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Show AggieLife Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 Page 5 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Slacklining growing in popularity By MATT SONNENBERG staff writer With any activity there is always a select group of people who are constantly aiming to go bigger and better than those who came before them. It seems inevitable that any kind of challenging activity will one day evolve into something much more complex than its origin. Skateboarding was once just a simple means of getting around before eventually evolving into the extreme sport it is today. The same can be said for BMX biking, surfing, rock climbing and many other sports. In line with this concept, slackliners have taken a traditional sport, tightrope, and added their own style. That inch-wide strip of nylon webbing is called a slackline, and it is the main piece of equipment used in an activity rapidly growing in popularity. A slackline is not pulled nearly as tight as a tightrope. Rather, it is intentionally more loose-fit in order to give some bounce and a wobbling effect to those willing to challenge it. Slacklining can be done with the purpose of simply balancing while walking from one end of the rope to the other, or it can be used similar to a trampoline to propel slackliners upward as they attempt aeriel tricks. It can be used for walking across large landgaps, or over bodies of water – particularly backyard swimming pools – used for the purpose of practicing tricks to be done on a slackline. However, here is no set way that a slackline must be used, which is a type of diversity that tends to be inviting to a large audience of participants. Maddie Bourne, USU sophomore in interior design, is among those participating in slacklining. She said slacklining has much more to it than just trying to walk from one end to the other. “There’s not really one set goal to it,” Bourne said. “It just depends on who you are and what your abilities are and what you want to accomplish on the slackline.” This diversity and individuality in slacklining might best be demonstrated in the amount and diversity of videos on YouTube of people showing off their slacklining skills. While the challenges offered by the sport can run about as deep as participants are willing to push boundaries, slacklining is no cakewalk for beginners. “When you first start out, as soon as you get your leg on the line, it just wobbles like crazy,” Bourne said. Even if beginners are able to walk the distance of a slackline, Bourne said a whole new challenge presents itself in attempting to turn around and walk back the other way. “Once you find your center of balance, it’s not hard to do,” Bourne said of the basics of slacklining. “It’s not like you were born with the talent to do it or not, pretty much anybody can do it.” While the sport is on the verge of mainstream popularity, Bourne said passersby who are unfamiliar with slacklining will stop and inquire about what exactly they are doing. “People stop by to watch, they ask what we’re doing, where we got the stuff from, how much it costs, how long we’ve been doing it. Lots of questions,” she said. –matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu. edu Patrick Ball, Junior in mechanical engineering, takes a fall while walking across his slackline. STEVE SELLERS photo Students learn wilderness survival skills Brett Tingey, junior majoring in biology, attempts to use his sling during the Survival Club meeting. TYLER LARSON photo By KARLIE BRAND web editor Want to learn how to survive in the wild and spend time with students who also enjoy the outdoors? Know survival techniques and want to share them with others? Join the Survival Club, a new USU club designed to teach survival techniques. Jonny Olson, junior in biochemistry, started the Survival Club in 2009 to provide a club for students who enjoy the outdoors and want to learn more about survival. “Wilderness survival is our goal. We (will) learn to build fires with less than a match, where to find food if you need to, what water is drinkable, what (water) you need to treat, how to build a shelter,” he said. Olson said the club meets at First Dam every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The club’s first activity, learning how to make leather slings to obtain food, was last Thursday, Oct. 1. Olson said the club will be learning and applying techniques from the U.S. Military Field manual, the Boy Scouts manual and from each other’s own outdoor expertise and experience. Olson said he hopes the club will act as a forum for people with a wide range of survival and outdoor knowledge to share what they know. He said he also hopes to draw from the TV show “Man vs. Wild,” both for entertainment and to learn “a thing or two.” “Man vs. Wild,” a reality-TV show on the Discovery Channel, shows adventurer Bear Grylls as he strands himself in remote locations to demonstrate localized survival techniques. Olson said he hopes to show the TV show as an activity during winter months. “A lot of (‘Man vs. Wild’) is not practical ... but kind of fun,” he said. Ryan Clark, senior in entrepreneurship and an officer in the Survival Club, agreed that “Man vs. Wild” is a fun way to learn about surviving in extremes. Clark said, “It shows what he would do, what he could eat, where to find whatever you need and stuff like that.” He said he has been interested in outdoor survival since high school, when he took a trip to Escalante and had to practice spending a night out and survive in the wilderness. Clark said he is excited to learn basic-survival skills and have fun with others who also appreciate the outdoors. Olson said although students aren’t often in the wilderness, it’s important for them to know what to do if they were lost or in a situation where they needed to find food, water or shelter. “Everyone’s had that feeling when they’re hiking, they look around and nothing looks familiar,” he said. Clark agreed that it can’t hurt to be familiar with basic-survival techniques. “You never know when you’re going to be confronted with a situation that you might need these skills,” he said. Anne Wallin, international studies and political - See WILD, page 6 |