Completely calm, Carolina Rodriguez gracefully steps across a thin piece of trembling nylon webbing strung between two pines, her arms slowly swimming through the air to keep herself from falling to the ground below.
Some call it a circus act, but the professionals call it slacklining.
Slacklining is a relatively new sport with a worldwide following — including many University students.
The concept of the recreational activity is simple. A piece of climbing nylon webbing is fixed between two anchoring points like trees or poles. A tightening device creates tension on the line, making it taut enough to support body weight. This enables slackliners to stand, walk or perform tricks across the line.
“It’s kind of like a tightrope but with slack,” Rodriguez said. “It seemed impossible at first, but I worked every day until I finally got it.”
Slacklining is closely associated with the rock-climbing community, where the sport originated. In fact, the UREC Student Recreation Complex climbing gym is where Rodriguez’s group of 15-20 slackliners met.
Rodriguez, architecture sophomore and local climber, has been slacklining for three years. She began practicing the sport to improve her climbing technique but said it has become an addiction.
“It’s an entire body experience,” Rodriguez said. “I wanted to get better at climbing, and [slacklining] helps you improve shifting your weight and your footwork.”
Brad Penny, economics and philosophy junior, said most climbers slackline during the climbing down season.
“It is all about finding your center of gravity and your sense of balance,” Penny said. “It’s getting on a line and focusing. You are totally present in that moment – you get out of the world and into the zone.”
Yoga is similar in this sense, Penny said, and many people combine the two.
Yoga slacklining is where the slackliner assumes a yoga pose on the quivering line, a task that requires extreme balance and coordination.
But walking and posing aren’t the only options. Experts on the line practice an array of techniques like highlining, a line placed high above the ground and used with a safety harness; waterlining, a line set up over a body of water; and freestyle lining, a line with enough flexibility to allow high-flying tricks often seen in competitions.
Competition is common among elite slackliners, but Rodriguez and her friends said competition would take the fun out of the sport.
“I don’t think I would compete,” Rodriguez said. “Slacklining is about you and your own challenge.”
The group members said they probably would not consider creating an on-campus organization, but they welcome any student interested in slacklining to join them.
The group sets up at various locations including trees near the lake, at off-campus houses and behind the Wesley Foundation off East Chimes Street.
“If people want to try it, there are a lot of trees,” Penny joked. “And you only need one rope.”
And that’s all it takes – one line, two trees and time, said Caitlin Kirshbom, sociology sophomore.
The closest slackline vendor is in Lafayette, said Kirshbom, leading most students to purchase materials online. Slacklining starter kits range from $12 on sites like Amazon to about $75 on Slacklineexpress.com. After the line is purchased and set up, it’s all about patience.
“Once you move past the frustration, you see the goal,” Kirshbom said. “And once you get the first step, you keep working for the next.”
Anyone can attempt the line, Penny said. A person can be terrible but still have fun.
“I’m still not in the rhythm,” he laughed. “But I love it.”
This lax, playful attitude is one the group shares, and it’s what keeps them coming back for more.
“It’s just the simplicity of it,” Penny said. “At the end of the day, it’s a rope between two trees.”
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]