A slack line isn’t slack. Well, its fairly slack I guess.
It is meant to be reasonably tight. Not as tight as a tight rope, but just under enough tension to bounce and stretch. It basically is a length of webbing stretched between two points. We put ours up between a strategically placed tree and a fat gatepost we put in at the bottom of the garden. They come in different widths, 1-2 inches wide with a ratchet device to get the line set up .
People put them up in all sorts of exotic places like over canyons and on the beach. The higher, the more exciting I guess, but in really dangerous places people sometimes wear a harness and safety line (connecting them to the actual slack line in case they fall off). The real daredevils (or stupid ones, like with all these activities) do it without any safety gismos
We put ours up just half a meter above ground level. There are many forms of ‘slacklining’ some people do tricks, some try and stay on as long as possible, some people even do yoga! The canyon slack liners do it ‘just’ to get across, for the thrill.
It is harder than it looks but its a great all-round workout and obviously excellent for balance. The trick when starting is to ‘hop’ on. Try and step on it with too heavy a leg and you end up shaking all over the place!
walkingbuddies 