Since the fall of 2014, the International Slackline Association has been gathering information about slackline related incidents and injuries including falls from a slackline, rigging errors, gear malfunction, and near miss incidents. This information has been gathered through the Slackline Accident and Incident Report form on our website (EN, DE, PR, FR language SAIR report forms) and as informal reports through conversation and social media.

This information has been collected and analyzed in the International Slackline Association Accident and Incident Report 2015 which can be read in full in .pdf format at this link or by clicking on any of the images below.

The SAIR form is intended to gather information about gear failures, rigging mistakes, and other incidents regardless of whether an injury occurred. It is our hope that with this publication, more gear and rigging incidents which have occurred will be reported and that this information will help to minimize the occurrence of future incidents.

Summary of the International Slackline Association Accident and Injury Report 2015

The data below summarizes the official SAIR reports submitted online. The full document also includes some information about all known slackline incidents which have been informally reported. This information is provided as a reference for slackliners to learn from to minimize future incidents.

Figure 1 – Slackline Incidents by Year

This analysis focuses on the 69 incidents reported before February 4th, 2016.

Figure 2 – Slackline Incidents by Month

Most of incidents discussed in the following pages occurred in 2014 and 2015 with no obvious seasonal bias.

Figure 3 – Slackline Incidents by Nationality of the Reporter

In terms of location and nationality, 20% of reports were submitted by French slackliners and another 20% submitted by Germans.

Figure 4 – Slackline Incidents by Location

The trends in terms of location closely match the reporter nationality.

Figure 5 – Slackline Incidents by Nature of Injury

The largest category of reported injuries reported are sustained from “falling off the slackline”, whether it be a longline, trickline, or other. Very few incidents were reported through the SAIR in which someone was injured due to gear failure. In fact, upon closer inspection the one incident reported as “injury due to failure and falling off a slackline”, the purple mark in Figure 7, is described in the narrative provided as the person becoming tangled in a leash during a fall on a midline with no description of gear failure. The narratives of many of these reports describe the participant attempting a new trick, learning a new mount, or other progression.

Figure 6 – Slackline Incidents Across Styles of Slacklining

The number of trickline related incidents/injuries reported through the SAIR form is disproportionately high (34.7% of injuries involved tricklines when 17.8% of audience self-reported as trickliners). Comparatively, the number of injuries sustained while highlining is strikingly disproportionately low (4.7% of injuries with 39.7% of audience self-reported as highliners).

Figure 7 – Slackline Incidents by Nature of Incident

That the predominant cause of injury in slacklining is reported as being due to falling from the slackline indicates that gear related injuries are uncommon and that incidents rarely relate to equipment or rigging quality. Rigging errors and gear failures are known to have happened, though few have been reported to the SAIR as of February 2015 when this data was compiled.

SUMMARY

Current estimates place the active slackline population at between 10,000-30,000 people (‘active’ being people who slackline regularly and are involved in the larger slackline community). When including people who occasionally slackline, slackline in climbing gyms without becoming more involved in the sport, own slacklines without using them often, or have slacklined in the past, this number could be as high as 300,000 – 500,000 people. When considering the low number of incidents found in context with other sports, slacklining appears to be relatively safe. The primary mode of injury in slacklining is falling whereas other sports, particularly team contact sports, have multiple modes of injury to be considered.

This document describes a total of 69 SAIR submissions and 35 informal reports of rigging errors, gear failure, and leash errors for a total of about 100 known incidents from 2009-2015. Many of these incidents can be at least partially attributed to a lack of safe rigging knowledge as the sport developed.

This is not a complete data set as it relies on participants self-reporting. However, given the degree of connectivity within the slackline community, it is uncommon for major incidents to remain unknown and unreported.

The majority of reports in this data set focused on injuries. The SAIR form is intended to gather information about gear failures, rigging mistakes, and other incidents regardless of whether an injury occurred. It is our hope that with this publication, more gear and rigging incidents will be reported in the future.

Take home points

• Falling from slackline is the most common event leading to an injury
• Fractures (broken bones) are the most common injury overall
• Tricklining and Longlining have the highest rates of incident reporting / injuries
• Highlining incident/injury report rate is strikingly low (4.7% of reports cited highline injuries)

The data discussed in this report demonstrates a relatively low rate of injuries and incidents in slacklining. This report was compiled in order to increase awareness both of safety and the need to report slackline injuries and incidents to assist in the development of the sport.

