I recommend four, and you may find you prefer to use as many as five or six, depending on how you like to rig your line.
For anchor slings, I like to use two ten foot sections of webbing. This will fit around most trees fairly well, although it'll be a bit short for bigger trunks. You can get that by canibalizing your length of slackline, or you can just buy extra when you purchase the webbing. To get a decent anchor, just take your webbing and tie a loop in each end with a bowline or an overhand. Click the links if you need knot lessons. Now you can wrap that around anything solid, and tie or clip your line to it.
To start rigging your line, first find two trees. As you get more into slacklining, you'll discover a wide variety of ways to rig and anchor your line, but for starters, trees are a no-brainer. Pick good thick ones, cause you'll be putting a good amount of force on them, and if you're of an environmental mindset or slacking in a public park, make yourself some "tree friendlies" to pad the trees and prevent damage to the bark. Tree friendlies can be as simple as a piece of cardboard or section of carpet, it just prevents the rubbing of the line from leaving permanent marks on the bark.
Anchor one end of your line to one tree. Just wrap your anchor sling around it, and either clip or tie your line to both loops. If you have tree friendlies, slip one between the webbing and the tree. If you only have three carabiners, don't use one here, you'll need them later. If you tie the line to the anchor sling, use a bowline to make it slightly easier to untie. Height will vary depending on your preference, the length of the line, and how tight you can get it, so start with waist-high and go from there.
At your other anchor, rig the anchor the same but don't attach the line just yet. Now comes the tricky part of rigging. You have to STRETCH a slackline a good amount in order to get it tight enough to walk, so you need to rig a mechanical advantage to pull hard enough. So either measure, pace, or eyeball your line, and subtract about 1/5th of the entire length from the end that's not anchored, and grab the webbing right there. It's not SUPER important to get the distance exact, but it may take you a time or two to get good at judging how much slack to take up.
At the point you just grabbed, attach two of your carabiners with a Clove Hitch. One carabiner will not be used, it's really only there to make the hitch undoable when taking the line down, but it IS important to not use just one biner in a clove hitch on a line. I've spent hours at a time trying to unlock clove hitches in the past.
Situate one carabiner to pull toward the anchor, and the other to just be out of the way, perhaps sideways so the spine (not the gate) is in the hitch. Then tighten your clove down.
Now clip your anchor sling with a carabiner, and clip your tail end of webbing through that, leaving the other two biners on the line. Then bring the tail back, and run it through the carabiner in the clove hitch. Then run the tail back to the anchor and pass it through again, arranging everything so the webbing lays flat with no twists, and each subsequent wrap lays UNDER the wrap before it, in a sort of spiral. Wrap your webbing through each biner three times, until you have three layers on each biner and your tail end comes from the bottom layer on the biner in the clove hitch. When rigged correctly, this system will allow you to get all your friends over to yard away on the tail and tension the line, and when you let go, it will automatically lock off and hold the tension with no knots or slipping! This is called the "Ellington" system, after its inventor Jeff Ellington, one of the pioneers of slackline, for those interested in trivia.
It may take some mental work to get it, and some time to make it work in action, so to help you out, here's a picture of a tensioned Ellington:
If ALL of this is done, you should have a slackline. It may not be perfect the first time, but be patient, and you'll soon work all the kinks out of your system and be able to rig one in minutes and be walking.
To de-rig, take your tail end and pull hard AWAY from the tree, and it should slip out from under the wraps above it and lose friction. You may have to do this a couple times, once for each wrap, but it'll come undone with little trouble. Then coil up your line, grab your slings, and go rig another day, somewhere else.
So that's rigging. As for WALKING a slackline, my only tips are that ANYONE can do it, and all it takes is practice and patience. And NO excuses! I've seen a 300 pound man walk highlines, I've seen a girl with her ankle in a cast WIN a slacklining competition, and I've seen couch potatos with no finesse and a low level of fitness doing frontflip dismounts from the line! My best advice is to rig a line and LEAVE it rigged in your yard somewhere, and that way whenever you have a dull moment you can step outside and work a few minutes, and just keep getting better.
If you can walk across a lowline, you can walk across a highline. The challenge at that point will be breaking the limits in your mind! I hope to see some of you make it all the way across, so get practicing now!
