Highlining, Newspaper
Slacklining Christchurch – Highlining in the Newspapers of New zealand
Nov
Daredevils are taking to the Port Hills to test their balancing skills 10 metres above the ground.
Slacklining – and its scarier offshoot of highlining – has exploded overseas and is catching on in Christchurch.
Traditionally, slacklining involved walking precariously on a thin piece of nylon a metre or two off the ground.
Highlining upside down in the Port Hills above Christchurch.
JOSH BARRY / SLACKLINING CHRISTCHURCH
Highlining upside down in the Port Hills above Christchurch.
Highlining has taken it, literally, to a new level.
Christchurch is home to 30 to 50 active slackliners, who practice in Hagley Park in the evenings before highlining in the Port Hills.
Among them is 28-year-old William Heevinga, whose goal is to walk an 80 metre highline across The Gap, in Porters Pass.
He was among a group practising in Hagley Park on Friday night.
“Venturing out over something, where humans are not really intended to be, half way up a cliff with the line swaying in the wind, you feel like you’re floating.
“You have to focus so intently on balance. It’s like an active meditation. For that brief moment, while you’re on the line, everything else doesn’t matter. It’s quite a powerful experience.”
It comes with risks. He tore a neck muscle after falling off a 2 metre slackline, but was undeterred.
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“One day, I want to unicycle on a slackline.”
Ben Gingold did his first highline within a week of moving to Christchurch from the United Kingdom last December.
“It is so much more terrifying than what I thought, when you finally get over your mental fears and relax, it’s amazing,” he said.
The Hagley Park practices caught the eye of many locals.
“Everyone always comes along and asks us what’s happening, it attracts a lot of attention,” Gingold said.
Highliners wore a climbing harness tied to a rope, which dragged behind them to keep them safe, but the risk of falling off still felt more daunting than slacklining at the park, Gingold said.
If he lost his balance on a highline, it was about a 10 metre fall.
“It’s sort of like going for a little bungy jump, it’s a tricky climb back up.”
Mauro Covre, 30, joined the Slacklining Christchurch group after moving to the city from Italy this year.
“We do it about three or four times a week, it depends on the weather though. On Friday nights sometimes we do it in the moonlight”, he said.
Covre said there were about 30 to 50 active slackliners in Christchurch but hundreds more have participated at some point.
Canterbury University student Josh Barry, who is a passionate rock climber, stumbled across some slackliners on the Port Hills a few weeks ago.
“I thought it was pretty insane, it’s something I would love to try though.”
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This article was written by STUFF.CO.NZ
find complete article here:http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/72643846/slackliners-reach-great-heights-above-christchurch
