Walk the Line

Last week, when all my favorite surf spots were closed because of oil spills, I headed inland, to a forgotten corner of Wildcat Canyon, to walk a line in the air.

The sport is called slacklining, and it really is as simple as these pictures make it look. Walk the line. No problem, right?

Damian gets high while Stephanie keeps it on the down-low.

I met with Damian Cooksey, who is one of the stars of this obscure sport. He is the first man ever to do a front flip on a slackline and, last year, did the longest slackline ever, 405 feet, in a park in Poland (and subsequently did another of 506 feet, in Germany this July).

Damian is an unpretentious guy with the slender, zero-percent-bodyfat physique of a rock climber, which in fact he is, as are most adherents of the sport. Slacklining began as a downtime activity among climbers in Yosemite Valley and uses the materials of climbing – specifically the inch-wide, flexible webbing upon which one walks.

Damian was kind enough to bring me and Jeffro, who are the rankest of novices, as well as Liz and Stephanie, who can already walk the walk.

We set up two lines. One hung a mere two feet off the ground and ran 30 feet. The second stretched 90 feet across a giant crease in the hillside and stood and 20 feet in the air. The latter is called a “highline.”

Damian demonstrates “slackline surfing.”

While Liz tried out the highline, calling out tremulously and yelping as she fell, I practiced again and again on the lowline. Here’s how it went: Step on, jiggle, fall off. Step on, wobble, fall off. Step on, wobble…pinwheel the arms…dodge hips to the left…ah, balanced!

Fall off.

Standing on that wobbly line is completely absorbing. Your synapses and muscles are entirely given over to the webbing’s bobble and sway. No question I’ll try this sport again.