For more slacklining resources, you can shoot me a PM if you'd like, or check out these sites, all of which are run by friends of mine whom I have slacked and highlined with. They're all great people who are more than happy to help spread information about slacklining. http://www.slackline.com - Slackline gear and forums where slackers hang out, pretty much everything you'll ever need if you get more into slacklining. http://www.slackline.net/store.html - Scott Balcom's site for his personally engineered and built slackline gear. His home page seems to be down, not sure why that is... http://www.slacklineexpress.com - Another good source for slackline tools. Joe is quite a friendly guy, always willing to help you get slacking.
Thanks for the rig info and links about the slacklining. Any chance of getting a shopping list for gear to bring in October, for those of us that want to pick up pieces a little at a time over the next year. I get most of my outdoor gear /clothing at REI here in Bellingham, and wouldn't mind having a shopping list so I can watch for their sales, and build on that annual REI dividend check!
Heres a list of things you could bring yourself. Although I am working on getting this stuff at a reallllly good price so unless you see these items for around the price I'll list then I would hold off.
Climbing Shoes - If you want to buy something start with these. Anything that fits comfortable like a sock. I won't be able to get any deals on these so look for the sales on them.
Climbing Harness - $40
Climbing Helmet (bike helmets or others do not work as subsitutes) - $35
Gri-Gri belay device - I would just hold off on this.
Caribiners - Large locking caribiner, atleast 1 or two.
Wow, lots of clear and easy to understand info. John, for those of us whose backyards are tree-challenged, what do you suggest for anchor points? In my case, I have 6-ft high cinder block walls on both sides of the house. I can go to a public park to rig up a line and practice, but like you said, it's better to have one set up in my yard so I can practice more frequently.
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
Wow, lots of clear and easy to understand info. John, for those of us whose backyards are tree-challenged, what do you suggest for anchor points? In my case, I have 6-ft high cinder block walls on both sides of the house. I can go to a public park to rig up a line and practice, but like you said, it's better to have one set up in my yard so I can practice more frequently.
If you can take pictures of your yard and post them in here. We'll try and come up with something.
If you can take pictures of your yard and post them in here. We'll try and come up with something.
On the north side of my back yard there's a pear tree with 6-in diameter trunk. It's a potential anchor point. However, on the opposite wall on the south side there's no tree for anchor point. Also, using the pear tree would expose the webbing to water from the sprinklers. It might be better if I use some 2x4's and build the anchor points utilizing the side walls and the patio columns (see #6 and #7). That would give me 40 feet of slackline to practice with the protection of the patio cover. What do you think?
Cuong
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
So I've been thinking. What does it feel like the first time you fall from a highline? I was checking your site Kelsey and found this photo with a great description. How long were you slacklining before you felt comfortable enough to highline?
On the north side of my back yard there's a pear tree with 6-in diameter trunk. It's a potential anchor point. However, on the opposite wall on the south side there's no tree for anchor point. Also, using the pear tree would expose the webbing to water from the sprinklers. It might be better if I use some 2x4's and build the anchor points utilizing the side walls and the patio columns (see #6 and #7). That would give me 40 feet of slackline to practice with the protection of the patio cover. What do you think?
Hmm, that's a beautiful yard, but it could be tough. What you can do is build a set of A-frames to elevate the line, and anchor the ends directly into the ground, but this gets pretty complicated. The advantage is you can do it with very little effect on to the environment, but you might need a willing hand to help engineer, build, and rig it all.
You could anchor off the base of your patio pilings, it looks like, and run the line up over an A-frame and across the yard to another A-frame and an anchor at the base of the metal fence, depending on how solid those anchors are. Anchoring down low and using an A-frame in that setup would help reduce the leverage, and therefore the load, on the vertical posts. Your patio certainly looks strong enough, my only doubts arise with the fence. If it's made solid, it should be good, but if it's an ornamental fence, I'd be leery.
As to your 2x4 bracing idea, it would work, but a 2x4 won't be strong enough. A 4x4 probably would, but I'd want to anchor one side close to the patio post and the other side close to the house wall just to optimize leverage. This method will also take more resources, and would probably be quite unkind to the walls of your house, especially with windows so close to the corner you'd be bracing against. I wouldn't do that, myself.
As for A-frames, there's a lot of variety in the ones I've seen. The basic idea is a triangle that will take a serious downward load. My preference for portability reasons is two four-foot 2x4s with 45 degree angles on one end, and a 1-inch hole in the other end. I place a 1-inch wooden dowel rod through that hole and I have a frame, and then I wrap my anchor webbing in a manner that pulls the boards together instead of torquing them, and I have a loop on one side to clip the line to while the other side goes down and anchors into the ground. Advantages are ease of transport primarily, and it gets the job done. One design modification I'd do if I had the drive for it is to tie a keeper across the bottom near the low ends to prevent them from spreading farther under weight, cause in really soft ground they won't stay up.
