Imagine you're standing hundreds of feet in the air. Then imagine your task is to walk from one end of a length of wire to the other – except the wire you’re walking on is loosened to the point you’re almost bouncing. That is the task of a slackliner.
Mercifully, when operating at these significant heights, slackliners wear harnesses attached to wires that ensure they do not fall from the dizzying heights at which they frequently perform. This safety measure is a boon that not many extreme sports can boast – and it's paramount to increasing the popularity of slacklining.
Like many of its contemporaries in the world of extreme sports, slacklining has enjoyed a significant recent rise in popularity since it first emerged from the rock climbing scene at Yosemite National Park in the late 1970’s.
For some this is a positive that must continue. Mickey Wilson, a Red Bull Baylines and Airlines champion in 2015, is keen for this trend to carry on. "I want to make slacklining way more known throughout the world. I think it's just a matter of putting it in front of people's eyes. Right now, slacklining needs to get on TV like ESPN," he said.
Jerry Miszewski, a 10-year slackline veteran, has an alternative point of view. He said: "I like the pace at which slacklining has grown over the past 10 years that I've been involved with it. I am unsure how I feel about taking the sport to the mainstream. At the moment, you can still interact with a large percentage of the slackliners around the world. If the sport went mainstream, I feel some of the magic would be lost. There is something about being a part of a tightly knit community that makes me quite happy."
It's a problem that all new sports have to face. It’s something that has frustrated long-time mixed martial arts fans in recent years, as their bandwagon has been jumped upon by more fickle viewers. However more exposure leads to increased participation and fresh competitors, and slacklining is a sport that thrives upon competition.
The sport’s simplicity allows for constant innovation – it can be performed anywhere a wire can be attached to two anchors – and participants are always seeking to successfully cross lines that are higher and longer than those that have come before. The highest recorded slackline was by Christian Schou in Norway in 2006, a height of 1000 m (3281 ft.), while the longest was a distance of 610 m (2000 ft.) set by Alexander Schulz in 2015, completed in Mongolia.
Slacklining's evolution has seen it embraced by the extreme sports enthusiasts at Red Bull, who host the aforementioned Baylines and Airlines competitions where slackliners from around the world converge not just to balance their way across slacklines – but to perform acrobatics on them too.
Their Slackship competition last year took that form of slacklining to a whole new level, with athletes bouncing and flipping their way along wires criss-crossed around an old-fashioned sailboat. The margin for error in that environment is so finite that they must maintain their concentration at all times - it’s not easy, that’s for sure.
So why would these athletes decide to partake in a challenge far more difficult than typical highlining? Miszewski believes the answer lies in the question. He said: "The difficulty [is what attracted him to it]. I couldn't do it at all and I hated that. It's a very clear goal oriented sport and having that clear goal of walking across the line is what drew me in."
Nathan Paulin, who holds numerous slacklining world records, concurs: “Mentally it's really hard, it's a constant fight. You have to trust in you and never give up. There is no danger but you have to convince yourself that it's safe,” he said.
Tauri Vahesaar, a runner up at Slackship last year, is on the opposite end of the spectrum. He said: "Everybody can be successful in slackline because it only requires you to give it a try and stop fighting but go with a flow. So it really helps you to calm down and it is like yoga which everybody can do. Good qualities [to have] are some acrobatics, yoga background to get balance faster."
Vahesaar is part of that new breed of slackliners whose goal is not merely to cross the wire successfully but to perform tricks and acrobatics while maintaining their balance throughout. In fact he is attempting to incorporate aspects of parkour, free running and gymnastics into the sport of slacklining.
This innovation is even more impressive in a sport where the athletes must be constantly alert. One slip in concentration and the hundreds of metres of wire walked will have been for naught. With a potential mistake being so costly, what, then, are these slackliners thinking before and during a slackline?
Miszewski said: "Slacklining has become second nature for me. Other than my ritual of tying in to the highline, there isn't much going through my head. I tend to remember all the lessons I've learned from past lines right before stepping on, but I have found the less I think, the better I walk."
Wilson's view is slightly different: “Immediately before slacklining your head is the busiest. You could be thinking about all sorts of things from the upcoming slack sesh to totally unrelated life things. Once you step onto the line though, your mind gets incredibly clear and your focus sharpens and suddenly you're not thinking at all, just being present on the slackline.”
The growth of the sport has been rapid, and with organisations like Red Bull as its patron it will continue to do so. Miszewski is looking forward to playing his part in the ongoing development of slacklining: “I will continue to develop new gear and webbing to further optimize the sport. I also love empowering slackline communities around the globe. I want to continue my efforts in growing the slackline scene in South America as well as other parts of the world.”
The safety of slacklining marks it out as unique in the world of extreme sports and gives it an added sense of legitimacy that should see it continue its ascent into mainstream consciousness. The dedication of men like Wilson, Miszewski, Paulin and Vahesaar can only help accelerate that goal.
