We're Slackin'

By Renée Beus

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We (Matt Battarbee, myself, and some of our fellow crew members) have been spending a lot of our time at Circuit, Portland’s newest bouldering gym. They have recently installed a slack line (basically a tightrope made from 1” strap webbing for practicing balance) and it has caught our attention. I have not spent much time trying the slack line except for a few embarrassing, wobbly, less-than-committing attempts until I got the text message: "You gotta come over. I set up a slack line in the back yard."

When I arrived at Matt’s house, he had been practicing for around an hour or more. He was already looking like a master, very focused and centered, and made it look easy. Then I stepped up to the line. If you aren’t well practiced, a slack line can also act as a slingshot (as I demonstrated). So I started at the end so I could hang on to the clothesline post (perfect for this kind of thing!). Slowly I became more comfortable letting go, then soon I was able to let go for longer, then longer, then one foot only, then worked on taking steps. We had a lot of fun, got great balance practice AND a workout!

Slackin’ is not just for the lazy!