A14
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Highline festival balances a good time at Smith Rock
By NICK ROSENBERGER
Redmond Spokesman
TERREBONNE — Poised
a few hundred feet over hik-
ers tracing the winding path
of the Crooked River, Hannah
Edmond stood briefl y on a
1-inch-wide nylon line before
falling headfi rst toward the
chasm below.
Her blue climbing harness
tightened around her as the
safety ropes and highline rig-
ging, anchored into the out-
croppings at Smith Rock State
Park, pulled taut. Her body
swung left and right before
safely coming to a stop.
She smiled, then pulled
herself up and back onto the
thin nylon webbing to try
again.
This scene played out
throughout the mid-Septem-
ber weekend as people from
across Oregon and beyond
met up for the Smith Rock
Highline Gathering. The event
drew dozens of highliners to
Smith Rock who aimed to
balance across fl at lines —
known as slacklines — sus-
pended in the air, some as long
as 738 feet.
There was at least one seri-
ous injury associated with
the event. On Saturday, Sept.
17, about 10 a.m., Deschutes
County dispatch received a
call that a 21-year-old Seat-
tle man fell 35 to 50 feet off a
cliff near Asterick’s Pass while
scrambling up rock to set up a
slackline.
According to Deschutes
County Search and Rescue, the
hiker had to be loaded into a
stretcher and lowered about 650
feet to the river trail. Crews did
that safely by about 5:30 p.m.,
when the hiker was transported
to St. Charles Medical Cen-
ter in Bend for further medical
evaluation.
Climbers quickly evacuated
the park on Saturday afternoon
as well, as rain and lightning
moved through the area.
But for most participants,
the weekend went off without
a hitch.
The slacklines, known as
highlines when rigged up at diz-
zying heights, could be found
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
A highliner pulls himself along the Blue Dream highline at the Smith Rock Highline Gathering on Friday, Sept. 16, outside Terrebonne.
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
Hannah Edmond slides out on the Overdose highline at the Smith
Rock Highline Gathering on Friday, Sept. 16, outside Terrebonne.
Highliners tighten rigging on the Overdose highline at the Smith
Rock Highline Gathering.
across Smith Rock at iconic
climbing areas such as Monkey
Face and Red Wall.
“Those fi rst 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-
abyss below.
“All the people are pretty
encouraging,” he said. “They’re
like ‘Yeah, do it.’”
Braun agreed, saying that
highlining quickly creates a
bond between people. From
hauling the gear up hundreds
of feet, to rigging everything
and goofi ng around during the
downtime as others attempt a
line, relationships built around
it are something to remember.
Highlining, Braun said, is
one of the rare sports where it
ing a highline, however, is not
in the physical ability. Instead,
it’s almost entirely a mental
game.
“Your body is fi ghting you,”
Braun said. “You have to go a
little bit mindless”
For Sam Greenwalt, the
highline gathering was a fi rst.
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
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
action 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 oppor-
tunity to challenge a per-
son’s body and mind. It’s an
opportunity to challenge the
fear ricocheting through their
beating hearts and fi nd a fl ow
state with their entire focus on
what’s in front of them.
“It’s everything turned up
to 11. The fi rst few steps on a
highline might be the most tir-
ing steps you take on a slack-
line,” Braun said. “(The)
beautiful thing about highlin-
ing is learning to work with
that fear.”
After those fi rst couple
times, he said, you start to
become more comfortable but
the fear never disappears com-
pletely. When a line starts to
wobble or you try to fi ght the
line, the fear can come rush-
ing back.
He said it helps to pretend
that you’re walking a line at
ground level and just let mus-
cle memory take hold. One of
the reasons Braun enjoys high-
lining so much is for the feel-
ing when he fi nally steps off
the line — feeling the exhil-
aration, the relief and accom-
plishment over conquering
body and mind.
“It’s just incredible,” he
said.