Robin Avery is extreme ginger

Playground is.....

2012-01-20T20:40:00.001-08:00

cable cam test #2

2011-10-31T13:39:00.001-07:00

Cable Cam Prototype Test #2 from Geoffrey Evan Alexander Vincent on Vimeo.
Test #2 of Robin and Geof's cable cam. Took it out to do some more shots but got rained out, so you'll only find one shot from off the rig. Learned a lot though, and got our set-up time down to less than 30min. Once we get our new cable, we should be able to run about 80meters, and with improved stabilization.

Thanks Anna and Lucy!

Song: Matteah Baim - River

prototype test 1 of cable cam

2011-10-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

Cable Cam Prototype Test #1 from Geoffrey Evan Alexander Vincent on Vimeo.

light diffusing creates light show from television

2011-07-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

this is a little project i've been working on the past few days. vs 1.0 is done. got some tweaks left to do.

Slackline comp on July 16, 2011 for the Squamish Mountain Fest

2011-07-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

Check out the SLACKLINE competition in Squamish this Saturday (July 16) from 11 - 2 PM. At the farmers market.
Part of the Squamish Mountain Fest. Comp starts at 1pm, show up early. fancy Arc'teryx prizes!
Beginner and advanced categories. Don't worry if you're new to slackline
check out the schedule for more info: http://www.squamishmountainfestival.com/schedule.asp

let's get some shoes

2011-06-30T13:44:00.001-07:00

WARNING: these shoes have been assembled at a facility that may contain traces of children with a peanut allergy

Seconds by Reel Water Productions

2010-12-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

Seconds from Tim Loubier on Vimeo.

Reel Water Productions Teaser slo-mo demo

2010-09-04T21:39:00.001-07:00

things look amazing at 1000 frames per second!

Reel Water Phantom Tease from Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

Interview about slacklining on Radio-Canada

2010-08-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Radio-Canada interviewed me about slacklining and highlining The report is in French, but a few of you will understand it.

Sport is unclear if the Slacklining to test his balance and his fear of heights. Sport obscur s'il en est, le slacklining permet de tester son équilibre et sa crainte des hauteurs. Ce type de funambulisme sur une bande élastique est souvent pratiqué au-dessus de cours d'eau ou en forêt. Notre chroniqueuse Evelyne Charuest a testé la discipline et nous en parle.

Great photo of me in Mountain Life Magazine

2010-07-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

Dirtbaggery 101: The Frugal Gourmet

2010-07-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Click here to view the video in HD!

Do you want to ski or snowboard every day? Has work got you down? Yes? Well, unless you're capable of living the life of a professional athlete, you'll have to give up some basic comforts. But let's be realistic here, being a professional athlete is totally possible for a select few, but the majority of us have neither the physical prowess, nor do we have the mental commitment to live life in the limelight. But please prove me wrong.

If you'd like to spend everyday of your life screaming down snowy mountains with some boards strapped to your feet, you've gotta be ready to make a few sacrifices. At least until you start riding pro for that steezy new company we've never heard of, who specializes in custom graphics. Until then, are you ready to be a dirtbag? It's not so bad...really! (And don't forget to freeload off Canada for the health care.)

If you're an avid back country skier, you probably don't like working too much either. You'd rather be pushing the limits and doing the Neve traverse in a day. There's no time for work.

If you've decided to thrown down and get a pass to a ski resort, congratulations, you've just drained your bank account. This will further reinforce your dirtbag status. In that case, you're probably surrounded by tourists. Those dreaded tourists. They're all drinking double espresso Kahlua mochas with ten year single-malt for chaser. What about your cafeinated rocket fuel beverage? This is the first installment of Dirtbagery-101 and we'll start with something easy.

How to make a Dirtbag Mocha:

Step one: Select the proper convenience store. You'll need a hot chocolate machine that dispenses syrup. Not the janky type that use powder. Most ski resorts will have the good kind.

Step two: Once you've located your hot chocolate machine, the cover will open on hinges like a door. There'll be a button inside the cover marked "pump". Hold it down, and you'll get straight chocolate syrup. This is the money shot!

Step two: Fill your cup with coffee and leave enough room for two fingers of cream.

Step three: Enjoy your dirtbag beverage.

Step four: Get your butt back outside, strap your planks back on and shred some nipple-deep-gnar.

If getting a real job doesn't sound very appealing, it looks like you're ready to become a full fledged dirtbag. But don't take my word for it, get out there and live your dream everyday.

