Well, we’ve been in Ghana almost a week and finally got a chance to get a slackline up. Many parts of the beaches here are deforested from animals and people foraging food and fire wood, but we found a section of the beach in Cape Coast west of the resort areas that looks like it […]

We’re headed to Africa, primarily to film a nation-wide measles inoculation campaign in Ghana, but we plan to bring a bunch of slackline gear, both as a way to pass the time and as a way to meet and connect with new people in West Africa.  Pretty much everything else that needs saying is covered […]

I’ve had a couple of requests for a “howto” on rigging a two-inch line, sans ratchet, so here it is. Basically we’re just line-locking in a short piece of one-inch webbing (usually about 10ft will do it) and then making a primitive system with it. So if you already know how to do a primitive, […]

At Mary Helen’s suggestion we made a quick tutorial showing a few different turning styles (and with commentary from the respective slackliners). I hope this helps newer slackers get a better idea of the various ways to approach turns.

Martin came down from Vancouver today and we spent about 4 hours rigging a 500ft line at Marymoor park.  Due to the line being new and inexplicably stretchy we had some difficulty getting the stretch-factor right, even after bumping from 10% to 15% we were still way off (we closed the pulleys at 15% and […]

I got an e-mail from a reader asking if we could do a tutorial on multi-directional lines (triangles, pentagons, etc). Luckily today was our mid-May meetup, so I whipped up a 3-way line and brought the camera. Here’s a quick video howto and some shots of the line in action.

Thanks to everyone who came out today.  We had a wide variety of lines (including an 80ft from Jim and a triangle line!).  This was the third nice day of the year and it feels as if summer is right around the corner.  We all had a ton of fun, made a few more slackline […]

Today marks the first installment in our “destructive testing” series.  The purpose of this series of posts is to investigate what happens when stuff breaks, and how much force it takes to make stuff break.  Safety is my number one concern, and my hope is that these experiments will help everyone to better understand how […]

Recently I saw someone rigging a “primitive” slackline with five carabiners (one on the static end, and four for the tension system). The “elegant friction lock” method I use was also not being employed. Basically this is as far as you can get from how I setup my primitive systems and still be considered the […]

The Seattle Times published an article Thursday about NW Slackline and our efforts to promulgate the sport all around the Pacific Northwest.  It’s also featured today (Friday) at the top of their web site [link]. I’m a little sad they weren’t able to get a photographer to come out for our March 14th meet (when […]

So I finally got around to editing a video on how to rig a primitive line. If you’d like the pictorial version of this, see [here].  Some other useful posts (with skills utilized in this video) include [using a line locker] and [making anchor slings].  If you want to know how to get the line […]

Seattle Parks and Recreation is going to spend $500,000 to put in a new playground at Golden Gardens park in Ballard.  Kids love slacklines.  I see some possibilities here.  The benefits are manifold.  First off, kids would get a more safe (rubberized surface if they fall) and more accessible (lower + shorter) slackline (or slacklines!) […]

So I was sitting on the couch tonight while it’s raining outside, decompressing after several long weeks of school and work, and I started wondering if I could rig a slackline without any carabiners at all.  So now I have a new “elegant ring method.” [ angle #2 | angle #3 ] Of course I […]

Thanks to everybody who had a chance to make it out to the beach today.  I’ll try to post some video in the next few days, schedule permitting.  For now, here’s a quick teaser of the fun…

For everyone who was so kind to come out and join us at the beach, here’s the segment!

There’s a new line locker on the market that shows great promise for short lines.  SMC (Seattle[ish]-based-rigging-hardware-manufacturer) has just released a collar-shaped 1″ inner diameter aluminum ‘rigging ring’ that looks to make a great line locker ($4.50 at REI as well as from SMC directly).  I picked up a couple today and (magical time traveling […]

Katie and I talked about where we could go volunteer today, to make MLK day a “day on” rather than a “day off.”  There were a few projects going on across town, mostly landscaping related.  When we woke up today and saw the beautiful weather, we had no choice — today would be a day […]

Have you seen me mentioning making slings with your own webbing by tying a “water knot?”  Confused as to what the heck a water knot is, or how to use it to make a sling?  Well, here’s a video that shows you how to do just that.

As soon as we walked into the tree-ring at Cal Anderson Park, Mike remarked to me how much he enjoys visiting states with slackliners who know their cities.  Cal Anderson does not disappoint a visiting longliner, that’s all I have to say. We rigged one of my 165-foot pink (un-threaded) lines, and then about 20 […]

If you’re loading this site for the first time, after seeing slacklining on Q13 this morning: GREAT!  Slackline is incredibly simple but also incredibly fun.  The most useful articles on this site are linked directly from the Frequently Asked Questions page, so I’d check that out first if you’re new to slackline.  It has links […]

Today we rigged the sequel to last year’s Gasworks cityscape post. Mike and Jeremy delighted tourists, along with a short walk by me (adam).  This is flash-slackline at its best!  Note, this line carries a lot of risk due to its height (which does not afford a leash).  If you put this line up I […]