Flipping slackers

July 29, 2024 6:47 AM

Did you know that slackliners/highliners have races and trick contests? Nor did I, until I happened upon the Laax Highline World Championship which ran in mid-July with some incredible feats of balance and agility! Click through for embedded videos of highlights, full contest videos, and lots of rules, stats and results.
posted by Dysk (2 comments total)

Slacklining:

Slacklining is walking, running or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors. Slacklining is similar to slack rope walking and tightrope walking. Slacklines differ from tightwires and tightropes in the type of material used and the amount of tension applied during use. Slacklines are tensioned significantly less than tightropes or tightwires in order to create a dynamic line which will stretch and bounce like a long and narrow trampoline. Tension can be adjusted to suit the user, and different webbing may be used in various circumstances.

Highlining:

Highlining is slacklining at an elevation above the ground or water. Many slackliners consider highlining to be the pinnacle of the sport. Highlines are commonly set up in locations that have been used or are still used for Tyrolean traverse. When rigging highlines, experienced slackers take measures to ensure that solid, redundant and equalized anchors are used to secure the line into position. Modern highline rigging typically entails a mainline of webbing, backup webbing, and either climbing rope or ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene rope for redundancy.

posted by genpfault at 8:27 AM on July 29

As someone who can barely walk along flat ground without tripping over my own feet, I am in absolute awe of anyone who can achieve such feats :-)
posted by dg at 11:09 PM on July 29