Video: Multitasking is hard

2010-05-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

Dirtbag Tip # 16 from Robin Avery on Vimeo.

Seasons change. Cycles and Multitasking. Life. et-cetera

2010-04-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

There’s so much going on around me, that multitasking becomes inevitable. Everything in life seems to come in waves. Seasons build, then come and go. Sometimes the seasons that define the sports we love overlap. The blossoms are falling and this year I’ve really noticed the seasons change. I can’t believe I’m able to ski in the morning then finish the day with a few pitches of sunny crack climbing. So what’s this about multitasking?

The waves and seasons that drive my life trickle down and build to eventually culminate in a wonderful cacophony of controlled chaos. I’m juggling my so-called “real life”, the one that is supposed to make me the big bucks. Someone mentioned something about a career, or something. But then the seasons change again. It starts snowing. Or the rivers start swelling. And maybe it’s time to go climbing. Or go skiing. Or whatever gets the jollies out. I woke up this morning to an instant message from a climbing buddy.

10:44 AM
Michael: i'm outtie pretty soon what are your plans
me: my plans? like for the summer?
working 3 part time jobs. On and off.
Michael: right on
me: you?
Michael: driving to yosemite for a month
looking for a job (still), at the same time
me: tricky business...
like..getting a...gasp! real job?
Michael: yeah. analyst positions
50 hr weeks
time to get seriously about shiz
me: don't be an anal analyst ? har har
Michael: i'll be a finalyst ;)
me: i sure hope so

His trip can only go two ways: either he never leaves the valley and begins his life into full fledged dirtbaggery, or he returns and begins his future life as an anal analyst. How are we to do everything and not get burnt out?

My advice to you: always have more than one part-time job. Never do anything full time. Multiple jobs and activities are best. This makes for flexible vacation times. No one likes weekend warriors. They’ve got no stamina, they gumby up the classic-moderate routes so no one else can climb. And just when you’re getting tired of one job, you can switch over to the other. There’s no way to focus on one thing. A full-time job is out of the question. Plus, doing anything for forty hours per week eventually steals your soul. You used to be cool, man.

Today my worlds collided. Climbing season started back up again. It’s hard to hold back when you see a good thing coming. So it seemed. You need to remember that even though your muscle memory is there, you can’t make the same moves you did months ago. Remember, it’s spring right? I’ve got this monster bruise on my shin that’s there in the first place because the weather is good and I’m climbing again. But suddenly I’m back on skis and there’s still powder in the high alpine. Ski boots are digging into fluid filled shins and the only reason I’m able to deal with this ridiculous situation is the sheer urge to push the season as far as it will go. If this is the worst thing that happens to me all week, I’ll consider myself lucky. (Like when the hardest decision of the day is light roast or dark.) If something were to blame for this, it would be the ominous entity that is multitasking; that’s what got me here in the first place. Then i get home and my inbox is full and its time to get back to “real life”

The moral of the story here is that too much of anything will kill the body and mind. It’s best to find a healthy balance. On the other hand, It’s unfortunate that you’ll never truly excel at anything unless you give it all you’ve got. Dabbling is not necessary either. The dabbler just doesn’t have the milage or experience to really be good at anything. Find your in between and stick with it.

Winter is almost over but the powder keep on coming

2010-03-11T16:11:00.000-08:00

Rolling down the windows off a wind lip on 7th Heaven, Blackcomb from Robin Avery on Vimeo.

This is an example of how to stop yourself from landing on your head! ROLL DOWN THOSE WINDOWS...and as demonstrated, you'll land perfectly flat on your feet.

It's been about 13 weeks since I shattered my hand skiing. But don't worry! I'm back in action.
It's always possible to stay within your limits. But life experience reminds us that, it's often difficult to account for extraneous variables — there's always noise in the system.

Entropy will always win (See kipple)
You can't argue with the mountain. It will always win in some form.
Rock is harder than bone, but our bodies are resilient
Shit talking is sometimes the best humor.
Everything comes in waves — when it rains it pours.

The only thing we can do is keep moving. Stay safe, stay in your limits, but don't get bummed when it pours.

Some great highline footage in RWP cable cam demo reel

2010-01-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted an update. There are several reasons for this. Foremost, being that about seven weeks ago I broke my 2nd and 3rd metacarpals of my left hand. This puts a damper in your adventure sports life. I've also just graduated from UBC this past semester which kept me busy with "real" responsibilities.

