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Watch the video and read the original article at CBC.ca

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/highlining-takes-adventure-to-daring-new-heights-1.2877917

By Greg Rasmussen, CBC News Posted: Dec 31, 2014

Below is a copy of the original article

[/fusion_text][fusion_separator style_type=”single solid” top_margin=”” bottom_margin=”20″ sep_color=”” icon=”” width=”” class=”” id=””/][fusion_text]After a two-hour hike in Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, Brent Plumley looks out over a sheer drop, estimating it’s about 275 metres down to the rocks below.

In case of a fall, it would be “long enough to think before you hit the ground,” he says with a laugh.

Plumley is part of a crew of people who routinely gather to practise highlining, a sport that takes the lofty altitude of tightrope walking, throws in the up-and-down bounce of trampolining and adds the side-to-side action of slalom skiing.

If you have a fear of heights, highlining is definitely not for you.

The basic premise is to take a piece of nylon webbing a couple of centimetres wide and string it between two points. In Plumley’s case, the line runs over a rocky gorge high in the mountains of British Columbia.

Plumley and his crew secure ropes and nylon webbing to a series of anchors drilled into the rock. Although it looks somewhat flimsy, they make sure there’s lots of redundancy, with extra anchors and a safety line.

But even a seasoned highliner like Plumley can be given to second thoughts, especially on a blustery December day.

He says that every time he steps out onto the line, “my heart sinks, my hands shake. It takes that getting over it, and the more you do it, the more comfortable you get and the more fun you start having.”

Alongside Plumley on this day is Spencer Seabrooke, one of Canada’s most accomplished highliners, who acknowledges that he and the crew “might be of a specific mindset,” but insists “none of us are crazy.”

Looking down at the rocks below, an observer might beg to differ.

Seabrooke says there’s a simple guideline.

“The one rule of highlining is, ‘No dying.’ Here we just say, ‘Don’t die.’”

Roots of the sport

Highlining — and its lower-altitude version, slacklining — started in the Yosemite Valley in California.

Seabrooke says it was created by bored rock climbers messing around with their gear and creating impromptu tightropes.

“It really is just a bunch of hippie rock climbers and dirt bags just committed to living life to the fullest.”

Seabrooke and his fellow highliners are hoping to spread the thrill of this sport to others. They routinely stage demos and welcome newcomers.

Krista Cawley is still learning the ropes, so to speak. She started highlining several months ago, and claims it has a zen-like quality.

“It teaches me things about myself. It’s oftentimes scary and just to get out on the line and experience something new, walk, take a step, you know, fall down, pull yourself up again — it’s been really rewarding, a cool process.”

Highliners are typically roped in with a safety harness, but Seabrooke pushes things further than most. If conditions are right, he walks the lines without a safety harness — meaning that if he falls, he dies.

His one last hope in the event of trouble is to do a controlled fall, grabbing the line on his way down to avoid tumbling into the rocky void.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

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Highliners from across North America gather in Squamish to tackle The Chief

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Read the original article at SquamishChief.com

http://www.squamishchief.com/lifestyles/walk-the-line-1.1321176

By Drew Copland, The Squamish Chief Posted: Aug 20, 2014

Below is a copy from of the original article

[/fusion_text][fusion_separator style_type=”single solid” top_margin=”” bottom_margin=”20″ sep_color=”” icon=”” width=”” class=”” id=””/][fusion_text]Hoots of encouragement and support echoed as participants in the second annual Assault On The Chief attempted to highline across the gully.

People from as far away as California and Montréal gathered at the North Gullies of the Stawamus Chief on Saturday, Aug. 16, their common cause: to traverse the 30-plus metre gap between the two peaks via inch-wide, nylon webbing. Though the slackliners were tethered, the drop to the net below was a lofty 100 metres, making for exhilarating experiences.  

Martin Lafontaine, who drove from Fort McMurray, Alta to attend, has been slacklining for 10 months. He learned in the Stewart Canyon, near Banff. This is his first time in Squamish and the first highline he’s ever walked successfully. 

Lafontaine quivered with excitement and adrenaline from his success on the line 

“[I’m] pretty psyched. I’m going to Smith Rocks during the first week of September for the festival there. And then there’s Utah in November. 

“It’s because of [event organizers Brent Plumley and Spencer Seabrooke] putting up the gear, encouraging and pushing you.”

The group of excited slackers came together around the impetus of the Slacklife BC.

Plumley and Seabrooke went to high school together in Ontario. These days, they just can’t seem to fit in enough slacklining so they created Slacklife BC, and started to organize and promote various highline events.

Plumley said the festival is growing. 

“Last year, there were six people walking on the lines. It was really just a nice weekend and it was like, let’s rig two lines here and one on the South Gully the next day. As soon as we were taking down the gear, it was like… ‘So, next year?’”
Last weekend 100 people came to check out the highlines, half of which walked – attempted to.
For Plumley, summers are all about slacklining. After this event he said there are several more taking place elsewhere he plans to attend.

“There’s the Smith Rocks Highline Festival, so we’ll be down there. Two weeks later, we’re spending a week and a half in Yosemite and we’re just going bang off a bunch of lines there. Like last summer, I had every week booked before it even began. Busy, busy.”

In total there are five lines atop The Chief – three across the North Gully (between the second and third peaks) and two at the North-North Gully (between the third peak and the Zodiac Summit).
For redundancy, each line is comprised of two lengths of webbing and rigged one on top of the other. The lines are fixed to the granite on either end with four, half-inch bolts or five, 3/8 inch bolts and the load is equalized between all of those points. 

When walking across the lines, the slackliners are visible from the ground as floating black dots.

Robyn Jenkins has been slacklining for a year. She’s walked these highlines and on a previous occasion swung on a giant swing set up in the gully. She says that the appeal is in feeling progression. “Every time you do it, you get better and stronger.”

“It’s cool because it brings people from all over the place together with a similar interest. It’s not just highlining. It includes a big hike up to the top, then rigging, highlining, de-rigging and going back down again,” said Jenkins. “It’s a whole experience.”

– See more at: http://www.squamishchief.com/lifestyles/walk-the-line-1.1321176#sthash.VNJNKEUg.dpuf[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]