One friend of mine has a 2x4 triangle frame covered on both sides with plywood. The top of the triangle is squared off and has a bar built in to wrap the webbing around and hold it tight. It's more of a heavy duty setup than mine. Feel free to get creative!
As for anchoring into the ground, my preference simply beacuse I'm cheap is four thick rebar stakes, bent into a J and pounded in behind the anchor, and then webbing equalizing all four stakes and extending up over the A-frame to the line. More or less rebar may be required depending on your ground, or you can use bigger and better stakes as well. I drive my stakes in at an angle close to perpendicular to the direction of pull. Sorry I don't have pics of this, but ask away for clarification!
Here's some shots of a slackline me and Kelsey set up on the frozen surface of Westchester Lagoon, in Anchorage. These shots are Kelsey's.
So I've been thinking. What does it feel like the first time you fall from a highline? I was checking your site Kelsey and found this photo with a great description. How long were you slacklining before you felt comfortable enough to highline?
I've still never taken a leash fall myself, so I don't know firsthand what that's like, but I can tell you that walking a highline is still mind-blowing to me, and when I fall and catch the line, it's really kind of a sense of "well that wasn't so bad... why am I so terrified of it?" It actually helps a lot to MAKE yourself take two steps out and fall, just to ease your mind a little bit. If you spend a day or two working a line though, and taking a lot of falls, you definitely start to feel the work involved. I usually get the backs of my knees rubbed pretty raw from using them in catching.
As far as comfort, I'm not sure if I even am comfortable... lol. My first time, I got a chance to join some highliners in Smith Rock after a year and change of slacklining, and took it. It's still a crazy mind-job to step out over open air, but it does get easier with experience for sure!
When I first learned to climb, we did harnessed falls (chest too). It's an
experience the first time through but once you build confidence in the
gear to do it's job, it's really no big deal.
As for what it feels like to fall, well. You fall and then you stop. Abruptly
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
So I've been thinking. What does it feel like the first time you fall from a highline? I was checking your site Kelsey and found this photo with a great description. How long were you slacklining before you felt comfortable enough to highline?
Honestly, I'm still not comfortable I have yet to actually walk a highline all the way across although I fully plan to months before we all meet! Its tuff just stepping onto it. Walking onto a highline is much harder then pulling that next hold on the wall. Fallings the easy part.
Honestly, I'm still not comfortable I have yet to actually walk a highline all the way across although I fully plan to months before we all meet! Its tuff just stepping onto it. Walking onto a highline is much harder then pulling that next hold on the wall. Fallings the easy part.
I have a friend who worked something like eight years before he finally walked his first highline, although certainly not for lack of trying! I've also seen people walk them first try. I'm somewhere in between.
I have a friend who worked something like eight years before he finally walked his first highline, although certainly not for lack of trying! I've also seen people walk them first try. I'm somewhere in between.
Hmmm. Can't say I've ever hit the ground but for males...well, you get the
idea
Ive been dropped to the ground twice and fell onto my back once from 20 some odd feet when my Petzl Stop and Shunt didn't work because acid had made them all slickery. Sometimes it hurts...sometimes it just makes your back feel better!
My freind dropped me because we didn't know a few important things and were newbies!
About the A frames make sure that when you set them up you wrap around the peg in the middle correctly or else it will bust the peg. I have a picture of that I'll look for later!
Comments
Being fairly short, I think I've always been fascinated by being in high places.
I can't do that in the natural environment, and would like to know how. I know Utah is a mecca of rockclimbing but 'd never try such a thing without trusted instructors coaching me.
Also, slacklining is new to me but the idea of being able to overcome the mental block of something so emotionally daunting is very high on my list.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Guye Peak, Snoqualmie Pass, Washington
EDIT: Oh yeah, and make new friends, hear new stories, learn new things, and see new places!
Hanging off the side of a cliff to get a unique perspective, repelling into a cavern to see whats there and get shots looking down and up.
When I am hiking/photographing the remote areas of Arizona that I do- I often have to stop because it is unsafe to continue any further without ropes. I hoping I can learn how to safely navigate such areas.
It should be a fun time and a very internal growth experience for many of us!!