Here is a teaser clip from Reel Water Productions demo real.
At 1:08 is some of the footage that will be used for National Geographic Adventure television show WOW!

Cable Cam Demo Reel from Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

Thanks again to Reel Water Productions for working so hard to get these shots. Check out their new project The Season coming late January.

Architectural Misinterpretation

2009-11-20T13:04:00.000-08:00

As promised, this is a follow up to a post on Buildering.net about climbing a new line up the music building.

Video by Warden Films 2009

The video looks spectacular in HD. Click here to view the video in high definition

It was a trip of Mormon proportions

2009-11-17T15:09:00.000-08:00

It's 5am and I'm waiting on my porch for Blicker to pick me up. I'm running on one hour of sleep and still drunk. It's time to ride to the airport and make our way to Salt Lake City.

Boarder crossing always go smooth when the driver is a highschool teacher -- little do they know he's the dirtiest-shit-talking-highschool teacher ever to have lived. At least this time The Man didn't think I was in a motorcycle gang, no thanks to the other Robin Avery who probably is! I'm not sure I could have handled that in my zombie-drunken state.

You know someone's an experienced dirtbag when they bring their thermarest to the airport. That was me at 10am at Seatac airport. Snoozing the morning away.

We pick up the rental car in SLC and the shit talking between Stolz and Blicker begins. I will continue to hear this hilarious discourse for the next nine days. There are only two rules: mothers and girlfriends are off limits. Other than that, everything is fair game. By the end of the nine days I spent with these two crazies, every form of both witty and dirty repartee was soon exhausted.

Moab highlines, Indian Creek splitter cracks, cheap beer, missing skin, and burritos were had by all.

Fruit Bowl Highline: helmet cam footage (slackline) from Robin Avery on Vimeo.

Buildering: new line up the music building

2009-11-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

Click here to see the HD video on facebook. You'll need a facebook account to access it.
Via: Buildering.net

(p) Hamish Baxter
See: http://www.buildering.net/guidebooks/ubc#route703

I recently sent a new variation of a classic route on campus, the Music building. In the past the chimney was the only practical way of climbing the building, as the crack in the back offered the only protection. However some large air ducting pipes were placed on the outside of the building in the last few years, offering some new points of protection. Robin Avery and Eddie Rothschild tackled the right rib of the left chimney, i.e. "the arete".

HD video to come soon!

Kudos to the whole crew for a ballsy ascent. Thanks to Hamish Baxter for the photos. Check out his Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hbaxter/

(p) Hamish Baxter

Blue Line at Banff Radicals Reels night

2009-10-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

There's a short clip of the Blue Line at 1:14 and 5:55

Bryan Smith recently made a short film featuring me highlining the chief. Check it out at the upcoming Radicals Reels Night at the Banff Centre.

The Blue Line

Canada, 2009, 6 minutes

Directed and produced by Bryan Smith

Two giant granite towers separated by 35 metres and a 360-metre ravine – this short film walks a fine line of adrenaline as Robin Avery attempts the crossing.

Finalist in: Best Film on Mountain Sports

Best Short Mountain Film

Click here for more information about the event.

Video from Hevyfest 2009

2009-10-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Photos from HevyFest

2009-08-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

On August 1st, 2009 a few hundred slackliners converged on Nexon Beach in Squamish, British Columbia for the second annual HevyFest Slackline Festival. Here are some photos. Thanks to Jim Hegan for taking these photos. Click here for more photos courtesy of Martin Oberg.

Photos: Jim Hegan 2009

Hevyfest

Trip Report: In Recovery - Back to the North Gully Highline

2009-07-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

So here I am hiking up the Stawamus Chief in Squamish, British Columbia.

We're hauling up massive amounts of gear -- All for highlining.

The idea is simple and has been practiced for generations: string up a length of cable/wire/webbing across a span, then walk across it to the other side. It takes a lot of balance and concentration to accomplish this task.

Thanks to Slackers Slacklining for sponsoring me, we had ordered a length of 3/4 inch amsteel blue, rated to around 80 thousand pounds. We had to have the amsteel rush ordered -- too many people were involved and some serious problems arose. We requested each end be spliced. It turns out each end was spliced, but that ended up reducing the overall length of the line by about 14 feet. Too short! Even though we clearly requested a finished length, too many cooks ruined the recipe. The only thing left to do was deal with it. We extended the haul system by about 10 feet.

