BASE jumpers, slackliners in Moab for extreme holiday

MOAB, Utah — Hundreds of BASE jumpers and slackliners have descended on Moab, Utah, this week for holiday events to where they’ll walk across webbing stretched between red rock crevices or jump from fixed points like sandstone mesas.

A slackline event called GGBY kicked off Tuesday outside Moab at a part of Mineral Canyon known as the Fruit Bowl, where slacklines can be strung closely together and participants walk across them, balancing like a tightrope walk.

“It’s as close to a church as a lot of us have,” said Sonya Iverson, a slackliner from Moab who is helping to organize the event. “There is something special about that location.”

The Salt Lake Tribune reports the event started 10 years ago but 2017 marks the first time participants will have to adhere to federal land rules on parking, camping and bathroom use on participants at the desert gathering.

GGBY has been an informal gathering in past years, but U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials have worried that as the event has grown, some measures need to be put in place to keep the event safe and protect the desert.

Kiley Miller, a rock climber in Moab, said extreme sports gatherings like GGBY, fueled by those filming their stunts and sharing videos on YouTube, compound a “circus atmosphere” at the red rock playgrounds around Moab.

“They have a large impact out there,” Miller said.

Iverson said she wants to help address those concerns about the slackline event and organizers are trying to be better caretakers of the natural spaces they use.

“We are trying to shake off this reputation of being stoner idiots out there doing death-defying stunts,” Iverson said. “We are actually an organized and careful community in terms of rigging and safety.”

While the slacklining event is introducing rules to ease concerns of government land managers, other extreme sport-enthusiasts are using their event to raise money for those taking care of the public lands.