Aaron Newman
Website:www.CapturingLightandEmotion.com
Facebook: Capturing Light and Emotion
I'm always amazed at how people can crawl up sheer rock walls. I would like to try some easy climbing, slacklining, highlining and come back in one piece.
Cuong
But most of all, after reading all your posts and seeing all your climbing photos, I just wanna hang out and do some climbing with you and John!
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
Oh yeah, that too! But I thought we were being technical here.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
The older I get, the more afraid of heights I become. I've been working for the past several months to over come it. Usually I can buckle down and just cope with it, go out onto something that I know is "safe" and come back. But sometimes I freak out while I'm up there and have to make a bee-line back to something stable. High buildings and airplanes don't bother me. When I was teenager I did some rock climbing, not much, but a bit and I never had a problem with the height.
With that background, I'm interested in testing myself in a safe environment. Also I want to go to cool places to get unique shots.
Okay, the second reason really is the important part here :P
Your first in my book Schmooo
Overcoming that mental block will definitely be something we will work on. If you don't have that opportunity to push that mental block some then we didn't show up in Moab!
leaforte that looks like a good hike / climb! Ive done that a few times myself and had that "what on earth am I doing here?" feeling. Its a great day when we make it back down alive and realize we should never do that again (although we probably will). Its great we have all levels here of experience and I look forward to meeting you on the trip!
anwmn1 - that is an excellent reason to come and join us for this. Its always more dangerous going alone places but if you are going to go alone its great to know how to get yourself in and out of places! Dropping into a canyon and knowing you can get yourself back out is a wonderful thing.
yukio - I am excited to have you in the group! Some of my favorite people to get out and enjoy the outdoors with are those who don't feel they get out often or feel their life is boring! Its always a different level of excitement to enjoy.
DoctorIt - We will get some climbing in...oh yes...we will!
zweiblumen - When you walk out on a highline you'll think the heights of climbing are suddenly not so high! Like John says "Once youve walked a highline you can do anything." Glad to have you in the group!!
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
Who wants to purchase their gear and who wants to rent? I can get gear at super prices so if you think you'll want to keep your gear nows the time!
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
Did you two find anywhere to climb when you were in Chicago?
SmugMug Technical Account Manager
Travel = good. Woo, shooting!
nickwphoto
We climbed in Kentucky and John climbed at Devils Lake in Wisconson. I did some climbing in Iowa as well it was about a 3 hour drive I think. Let me know if you want anymore info
As for as costs go i have been assessing what the extra cost for this friendly endevour would be and its actually turned out really well. I am going to assess it a bit more before I announce the costs (suppose I should have thought of that first!) but it won't be much and the gear you would get to bring home would be a Gri-Gri (belay Device), Helmet, Harness, and perhaps a portion of Static rope for your own home use and practice. In all this would probably fit into a nice backpack.
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
Now if that gear will fit in my Dryzone 200 backpack with my camera gear than we are talking!!
Aaron Newman
Website:www.CapturingLightandEmotion.com
Facebook: Capturing Light and Emotion
I'll keep this very basic for everyone interested, so if you try all this and decide to get more into it, the door will be open, but if you don't figure on going anywhere with slacklining, you won't be out a lot of money and have a bunch of useless gear.
For starters, the gear: For a basic setup, you'll need a length of 1" tubular nylon webbing somewhere around 100 feet long. This length will allow you to cut some off for anchor slings (I like about ten feet for my slings), and use the tail of the line itself as a tensioning system for short to medium length lines. Webbing is typically around 35 cents a foot these days and can be purchased at a lot of outdoor equipment stores. I personally like REI, cause it's a sure thing you'll find it there, but feel free to shop around and support your local guys too! You can also find it online at places like Gear Express (good people), REI online, and oddly enough even Amazon.com
Along with the webbing, you'll want to have at least three carabiners, which you should be able to find at most places that sell the webbing. Plain old symetrical oval biners are best due to their symetry, and also conveniently the cheapest.
For anchor slings, I like to use two ten foot sections of webbing. This will fit around most trees fairly well, although it'll be a bit short for bigger trunks. You can get that by canibalizing your length of slackline, or you can just buy extra when you purchase the webbing. To get a decent anchor, just take your webbing and tie a loop in each end with a bowline or an overhand. Click the links if you need knot lessons.
