The SpokeSman • TueSday, SepTember 20, 2022 A9
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John, left, balances on the “Blue Dream” highline at the Smith Rock Highline Gathering on Sept. 16 outside Terrebonne.
nick rosenberger/Spokesman
Highliners fist bump on a ledge before attempting the “Blue Dream”
highline at the Smith Rock Highline Gathering on Sept. 16 outside
Terrebonne.
nick rosenberger/Spokesman
A highliner stretches for a brief second before attempting to walk along
the “Blue Dream” highline.
Slackline
Continued from A1
There was at least one serious
injury associated with the event.
On Saturday, Sept. 17 about
10 a.m., Deschutes County
Dispatch received a call that a
21-year-old Seattle man fell 35-
50 feet off a cliff near Asterick’s
Pass while was scrambling up
rock to set up a slack line.
According to county Search
and Rescue, the hiker had to be
loaded into a litter and lowered
about 650 feet to the river trail.
Crews did that safely by about
3:30 p.m., when the hiker was
transported to St Charles for
further medical evaluation.
Climbers quickly evacuated
the area on Saturday afternoon
as well, as rain and lightning
moved through the area.
But for most, the weekend
went off without a hitch.
The slacklines, known as
highlines when rigged up at
dizzying heights, could be
found across Smith Rock at
iconic climbing areas such as
Monkey Face and Red Wall.
“Those first highlines that
you do, it’s all you can do to just
force yourself to just stand up,”
said George Braun, the orga-
nizer for this year’s event. “It’s
just completely gripping you
with fear. Everything is telling
you that you shouldn’t be doing
this. Millions of years of evolu-
tion kept you alive because you
didn’t do things like this.”
Much of the battle in cross-
ing a highline, however, is not
in the physical ability. Instead,
it’s almost entirely a mental
game.
“Your body is fighting you,”
Braun said. “You have to go a
little bit mindless”
For Sam Greenwalt, the
highline gathering was a first.
Although he’d done slacklining
at ground level before, doing it
at such great heights was new.
Greenwalt was antsy to get on
a line, excited to try something
new and inch himself across the
abyss below.
“All the people are pretty en-
couraging,” he said. “They’re
like ‘Yeah, do it.’”
Braun agreed, saying that
highlining quickly creates bond
between people. From hauling
the gear up hundreds of feet,
rigging everything and goofing
around during the downtime as
others attempt a line, relation-
ships built around it are some-
thing to remember.
Highlining, Braun said, is
one of the rare sports where it
takes a team of people to create
the conditions for just one per-
son to be able to do it. But, once
you hit a critical mass then ac-
tion can start.
“Slackliners are some of the
most empathetic and open and
wholehearted people that I’ve
met,” Braun said.
Along with forming friend-
ships highlining is an opportu-
nity to challenge their bodies
and minds. It’s an opportunity
Highliners balance on the “Blue
Dream” highline at the Smith Rock
Highline Gathering on Sept. 16
outside Terrebonne.
nick rosenberger/Spokesman
to challenge the fear ricochet-
ing through their beating hearts
and find a flow state with their
entire focus on what’s in front
of them.
“It’s everything turned up
to 11. The first few steps on a
highline might be the most tir-
ing steps you take on a slack-
line,” Braun said. “(The) beau-
tiful thing about highlining is
learning to work with that fear.”
After those first couple times,
he said, you start to become
more comfortable but the fear
never disappears completely.
When a line starts to wobble or
you try to fight the line, the fear
can come rushing back.
He said it helps to pretend
that you’re walking a line at
ground level and just let muscle
memory take hold. And, one of
the reasons he enjoys highlining
so much is for the feeling when
he finally steps off the line —
feeling the exhilaration, the re-
lief and accomplishment over
conquering body and mind.
Highliners tighten rigging on
the “Overdose” highline at the
Smith Rock Highline Gathering
on Sept. 16 outside Terrebonne.
nick rosenberger/Spokesman
“It’s just incredible,” he said.
█
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