SLACKLINE
work. Leaver would go first, the two decided.
Strapping into a harness, Leaver laughed as he acknowledged that slacklining is an odd hobby for him, given his fear of heights.
“This is what I do for fun,” the East Side resident said. “Still don’t know why.”
Leaver and Vargas of Grandview Heights — the main forces behind the Columbus Slacklining group page on Facebook — proceeded to take turns attempting to balance and walk across the clearing on a line with significantly less tension than that of a balance beam or tightrope.
Their elevated line isn’t beginner-friendly, but plenty of other slackliners populate parks and college campuses throughout central Ohio on lines that rise only a few feet off the ground.
“It’s a great community,” Leaver said. “Not just in Columbus but just in general.”
Although rope walking has been around for thousands of years, the origins of modernday slacklining along a taut length of tubular nylon webbing are traced to the 1980s, when two Yosemite rock climbers, Adam Grosowsky and Jeff Ellington, strung up old climbing webbing between trees around their campsite. Regional practitioners say the activity is most popular in the West among rock climbers, who can easily repurpose their equipment to slackline wherever they can find two reliable rigging points.
But the sport is slowly growing in popularity in central Ohio, some slackliners say.
In Columbus, “slackers” often set up lines at Goodale and Scioto Audobon parks, the Oval at Ohio State University and other city and Metro parks.
The activity proved popular enough at Scioto Audobon, especially among those using the park’s climbing wall, that officials installed a 25-foot-long slackline last August for public use.
Park manager Dan Kaderly thinks it’s the only slackline at any of the 20 Metro Parks in central Ohio.
“It gets a lot of use,” Kaderly said. “At any time of day, you can find somebody at least trying it.”
Saturday and Sunday, the park is hosting the third annual Metro Parks Climbing Festival with Alex Vargas, a Grandview Heights resident, begins his slacklining attempt in a seated position ... ... slowly works his way to a standing position ... ... and, once standing, begins to cross the elevated line.
programming involving the slackline.
Ohio State also has a slackline at its Outdoor Adventure Center at 855 Woody Hayes Drive. The recreational site hosts regular slackline clinics for students, during which experts demonstrate how
to properly rig a line and to walk across it.
“It’s a lot more challenging than most people expect,” said Matt Hartman, assistant director of recreational sports, who oversees the Outdoor Adventure Center. “It’s definitely something everybody wants to try — they kind of look at it and are like, ‘What’s that?’”
Slackliners agree that the unusual hobby attracts the interest of passers-by. And most are happy to oblige a quick demonstration to anyone adventurous enough to give it a go.
“It’s sort of a spectacle,
said Hilltop resident Marston Bender, who has been slacklining for eight years. “You take up quite a big space having it up, so people are naturally curious.”
Compared with other balancing activities, slackliners say, a slackline’s material is more dynamic; its movements, more squirrelly and unpredictable.
Those who have mastered the line say it takes at least an hour to learn to balance in place for more than a few seconds. And beginners are likely to need days of practice to learn to walk a few paces.
“Its addicting because it seems so simple, but then you get on and fall off,” said 24-year-old Emily Johnson, a Franklinton resident who has been slacklining for about three years. “I just became obsessed with the idea of, ‘I want to complete this.’”
Bender, 28, had long been practicing yoga, parkour and rock climbing before his first slacklining attempt in 2010. Still, the challenge wasn’t what he was expecting.
“It just completely kicked my butt,” Bender said.
Eight years later, he can expertly walk, sit and balance on two hands on a slackline he built himself (using nylon webbing and carabiners) for less than $100.
Some slackliners, including Leaver, seek out thrills and confront their fears head-on, while others just enjoy the mindfulness that comes from wholly concentrating on a difficult task.
“It’s a really cool thing because it forces you to slow down a little bit,” said Westerville resident Richie Gopel, 24, who has been slacklining for three years. “Day-to-day life, it’s easy to get wrapped up in moving fast.”