Once we got the line rigged, walking it proved extremely difficult. It wasn't that the amsteel was impossible to walk, all we needed was some practice. Something none of us had. This was the first time any of us has even tried walking on amsteel. The HUGE shackle in the system created some wild oscillations that were near impossible to correct for. At the end of the day, we rigged two guy-wires to stabilize the shackle. By this time I was exhausted from all the hauling, rigging, and walking. It was time to call it quits for the day and come back tomorrow...sounds good right? what about that evil looking thunder storm rolling in from the north?

Thunder and lightening starts, hail starts, flash flooding starts. The plan was to bivy up top of the chief. The camera crew planned on staying and toughing out the storm. I decided to head down. I leave as Matt is talking to his wife on the phone. The conversation went something like this: "yeah, I'm standing at the top of the Chief in a lightening storm. I'm going to stay up here....yeah...all I have is a cotton t-shirt and a sleeping bag....yeah...I'll be fine, you stay safe though" Turns out he found a cave and actually stayed dry!

I intended to head down the third summit trail which is less technical. There are no steep slabs and chains to navigate your way through. After starting down the trail, my headlamp stops working from all the moisture inside. That leaves me alone and with no headlamp....crap! About the time my headlamp dies, I promptly loose the trail. I find myself walking across slippery moss covered death slabs. This is not the fun type of moshreading. I can't see where any of the slabs lead to, for all I know they could end in a massive cliff. I carefully start down a slab and loose my footing and slide about 30 meters into a small slot canyon. The jungles of Squamish closed in around me and I found myself stuck covered in shrubs and trees unable to move forward or backwards. All the while I'm being eaten alive by spiders and mosquitos. I couldn't move, the only left to do was go up. I slowly palmed my way back up the mossy slab, taking two steps up and sliding one down. After about half an hour I'm back on top of the slab and start down again. This same situation happened two more times. The second time I jump out of the way just as a dead tree comes at me with sharp menacing impale-your-sleen-looking-death-branches.... at this point I decided there were three things that could probably happen:

A) I'm struck my lightening and I die
B) I slip on the slab and slide over a cliff or get impaled by a branch (or both) and I die
C) I descend too far into the wrong valley and die of hypothermia

I realized I was too far down and I would never find the trail. I didn't want C to happen. The only solution was to go back up. So I sprawl all 4 limbs on the death-moss-slab like a star fish and slowly inch my way up, even using my chin for extra grip. I finally make it up. After about 15 minutes of searching I found the chains on trail two -- my savior. at least i knew where I was now. I booked it down the trail slipping every which way and found my two friends Eric and Page near the bottom. They let me crash at their house and they saved me from a night of shivering. as my down sleeping bag was completely soaked. Thank you Eric and Page! You saved my ass!

After some much needed food and water I crash out and that concludes day one.

Day two: In the early morning, I hike back up the chief, but this time with a lighter pack. I find the camera crew already up there. They told me they had decided to descend after finding their gear literally floating away down the trail in a flash flood. They came down after me, and came back up before me. Wow! They had an epic too...lucky them ( note the sarcasm?)

Day two went pretty smooth, I finally sent the line. The amsteel was a beast to walk and like nothing I've ever tried before. We got some amazing panning footage of my send on Matt's cable cam. Look for it on The National Geographic Adventure channel around January; now I just have to find a TV and someone who actually has cable.

All in all, it was an epic weekend and as I write this my whole body is immensely sore. It's funny that the highline wasn't the thing that tried to kill me, it was the exposure and the angry mountains. Woohoo! We didn't die!

Thanks for Bryan Smith (http://www.vimeo.com/user1213814) for directing the production, Matt Maddaloni for the cable cam, and Slackers Slacklining (www.slackersslacklining.ca) for sponsoring me.

South Gully highline update

2009-07-17T13:13:00.001-07:00

I've got 300 feet of type 18 webbing in the mail. When that arrives, it's time to go back to the south gully and start rigging.

