HowNOT2 Course
How to Use a Highline that is Already Rigged
Going to a highline festival? Meeting up with some highliners that invited you out? If you get the chance to go highlining your first time, make sure it's a good experience and prepare by taking this free course. Highlining has a bigger barrier to entry just to start out compared to other sports. There's no top rope version of this! ... I mean there is, but it sucks and it's not that helpful, but I digress....
We show you how to do it, how NOT to do it and ways you can practice most of what you need just next to the ground.
DON'T try slacklining "up high" to prepare!!! If you are not high enough, your leash will flip you over, just in time to hit your head on the ground like the tip of a whip. Use all that stoke you have to watch a few videos and read through the blogs.
There are 7 core videos that cover the topic A-Z and we will guide you to them in this "textbook". A blog allows it to be easy to read on any device, easy for us to add and update the information, and easy to translate. Consider each blog we send you to as "chapters" and they will always point to the next place you should head. You can always come back to this "Textbook" blog.
Welcome to the original reason I started this channel… Highlining 101 or “How to use a highline that is already set up.” This is 80 short videos squished into 6 categories and 7 videos. You can skip along in the chapters in the timeline or watch the whole thing. If you are a pro, we recommend you share this series with new highliners before you take them out for their first adventure. This also would be great if festivals recommended this to anyone arriving that might have never done it before.
Our A-Z content is in a blog form which allows it to be easy to read on any device, easy for us to add and update the information, and easy to translate. Consider each blog we send you to as "chapters" and they will always point to the next place you should head. You can always come back to this "Textbook" blog.
DISCLAIMER
Highlining is an inherently dangerous sport and people have died participating in it. This course is not a guarantee that you will not be injured or die. Rather, this course is a culmination of “best practices” done globally in our highlining community. A lot of techniques and technology are pioneered specifically for our niche sport and are built on logical assumptions and simulated testing, BUT it is NOT 100% safe. Things can fail and things can fail lower than we previously thought with an enormous amount of variables that are difficult to predict. We build in safety factors and redundancy to reduce the risk but there is still risk. The action of rigging highlines is as dangerous or more dangerous than being attached to a properly rigged highline. Be clipped in when working near cliff edges!
This course is interactive. You are not just reading and watching, but actively practicing the actions in this course. You are doing them at your own risk. If you don’t feel it is safe in general or safe for you and your body type, or safe for your location, THEN DON’T DO IT. We promote safety
and best practices but there is a risk in trying the things we show you at Highline University International. If you proceed with taking this course, then you understand it is at your own risk and Highline University International and How NOT to LLC, the parent company, is not responsible for any injury or death that may occur.
Required Course Materials
You will learn a lot taking this course but unless you practice it won’t help you when you actually go out highlining. You will need the following gear when you go highlining and you can find all this in the “Gear Buying Guide” section.
● Stoke
● Harness
● Personal Anchor System (PAS)
● Line slide
Additionally you will need a BASIC 1” SLACKLINE SETUP and a 12 foot (4m) ROPE to practice the lessons in the park (not just walking). 2” ratchet kits are ok to practice but you will benefit more using 1” as all highlines use 1” webbing. You could buy an actual leash from a slackline company since you will need one eventually if you intend to rig your own highlines, but if you can just find a UIAA 9mm (or larger) scrap climbing rope, that will suffice for the course.
Highline Outfitters
I love amazon as much as the next dirtbag, but it takes years to put safe hardware and webbing out to the market. As this sport grows, more and more slackline knockoff companies will start popping up. SUPPORT YOUR SLACK FAMILY! The companies below are dedicated slackers providing a full range of products. We include every slack company in this course. Balance community and Spider Slacklines helps support us when you click the link before purchasing something.
United states
Balance Community https://www.balancecommunity.com
Slackline Industries https://slacklineindustries.com/
Canada
Slacklife BC https://www.slacklifebc.com
Europe
Slacktivity https://www.slacktivity.com/
Slack Inov slack-inov.com
Aki Slacklines https://aki-slacklines.de/en
Slack Mountain https://slack-mountain.com/en/
Raed Slacklines https://raed-slacklines.com/
EQB/Spider Slacklines https://spider-slacklines.com/ & https://www.slackshop.cz/en/
Easy Slack/SlackFr www.slack.fr
Gibbon https://www.gibbon-slacklines.com/en/ ***No Gibbon products can be used in a highline but is a good brand
Slackhouse https://slackhouseshop.pl/en/
Russia
Souz Slacklines https://souzslackline.com/
South-America
Shaoline slackline www.shaoline-slackline.com.ar (argentina)
Bera Adventure (brasil) https://beraadventure.com.br/ (brazil)
Course Outline
Each chapter below focuses on these 6 concepts
Cliff Management
Line sliding
Walking
Falling
Getting back on
Self Reliance
This was originally 80x 5 minute videos. Now it is 7 videos with everything timestamped for your convenience. Feel free to skip around to just the parts you want or watch in its entirety.
What should you buy if you are just going to get on other people's highlines? We cover your personal gear you need in this section
You would be surprised how much you can get good at on the ground, even without a slackline. And they are skills you are unlikely to have from other sports, so get prepared.
If your leash catches you from falling to your death, you can still get hurt. Here are things you need to know to prevent injury.
That's awesome you got the right gear. Now how do you use it? How do you tie in, and how do you use the silly looking carabiner with the wheels?
Don't be that guy or gal! Every sport has a socially unacceptable things. Look at this if you want to keep being invited back to a highline.
Ok, ok ok. Finally going to show you how to use the highline. The part you may have thought we would have started the course with. Well, here you go!