Walking the line with UM’s slacklining community

I’m standing on a taut, green climbing rope, legs shaking and hands tense as I grasp for the helpful hands offering themselves up on both sides of me.

“Focus on the tree, it’s something that’s not moving,” someone says. 

I try and heed the advice but am distracted by the wobbling line underneath me. With each step I take, I think to myself, How in God’s name am I going to get my foot to come off the line again?

Suddenly the rope makes a snapping sound, and my feet fly back down to the ground, catching the line on the way. My leg stings and the tips of toes ache as I put my shoes back on, amid the weak applause of the surrounding experts.

Slacklining is a growing trend among college students and sport enthusiasts who wish to perfect their balance, movement and focus.

Tyler Morgan, a UM sophomore in creative writing and slackliner, said he thinks it evolved from rock climbing (since all the equipment used is rock climbing equipment) and is used to improve balance and relieve boredom.

Students around the University of Montana have joined the slackline evolution; some have been doing it for a few months, others for a couple of years.

Finding out about slacklining at college, the participants return to their hometowns with new knowledge of the sport, telling and teaching their friends the way of the line, Morgan said.

Groups of students can be found out on the Oval, testing their skills on the rope every day of the week if the weather is nice and even on days when the weather’s not as favorable.

Those who pass by the slackliners on campus often seem to be interested in the sport, asking if it’s related to tightrope walking and wondering what it feels like to do it.

Morgan got into slacklining because he “was just curious.”

“I just started (slacklining) … I could do with some help,” said Hannah VanArsdell, a freshmen in environmental studies.

Kelly Perkins, a sophomore anthropology major, saw the group one day and ended up becoming a skilled slackliner.

“They told me to get on the line and I did and they helped me,” she said. “That’s how I met most of my friends, is through the slackline.”

“(Slacklining) definitely expands the social circles,” said Jesse Carnes, a junior in fine arts, whom the other slackliners refer to as “J-Bot 5000.”

Perkins said families often walk by with their children, who are generally very eager to try it out, even if it’s only a one-time thing.

“(These people) would teach anybody,” said Stacy Gray, a sophomore journalism major. “Everyone meets through the slackline.”

On any given day, lines can vary in height. Some are tied to stand a couple of feet above the ground, others are tied at an angle and are known as “slant lines” and one is suspended about 30-feet high, known as the “high line,” the slackliners said.

The high line was set up by Zeke Garrison, a sophomore in general studies. He climbs the tree and ties the ropes using rock climbing methods, and the rest of the slackliners climb up the tree to walk the line, Perkins said.

Not many slackliners have made it across the high line, but those who do (Perkins made it last week) feel a great sense of accomplishment.

“Jesse is the king of slacklining, Kelly is the queen, and then it’s just a community from there,” Gray said.

Although several slackliners have experienced twisted ankles, scraped and cut legs and bruised or jammed fingers, the majority of the injuries are pretty minimal, Morgan said.

“Even if you’re not that confident, the way we do it there’s not too much chance of an injury,” he said.

The one exception was when Carnes was on the slant line, lost his balance and failed to catch the safety line, falling about 12 feet and landing on his head, Morgan said.

But somehow he wasn’t seriously injured and the incident didn’t keep him from continuing to perfect his skills, which include stripping while on the slackline, moving the rope back and forth in a tactic called “surfing,” and jumping on and off the line.

“You pick a spot on the tree and stare at it and just focus, it’s like meditation,” Gray said.

When climbing at a height that is dangerous if one falls, precautions are taken to eliminate injury. The ropes are doubled up, slackliners use climbing harnesses and everything is backed up with climbing-strength carabiners.

Although slacklining comes with a safety risk, the group has never been approached by campus safety or anyone expressing concern. The only people who approach are the campus groundskeepers that tell the group to line the trees onto which they tie the rope with cardboard to prevent damaging the trees and cutting into the bark, Perkins said.

The college setting is the desirable atmosphere for this sport, complete with students who are eager to try it.

Missoula is the perfect place for this sport, Morgan said.

“Missoula’s a very open town, they’re pretty much open to everything and something that shows that is that we haven’t gotten hassled at all by anyone, people are just curious, not mad or scared by it,” he said.

“We walk across (the slackline), it’s as simple as it gets. It’s more of a communal thing to do with friends, it gets you outside instead of watching TV or wasting away inside,” Perkins said.