HEWC Book

Regardless, ALL of these requirements are easily trained by Slacklining a lot. But, you
have to learn how to rig. If you can’t install a slackline, you can’t walk a slackline. So
you have to train your knowledge of ropes, webbing, hardware, angles, tension, working
loads, shock loading, etc, etc. Once you can rig slacklines you realize how many different
styles of rigging, walking, bouncing, and trickling there are and each artisanship of
slackline demands unique skills-- only developed through repeated education, practice,
and failure. So to answer you more concisely, the only way to train and prepare for
slackline, is to prepare slacklines and train on as many as you can.
4. As a professional, what is the best thing about this sport and what sets it apart from
others?
Other than my giant blonde white guy afro, and appearing to do everything “Sketchily,”
I would say that it is my creativity that sets me apart from other professionals.
My ability to see a highline, or a trick, and do it. But, I not just a slackliner, or trick
liner or highliner, or a base jumper, climber, etc, etc, I am a dreamer! I love coming
up with ideas, drawing them on a piece of paper, making them happen, and inviting my
friends! Then I love showing the world and giving them the ability to want to dream for
themselves~ I love helping create shared experiences-- and that love for creation is
what sets me apart from other professional. I am a seer and a doer, and I keep having
visions of my dreams, and I live everyday of my life making them come true. Being able
to develop ideas that combine communities and bring people closer together to improve
their own lives... thats just a diamond in the rough!~ But, please god, I hope I can live
like this forever! :D
5. What was the scariest/most difficult thing you ever had to face in this sport and how
did you overcome it?
The most terrifying and difficult thing to face in this Sport/Lifestyle is the brutal
reality of my own mortality. Thinking of my own death is crazy! It gives me goose
bumps, increases my heart rate, and makes my thoughts race with anxiety. When you
are essentially playing with death on a very constant basis, it wears on your relationship
with your loved ones, your friends, your family; and you have to deal with, fair, but
overwhelming resistance to your lifestyle. Smiling and turning the other cheek seems
to be the best strategy, but in turn this wears on your relationship with yourself. Am I
crazy? Do I have a death wish? How am I still even alive!? Let me put it to you this way,
have you ever been asked the question, “What would you do if you only had a month to
live?” Well, Ive dealt with that question every month for over 5 years. And when you
have a relationship with death like that, seeing people die, loosing friends, seeing brutal
injuries, it really makes how you live your life everyday different from the people
around you. And that is difficult, and terrifying.