Early in the 1980s, a couple of climbers in the Yosemite Valley decided to stretch a line of webbing a few feet off the ground between two anchors and walk across it, tightrope style.
Thus, slacklining was born. A form of tightrope walking, slacklining uses a more elastic line that stretches and bounces, at times feeling more like a trampoline than a tightrope.
Back in 2009, a friend of mine introduced me to the sport, showing me how to tie the lines and use knots and a lot of tugging to keep tension on the line so we could walk across. Despite what a pain it was to set up, we'd spend hours at Caldwell Park with a line between two trees. We'd hang out all afternoon, picnicking, taking shaky steps across the rope, and coercing other people to give it a try. It turns a day at the park into an adventure.
Read the rest of the article...
