{"id":401,"date":"2015-04-03T03:02:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T10:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/?p=401"},"modified":"2015-03-31T21:44:05","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T04:44:05","slug":"a-slacker-activity-slacklining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/featured\/a-slacker-activity-slacklining\/","title":{"rendered":"A Slacker Activity – Slacklining"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Slacklining\"
\nI seem to be continually finding outdoor activities I didn’t know existed. \u00a0Tightwire\u00a0walking is common in the circus, but becomes an extreme sport when practiced between skyscrapers. \u00a0We hear about these events from time to time, but slacklining is new to me, although I suspected it was just walking on a not-so-tight wire. \u00a0Not \u00a0quite. \u00a0Here’s what I learned.<\/p>\n

Slacklining History<\/h2>\n

As I surmised, slacklining has its roots in tightwire and\u00a0tightrope walking. \u00a0One report<\/a>\u00a0suggests that slacklining began at Yosemite National Park with kids balancing on railings, ropes and chains around the valley campground in the early 1980’s.<\/p>\n

Adam Grosowsky and Jeff Ellington, students at Evergreen State College,\u00a0are credited by other sources<\/a>\u00a0as doing the same thing around Olympia, Washington in 1979. \u00a0The pair innovated the technique of stringing up 1″ flat climbing webbing and walking on it, using\u00a0the flexibility of the nylon webbing to develop tricks, including a three-club juggling routine between two slackers (practitioners of the sport) balanced simultaneously on the same line. Grosowsky and Ellington and some of their friends were rock climbers who shared the sport among their friends who then carried the idea around the west coast of the U.S. and ultimately around the world.<\/p>\n

Slacklining Gear<\/h2>\n

The gear needed for slacklining is pretty simple.<\/p>\n