To start rigging your line, first find two trees. As you get more into slacklining, you'll discover a wide variety of ways to rig and anchor your line, but for starters, trees are a no-brainer. Pick good thick ones, cause you'll be putting a good amount of force on them, and if you're of an environmental mindset or slacking in a public park, make yourself some "tree friendlies" to pad the trees and prevent damage to the bark. Tree friendlies can be as simple as a piece of cardboard or section of carpet, it just prevents the rubbing of the line from leaving permanent marks on the bark.
Anchor one end of your line to one tree. Just wrap your anchor sling around it, and either clip or tie your line to both loops. If you have tree friendlies, slip one between the webbing and the tree. If you only have three carabiners, don't use one here, you'll need them later. If you tie the line to the anchor sling, use a bowline to make it slightly easier to untie. Height will vary depending on your preference, the length of the line, and how tight you can get it, so start with waist-high and go from there.
At your other anchor, rig the anchor the same but don't attach the line just yet. Now comes the tricky part of rigging. You have to STRETCH a slackline a good amount in order to get it tight enough to walk, so you need to rig a mechanical advantage to pull hard enough. So either measure, pace, or eyeball your line, and subtract about 1/5th of the entire length from the end that's not anchored, and grab the webbing right there. It's not SUPER important to get the distance exact, but it may take you a time or two to get good at judging how much slack to take up.
At the point you just grabbed, attach two of your carabiners with a Clove Hitch. One carabiner will not be used, it's really only there to make the hitch undoable when taking the line down, but it IS important to not use just one biner in a clove hitch on a line. I've spent hours at a time trying to unlock clove hitches in the past.
Situate one carabiner to pull toward the anchor, and the other to just be out of the way, perhaps sideways so the spine (not the gate) is in the hitch. Then tighten your clove down.
Now clip your anchor sling with a carabiner, and clip your tail end of webbing through that, leaving the other two biners on the line. Then bring the tail back, and run it through the carabiner in the clove hitch. Then run the tail back to the anchor and pass it through again, arranging everything so the webbing lays flat with no twists, and each subsequent wrap lays UNDER the wrap before it, in a sort of spiral. Wrap your webbing through each biner three times, until you have three layers on each biner and your tail end comes from the bottom layer on the biner in the clove hitch. When rigged correctly, this system will allow you to get all your friends over to yard away on the tail and tension the line, and when you let go, it will automatically lock off and hold the tension with no knots or slipping!
It may take some mental work to get it, and some time to make it work in action, so to help you out, here's a picture of a tensioned Ellington:
If ALL of this is done, you should have a slackline. It may not be perfect the first time, but be patient, and you'll soon work all the kinks out of your system and be able to rig one in minutes and be walking.
To de-rig, take your tail end and pull hard AWAY from the tree, and it should slip out from under the wraps above it and lose friction. You may have to do this a couple times, once for each wrap, but it'll come undone with little trouble. Then coil up your line, grab your slings, and go rig another day, somewhere else.
So that's rigging. As for WALKING a slackline, my only tips are that ANYONE can do it, and all it takes is practice and patience. And NO excuses! I've seen a 300 pound man walk highlines, I've seen a girl with her ankle in a cast WIN a slacklining competition, and I've seen couch potatos with no finesse and a low level of fitness doing frontflip dismounts from the line! My best advice is to rig a line and LEAVE it rigged in your yard somewhere, and that way whenever you have a dull moment you can step outside and work a few minutes, and just keep getting better.
If you can walk across a lowline, you can walk across a highline. The challenge at that point will be breaking the limits in your mind! I hope to see some of you make it all the way across, so get practicing now!
For more slacklining resources, you can shoot me a PM if you'd like, or check out these sites, all of which are run by friends of mine whom I have slacked and highlined with. They're all great people who are more than happy to help spread information about slacklining.
http://www.slackline.com - Slackline gear and forums where slackers hang out, pretty much everything you'll ever need if you get more into slacklining.
http://www.slackline.net/store.html - Scott Balcom's site for his personally engineered and built slackline gear. His home page seems to be down, not sure why that is...
http://www.slacklineexpress.com - Another good source for slackline tools. Joe is quite a friendly guy, always willing to help you get slacking.
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Climbing Shoes - If you want to buy something start with these. Anything that fits comfortable like a sock. I won't be able to get any deals on these so look for the sales on them.
Climbing Harness - $40
Climbing Helmet (bike helmets or others do not work as subsitutes) - $35
Gri-Gri belay device - I would just hold off on this.
Caribiners - Large locking caribiner, atleast 1 or two.
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If you can take pictures of your yard and post them in here. We'll try and come up with something.
