Slacklining and Me
Oct 7th, 2007 by Alex
Over the weekend I experienced slacklining for the first time. It isn’t particularly new among the climbing community, but I just found out about it recently. While a friend and I were unloading a few tons of pea gravel into a hole I was trying to explain it to him. It turns out he had all of the necessary supplies in his climbing bag. After we were done unloading we setup a small twelve foot slackline between two trees in his yard. We used 3/4″ webbing (a bit thinner than normal) and a mechanical advantage as described by this hilarious hippy dude. At first your balance is horrible and your legs spasm uncontrollably. You need help mounting the line and a hand to prevent falling. You fall a few seconds after getting up but then you just get up again and try again. Your legs firm up pretty quickly and soon you’re balancing for 30-40 seconds. Then you are mounting the line by yourself. Then you take a step or two. We were both amazed at our progression over the course of 20-30 minutes.
I’m hooked. I’ve worked on the wire before and have progressed through various rope courses, but this was different. It was simple. It was fun. It was addicting. Its something that I can work on whenever and wherever, so long as I can find to solid objects to attach to. I’m not a physician but I imagine it’ll help strengthen the core if not hone fine muscle control and balance. Despite what I thought, my calves were fine this morning.
