It is a balance sport developed by two American rock climbers Adam Grosowsky and Jeff Ellington in Washington in 1979. It is the exact opposite of tightrope walking, a related activity. On slacklining, as the name suggests, a length of nylon or polyester webbing that is from one to two inches wide, is stretched loosely across two anchor points. It is rather like a narrow trampoline because it is flexible and bouncy.
Slacklining helps develop one’s balance and hones one’s reflexes at the same time. Practitioners are called ‘slackers’!
Since the line is usually flat and the tension can be adjusted according to the slacker’s needs, slacklining lends itself easily to trick and stunts. It can also be practised in any kind of environment, including urban.
There are different kinds of slacklining. These are: highlining where the webbing is stretched across a great height, lowlining, in which the webbing is about a foot off the ground, trickilining, urbanlining, and waterlining in which slackers walk over water. In windlining, the feat is performed in gusting winds. There is even slackline yoga, in which asanas are performed on the webbing strung up at a low height.
In 2010, the World Slackline Federation was set up to promote tricklining as a competitive sport. American Andy Lewis, 33, is considered the father of modern tricklining.
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