Video segment from the gong show that is my life and times in Squamish:

HevyFest 2009: Squamish, British Columbia

2009-07-16T19:49:00.001-07:00

Via: http://www.myspace.com/hevyfest

>Saturday, August 1, 2009

Hi Slackers, Climbers, Lurkers, Artists, Huupers, and all you COOL FUnKY people everywhere!!! HEVYFEST North America's FIRST Slackline Festival returns again this year to Nexon Beach, also Know as Oceanfront Lands in Squamish BC...We are growing a bit and will be adding Yoga, Body Painting, Seperate KIDS Slacklining area as well as a KIDS FUN HOUR (for real this time) more additions TBA..Once again GOOD food, FUnKY vendors, and of course the return of "The Cirque du Dirt" for all us dirt bags out there... Also Returning PB and the Shadetops Blue Grass crew (awesome show last year)...After all we are a Slackline Festival so of course there will be plenty of Slacklines of all skill levels and lengths to have your try at...We are also looking for VOLUNTEERS to help support the festival, so if you feel you may have skills we could use Please contact us at www.myspace.com/hevyfest OR email: hevyduty@mail2fun.com INTERESTED Musicians, Djs, Artists, and Vendors can also contact us same as above PLEASE NOTE: Hevyfest is a non-corporate grassroots festival...We will be posting All Confirmed Fun on this myspace page, so keep a watch out... CHEERS! HEVY :)

Stawamus Chief South Gully Highline in Squamish, BC

2009-07-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

Last November Matt Maddaloni and I rigged a highline between the second and third summits of the Stawamus Chief North Gully. I was able to bag the second send of the highline. Josh Cross was the first to walk the line in 2005. Since that highline I've been itching to get back out and rig some high exposure lines that no one has done before. Luckily, my home in Vancouver is about an hour down the highway from Squamish. The Stawamus Chief provides two amazing gullies. The South Gully (pictured above) became my next highline.
Compared to the North Gully, it is logistically more challenging. First of all, there are no conventional trails leading up. The only reasonably level area suitable for a slackline is located at the top of the Apron. It is necessary to climb some 5.7 crack to access the spot. Furthermore, the trees are pretty spindly, so if you want a bomber rig, it's important to anchor off at least four or five. These facts were true to my thinking prior to the cluster fuck that unfolded on Saturday.

Here's a quick summary from Saturday:

I told my friend Chris, "the South Gully" and somewhere along this deranged game of Telephone, he heard "North Gully" which you can in-fact walk up to...So he brought his dog. So we started up the chief. Seven people + one dog (And one doggy harness) going up a 5.7 hand crack. There was one harness between the six people who had dutifully volunteered to help haul gear. It was time for some problem solving. On the way up I free-soloed the crack and built an anchor. I fixed one of our static cords and rapped down. At this point, a doggy harness was constructed and up went two men and a dog.
The next person I could grab was placed in a harness and we started up the fixed line with ascenders, all the while hauling 30kg packs.
Our faff session lasted a solid hour.
We arrive at the South Gully. We scope out a potential span, and I scramble around to the other side, around the start of upper echelon. Martin finally dug his burly baseball-pitcher-man arm out from somewhere in his pack, and hucked a rock connected to fishing line across the gully..narrowly missing my head by about a foot.
We start passing a static line across the gully. At this point, Chris begins to squish my head with his finger from across the gully. "Ahhhh...noo! Don't squish me" I yelled, as I attempted to pry his fingers apart with my arms from across the gully. (No, this isn't kindergarden play time!) But crap! If i was so freakin' tiny, that meant the gap was a lot bigger than I had thought.

Even after spending $200 at MEC, It turned out we were still a bit short on static cord for anchor materials. Not only that, but our line was about 5 meters or so too short!

We left two strands of fishing line up across the gully to act as a "pilot" line in order to drag static rope and webbing across for next time. Once I get some stronger and longer webbing I'll be back ASAP to rig and walk this line....but as always, support in the form of materials and money is always needed to help these projects.

At the end of the day I had been deemed the leader, so it was up to me to build temporarily harnesses out of our anchor materials. Since there was only one harness for six other people, I presented a quick "emergency-alpine-harness-building-and-munter-hitch-using-symposium" and then setup the rappel. Imagine two men on makeshift harnesses simul-rappelled with a dog! (the boxer was a good sport) I don't write this day off as a failure -- more like the first round.

more photos and video to come, and updates just as soon as i get some longer webbing!

Jericho Beach slackline session

2009-07-07T17:02:00.001-07:00

Length: approximately 150 feet (45 meters)
Location: Jericho Beach, Vancouver, British Columbia

Video by Martin Oberg

Cheakamus River Highline

2009-06-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

This was a beautiful highline. In lieu of wearing a "helmet cam" this was a baseball cap + duct tape cam.

