Trying Something New: Slackrope

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Because I want to do it all...

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Since my post on Learning the Ropes, I’ve wanted even more to try slackwire/slackrope—so that I can say I’ve tried the whole spectrum of tensions in rope walking. 

Yesterday was the day! 

My slackrope was a length of black braided rope hanging between two trees in a loose arc—until I stepped on it: then it became a taut triangle with me at the point. 

My opinion of this rope discipline? Terrifying. It took every ounce of balancing skill I’ve learned over the last three years to keep the rope from shaking and pitching me off. It didn’t help that the rope I used was thin, slick, and stretchier than anticipated.  It had an unnerving inclination to roll unexpectedly out from under my foot and snap up at me. 

In spite of how careful I had to be to keep myself in one piece, my first attempts on a slackrope went pretty well: I was able to stand and take a few careful steps, which is a whole lot more than I managed on my first few tries on slackline. It's awesome to see how much my balance has improved; improved enough that I had some success and control even in a situation with unfamiliar balance dynamics.  

The feel of the slackrope was fascinating really. I already described how putting my weight on the rope turned the arc into a taut triangle, but it was more than that. Standing on one leg, I could feel the angle of the rope on either side of my foot change as I shifted my weight from my heel to the ball of my foot. The geometry changed again when I put both feet on the line and when I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.

Oh, an interesting note: after trying so hard to control the shaking swing of the slackrope, I struggled to walk the slackline that was set up near by. I was trying to compensate for slack that was no longer there, just like I do when I walk my balance pipe after slacklining.

I look forward to trying again with better rope or wire cable, and then of course I'll need to try the slackliner's equivalent: "rodeo slackline."  For now though, this was a fun mini adventure and I'm proud that I am developing my balance skills across the spectrum: from very slack to completely static, and plenty of points in between.