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On the north side of my back yard there's a pear tree with 6-in diameter trunk. It's a potential anchor point. However, on the opposite wall on the south side there's no tree for anchor point. Also, using the pear tree would expose the webbing to water from the sprinklers. It might be better if I use some 2x4's and build the anchor points utilizing the side walls and the patio columns (see #6 and #7). That would give me 40 feet of slackline to practice with the protection of the patio cover. What do you think?
Cuong
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SmugMug Technical Account Manager
Travel = good. Woo, shooting!
nickwphoto
You could anchor off the base of your patio pilings, it looks like, and run the line up over an A-frame and across the yard to another A-frame and an anchor at the base of the metal fence, depending on how solid those anchors are. Anchoring down low and using an A-frame in that setup would help reduce the leverage, and therefore the load, on the vertical posts. Your patio certainly looks strong enough, my only doubts arise with the fence. If it's made solid, it should be good, but if it's an ornamental fence, I'd be leery.
As to your 2x4 bracing idea, it would work, but a 2x4 won't be strong enough. A 4x4 probably would, but I'd want to anchor one side close to the patio post and the other side close to the house wall just to optimize leverage. This method will also take more resources, and would probably be quite unkind to the walls of your house, especially with windows so close to the corner you'd be bracing against. I wouldn't do that, myself.
As for A-frames, there's a lot of variety in the ones I've seen. The basic idea is a triangle that will take a serious downward load. My preference for portability reasons is two four-foot 2x4s with 45 degree angles on one end, and a 1-inch hole in the other end. I place a 1-inch wooden dowel rod through that hole and I have a frame, and then I wrap my anchor webbing in a manner that pulls the boards together instead of torquing them, and I have a loop on one side to clip the line to while the other side goes down and anchors into the ground. Advantages are ease of transport primarily, and it gets the job done. One design modification I'd do if I had the drive for it is to tie a keeper across the bottom near the low ends to prevent them from spreading farther under weight, cause in really soft ground they won't stay up.
One friend of mine has a 2x4 triangle frame covered on both sides with plywood. The top of the triangle is squared off and has a bar built in to wrap the webbing around and hold it tight. It's more of a heavy duty setup than mine. Feel free to get creative!
As for anchoring into the ground, my preference simply beacuse I'm cheap is four thick rebar stakes, bent into a J and pounded in behind the anchor, and then webbing equalizing all four stakes and extending up over the A-frame to the line. More or less rebar may be required depending on your ground, or you can use bigger and better stakes as well. I drive my stakes in at an angle close to perpendicular to the direction of pull. Sorry I don't have pics of this, but ask away for clarification!
Here's some shots of a slackline me and Kelsey set up on the frozen surface of Westchester Lagoon, in Anchorage. These shots are Kelsey's.
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I've still never taken a leash fall myself, so I don't know firsthand what that's like, but I can tell you that walking a highline is still mind-blowing to me, and when I fall and catch the line, it's really kind of a sense of "well that wasn't so bad... why am I so terrified of it?" It actually helps a lot to MAKE yourself take two steps out and fall, just to ease your mind a little bit. If you spend a day or two working a line though, and taking a lot of falls, you definitely start to feel the work involved.
As far as comfort, I'm not sure if I even am comfortable... lol. My first time, I got a chance to join some highliners in Smith Rock after a year and change of slacklining, and took it. It's still a crazy mind-job to step out over open air, but it does get easier with experience for sure!
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experience the first time through but once you build confidence in the
gear to do it's job, it's really no big deal.
As for what it feels like to fall, well. You fall and then you stop. Abruptly
Honestly, I'm still not comfortable I have yet to actually walk a highline all the way across although I fully plan to months before we all meet!
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I have a friend who worked something like eight years before he finally walked his first highline, although certainly not for lack of trying! I've also seen people walk them first try. I'm somewhere in between.
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SmugMug Technical Account Manager
Travel = good. Woo, shooting!
nickwphoto
John, I think the A frames and ground stakes suggestion would be perfect for my set up.
Cuong
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Hmmm. Can't say I've ever hit the ground but for males...well, you get the
idea
Ive been dropped to the ground twice and fell onto my back once from 20 some odd feet when my Petzl Stop and Shunt didn't work because acid had made them all slickery. Sometimes it hurts...sometimes it just makes your back feel better!
My freind dropped me because we didn't know a few important things and were newbies!
About the A frames make sure that when you set them up you wrap around the peg in the middle correctly or else it will bust the peg. I have a picture of that I'll look for later!
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