Length: About 70 feet (~20 meters)

Height: About 50 feet (~15 meters)

Link to more photos on flickr.com (via Slackers Slacklining)

Beta: approach via highway 99. When heading north, look for the tantalus range lookout on your left, you will then pass the entrance to Cheakamus Canyon on your right. (Amazing sport climbing area) The highway will then enter the squamish river valley. There are metal bars to anchor from, and several bolts. Bring cams and nuts, however, the rock is fairly chossy.
Link: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=49.938875,-123.16721&spn=0.017152,0.031672&t=p&z=15&msid=101062005694364496106.00046dc03e2ddf7cf7ec3

New short cut of the Squamish Chief North Gully Highline

2009-05-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

Beta: Approach by hiking up the chief. The North Gully spans the second and third summit of the Stawamus Chief.
Link to location: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&ll=49.6869,-123.140688&spn=0.016326,0.042915&z=15&msid=101062005694364496106.00046e26393f0fd62b0b6

10 things you need to bring when slacklining

2009-04-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Every time I go outside to setup my slackline I forget something. Here is a list of ten ingredients that are sure to make your experience more enjoyable.

Bring your slackline. There are many different rigging methods. When I'm cruising the beach-side on my bike, I prefer to bring the minimalist's rig. It's light and simple. Other times, when I'm rigging lines over 20 meters (65 feet) I like to bring my pulley blocks. They're a bit heavier, but worth it when you're working with long lines and need to adjust tension on-the- fly.
Bring protection for the trees. Protecting the trees is of utmost importance. Slackline is still not accepted in many places. In fact, it has been banned in many parks around the world. Keep image of slackline a good one by protecting any trees you sling.
Bring water and snacks. Slacklining takes a lot more energy then most people think. A nice day in the sun feels that much better when you're well fed and watered.
Bring a knife. Time and time again I need to cut webbing.
Bring pen and paper. Slackline is a social activity and a great way to meet new friends. A pen and paper will be useful when that cute guy or girl wants to exchange phone numbers.
Bring a mat to sit on. In Vancouver we get a lot of rain and the ground can often be quite wet.
Bring a camera. When you are about to land that new triple backflip you've been working on all season, you'll want a picture for bragging rights.
Wear sandles. Socks are shoes are no fun when you're playing in the sun.
Bring a first-aid kit. As is with any (fun) sport, slackline does carry the risk of injury. Broken glass may be hiding in the grass. Some cloth tape, Afterbite, and band-aids will come in handy if you should cut yourself or be stung by an insect.
Wear a smile! As a slackliner, whether you like it or not, you've become an ambassador and pioneer to an emerging sport. Inevitably, you'll be approached be passer-bys who want to know why you're training for the circus. Don't scoff, instead, tell them what you're up to, and tell them: slackline.com.

Enjoy!

HevyFest strikes a happy balance among slackers | Local Sports | Squamish Chief

2009-03-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

HevyFest strikes a happy balance among slackers | Local Sports | Squamish Chief

A group of athletes descended on Nexen Beach last weekend to celebrate the emergence of an activity that is teetering on the cusp of widespread popularity. The inaugural HevyFest introduced the uneducated to the sport of slacklining on Saturday (July 26), and gave the more experienced slackers elevated grounds to showcase their controlled wobbling.Allen (Hevy) Stevens, 58, said he created the festival because he recognized that slacklining, which involves balancing on a line of nylon webbing stretched between two anchors, is becoming more than just something climbers do to pass the time. “It’s a growing genre and I think it’s going to become a modern urban sport. Europe is already five years ahead of us,” said Stevens.Slacklining differs from the traditional tightrope walking one expects to see at the circus. It’s more difficult than walking along a taut line because the sag requires the slacker to react to the line’s trampoline-like movements. However, the best slackers can dance, juggle and practice yoga while slacklining.Squamish has a slacklining facility at the base of the Stawamus Chief thanks to HevyFest co-ordinator Ashley Green. A big supporter of the sport, Green was getting tired of asking visiting slackers to take down their lines because they were damaging trees. She gave them an alternative by creating a slacklining area complete with four poles to attach their gear.Green and Stevens installed seven slacklines on Nexen Beach for HevyFest, including a long highline suspended about two metres over the water attached to two pillars. Those who weren’t afraid to get wet took on the challenging line.Avid slackliner Robin Avery, 23, was able to make it about two thirds of the way across before losing his balance. For Avery, slacklining is as much a meditative practice as it is a physical activity – especially when he is high lining across mountain peaks and other rock features (while wearing a harness, of course).“The exposure alone is just huge,” he said. “But really it’s all in the mind.”The physical strength and mental acuity needed to stay on the line extends to more sports than simply climbing.

globeandmail.com: Slack lines, focused minds

2009-03-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

via: globeandmail.com: Slack lines, focused minds

PATRICK WHITE

From Friday's Globe and Mail

July 25, 2008 at 8:54 AM EDT

Sometimes, the world is too much with Robin Avery.

Cramming his head with complex theories and lecture notes, the UBC student can feel bogged down by big thoughts and looming deadlines.

Recently, though, he's found the perfect antidote for a muddled mind.

Mr. Avery has become an unabashed slacker.
Jason Charlton, the director of Slackers Slacklining, demonstrates his moves on a line in Squamish, B.C.
Enlarge Image

"My mind becomes so much more clean after slacking," says the 23-year-old cognitive systems major. "When I need to come up with a thesis, I'll go out slacking for a while and it'll just come to me."

Slacking in Mr. Avery's case is a struggle not against laxity, but against gravity. It's slacklining, and it requires the balance of a mountain goat and the focus of a Tibetan monk.

The popularity of slacklining - in which participants wobble atop a one-inch-wide strand of nylon webbing suspended between two poles, trees or car bumpers - is blossoming across the country.

On Saturday, B.C. slackers will congregate on a Squamish beach for HevyFest, the first slacklining festival ever held in North America, according to organizers, who expect more than 100 people to attend. Other groups are proliferating across the country from Vancouver to Calgary to Toronto, mainly on university campuses.

A hodge-podge of snowboarders, students and extreme athletes are driving interest in the sport, all united in promoting its many benefits: mental clarity, better balance and one heck of a workout.

"It's a form of moving meditation," says Mr. Avery, who took his first shaky steps on a slackline three years ago. "You're concentrating on everything and nothing at the same time."

Slacklining actually has decades-old roots. It's widely agreed that two climbers in California's Yosemite Valley invented the sport when they strung climbing ropes horizontally and attempted to traverse them like tightrope walkers. Over ensuing years, slacklining - so named because the line is not taut like a tightrope, but loose and bouncy like a trampoline - became popular among climbers as a way of passing time between ascents.

"It was more to kill the boredom than anything else," says pioneering slacker Allen "Hevy" Stevens, a 58-year-old climber and founder of HevyFest, which features nine lines of varying heights, lengths and tension. "In the olden days you used to rig a line between two trucks and away you go."

Those pioneering slackers were considered a scourge among North American park wardens, who would cut any lines strung between trees on park land.

Much has changed since then.

One Squamish park recently erected poles specifically for slackers.

And the slackers themselves have evolved well beyond mere balancing. Expert slackers can stay up anywhere from 15 minutes to four hours and perform as many tricks as a high-beam gymnast, spinning, flipping, and cartwheeling while the narrow line sways and bounces beneath them.

One branch of slackers practises slackline yoga, striking Gumby poses most would find difficult on solid ground.

Mr. Avery's tricks are such a spectacle that he's made good money busking in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

"Some of these kids literally breakdance on the line," says Mr. Stevens, who hasn't slacklined much since suffering a painful elbow injury years ago. Other slackers report similarly rough introductions to the sport.

"I had some bruises, some lawn burn," Mr. Avery says. "But it's probably no more dangerous than walking down the stairs."

Extreme slackers practise highlining, in which the line is suspended across a gorge or gulley. Slackers then harness themselves to the line and pray that its anchors hold as they make their way across.

Most slacklines, however, are suspended a few feet off the ground to reduce chances for injury.

As much as slacklining is sold as a Zen pursuit, it's also incredible exercise. "You get this incredible functional strength in your abs and legs," Mr. Avery says. "It's literally like learning to walk all over again."

The sport has grown to the point that entrepreneurs see a business opportunity in the bourgeoning hobby. Slacklining, they say, may soon rival ball gloves and badminton for space in yards across North America.

"At a lot of universities, people used to bring the Frisbee to the park. Now they're bringing a slackline," says Jason Charlton, director of Slackers Slacklining, a Squamish-based company that started selling slackline sets for $135 and up last year. The base set includes a 10-metre-long line and ratchets. Recently, the District of Squamish bought several for its kids' summer camps. In all, Mr. Charlton has sold 60 lines, but expects business to pick up as soon as the company website is up and running.

Until the sport finally reaches mass appeal, pioneering slackers will teeter on as borderline freaks. "As popular as it's become," Mr. Avery says, "the question I hear the most when I'm up on the line is 'Are you training for the circus?' "

HeavyFest slackline festival in Squamish, British Columbia

2009-01-26T18:23:00.000-08:00

(Via slackline.com
Recently, as you may have noticed, the sport of slackline has been exploding in popularity. It’s been all over the news, in Nike commercials, college campuses, and city parks. In the past few weeks I have been taking part in weekly slackline sessions with local Vancouver slackline enthusiasts. (If you’re in the Vancouver area, we meet at Kitsilano Beach every Monday at 6pm, come on down!) While slacklining on the beach one evening durring the Vancouver Folk Fest a friend mentioned there was an upcoming slackline festival in Squamish. So I went.

This festival was definitely not your typical festival. If you’re not familiar with Squamish, many describe it as the the Yosemite counterpart of Canada. There is a lifetime of climbing to be done in Squamish. Of course today we were here to slackline. HevyFest was set at Nexon beach, the sparse architecture there was as if an Antoni Gaudi was into climbing and had a spare afternoon at Nexon beach. The organizers had setup huge burly logs set in concrete in a square configuration which allowed for some interesting line configurations.

I brought my threaded line and rigged it a medium length, which we really tightened down hard. This thing is a ton of fun to surf and jump.

After some warming up on the low lines, we headed over to the water line. (Thanks Matt for rigging it) This thing was nuts! At least thirty meters long, made of of a single strand of tubular webbing. The tension on this line did make us a little nervous. Earlier that morning the wind had been pretty strong and the line was proving to be a sail. This line was making some pretty insane noises as it whipped all around. This line proved more challenging than it looked. I made it a little past halfway perhaps. Next year we’ll rig it again and see if it wants to be walked.

Walking a slacklie over the ocean

Falling

falling into the water

In all, HevyFest 2008 was a success, thanks to Hevy and everyone who helped put it on. Let’s do it every year!

YouTube - Slackline Front Flip - line to line

2009-01-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Highline across Trail 3

2009-01-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Squamish North Gully Highline

2009-01-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

2009-01-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

By Robin Avery

In early November the Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC) at the University of British Columbia, where I attend, organizes a climbing trip to Smith Rock in Oregon. Smith Rock is one of those epic places you have to visit at least once in a lifetime. It’s a sport climbing Mecca of sorts, a place where sport climbing was popularized in North America.
The park is pretty accessible for the day traveler so it sees a lot of tourist traffic. For the life of me I don’t know why Smith Rock isn’t a National Park. It’s a pretty small place considering the amount of bolted sport climbs it hosts.

Day 1: After the obligatory phaffing around, time wasting, etc… We started driving from Vancouver, B.C. around 3 pm. Arrive at the US border. We stop to use the washroom, and the Canadian Border Guards swarm in. Perhaps we got profiled? I guess an Insane amount of miscommunication lead to our friend getting detained, long story short, we have to leave him behind…in the end the Royal Canadian Mounted Police showed up, and they let him go. We never did figure out what happened in the first place. Worst of all he had to take the bus back to Vancouver from the border. One man down…

While passing through a small town near Smith Rock at around 4 am, a cop pulls us over for speeding, I immediately chatted him up and actually got him to give me directions to our campsite instead of a ticket. Local cops are nicer than the Canadian Border Guards.

Day 2: An easy day, full of world class sport climbing in Smith Rock, cheap American beer, Mexican food, ending with the inevitable pallet fire jumping by VOC members.

Day 3: Wake up at the arse-crack of dawn. Dark o’clock. Walk in to the Monkey Face. Begin climbing it. It’s a rappel down to the notch, then a flashy pitch to a small ledge.

Then it’s another pitch up to an exhausting bolt ladder. (…and of course I forgot my etriers!)

This is a popular route, so we had to wait for a party ahead to finish. Finally just before the sun was setting we were able to rig our second anchor inside the monkey face mouth, and tyrolean traverse off by headlamp. Evening time: cheap American beer, pallet fire, and Mexican food. what could be better?!

Day 4: Up at the crack of dawn, pack up camp, head back to the Monkey Face. The wind is howling! Visibility has gone down significantly with all the dust being kicked up. It seems I’m the only one here who actually wants to walk this thing so I end up rigging a 3rd anchor and have a friend belay me on rope in additional to my leash attached to the line. This rope ends up acting like a sail in the wind trying to pull me off. I don’t suggest this method at all, but it was time saving.

I fell quite a few times, the wind was so intense! No whippers though

On the drive home we turned on the radio and heard that most of Oregon and Southwestern Washington was without power due to “hurricane force winds” Hmm… perhaps the wind was stronger than I thought it was…