As the community grows, augmented by social media, the need for data analysis and educational resources increases in order to maintain the relative safety within the various disciplines of slacklining. It is for this reason publications such as the Webbing Slippage Warning, Buddy Check Advisory, Longline Recommendations documents, and more are prepared and distributed by the International Slackline Association. These documents and more can be found on the Publications page of the ISA website.

Slackline Accident and Incident Report – 2015 Analysis_EN (.pdf)

The post 2015 SAIR Analysis Published – Slackline Accident and Incident Report appeared first on International Slackline Association.

Additionally, information about these lines and access in the area has been added to the SlackMap (https://slackmap.com/x/s02a8wqvBT8vX).

NORWAY HIGHLINING

• Bolting is illegal in Norway without express permission from the land owner or land manager.
• No new bolts should be placed in Kjerag while access negotiations are ongoing.
• Future new lines in the Kjerag area may be possible, but would require authorization from the land manager and conservation organization.
• The International Slackline Association is working to preserve the highlines that are already established, especially those west of Kjeragbolten (the boulder lodged between the cliffs) as they are further from the common tourist sites.

Norway, Kjeragbolten

The most important point, bolting in Norway is illegal without permission of the land owner or land manager. For many years, highlines have been established in the fjords near Stavanger without permission of the land manager. This recently came to attention when highliners were approached by local climbing and hiking officials while rigging a new line.

The local conservation organizations, climbing organizations, and hiking organization have recently held a meeting in which on of the topics was the quality and number of bolts present in the Kjerag area. Some bolts have been placed by climbers, some by search and rescue operations, and some are placed as highline bolts. The decision was made at this meeting to clean up bolts in the area by removing or replacing bolts which do not meet the highest standards of quality (for reasons of safety and longevity) or which are of no further use.

CURRENT STATUS OF HIGHLINE ACCESS IN NORWAY

As part of that conversation, representatives from the International Slackline Association have been communicating with Norwegian organizations. The current status with respect to Kjerag is that bolts currently in place may be used as long as lines are not left unattended and highliners follow good stewardship ethics (Leave No Trace, clean camps, no rock throwing to check height, etc.)

Some of the established lines may be rebolted and some bolts may be removed in the near future. For the time being, no new bolts should be placed without express permission from the conservation organizations and the land manager.

The beta for some of Kjerag lines is available at the links below:

If you would like to be involved in these conversations, please contact us at info@slacklineinternational.org.

The post Update (June 2017): Bolting and Highlining in Norway appeared first on International Slackline Association.

Thanks to our volunteer translators and proofreaders for their efforts. Take a look!

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Norway, Kjeragbolten

Norway provides some of the most picturesque landscapes for highlining, and as such, has become a bucket list item for many among the highline community. A recent highlining expedition to Norway, however, has reported stumbling against the local bolting ethic. To provide clarity to the community, we are passing on information from a Norwegian climbing association. These ethics should be adopted for highlining in the country.

1. In general, bolts should not be placed in the mountains but only on sport climbing cliffs
2. Bolts should not be placed on lines which are possible to climb with natural protection
3. The local climbing club and community should be consulted before placing bolts
4. Bolting must not be done without the consent of the land owner

Previously established bolts for highlining at Kjerag may be allowed to remain for the time being. Please respect the local ethic, in Norway or in any land, and do not place bolts without permission from the local authorities and/or communities. Failure to do so can hinder highline access for the entire community.

More information on Norway bolting policy

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Three years ago, the first version of longline recommendations was published in the name of Swiss Slackline. Today, we are proud to present the second version of this document, in the name of the International Slackline Association. The document was written and edited by Thomas Buckingham and Thomas Spöttl. It was reviewed by some of the most experienced longliners and updated with some nice illustrations and photos. The document delivers recommendations essential to longlining.

Be aware that land- park- and treeowners,managers, and insurance firms will also study this document in detail, as the past has shown. This document can assist with acquiring insurance and lead to long term agreements between slackliners and landowners/managers.

Thanks everyone for the hard work!

If you have inputs and comments for the version 3, let us know through info@slacklineinternational.org

Longline Recommendations

      
English – Web version (.pdf)
English – Print version (.pdf)
German – Web version (.pdf)
German – Print version (.pdf)

Authors and Editors:
Thomas Buckingham​ – Vice-President ISA, President Swiss-Slackline Association, Bern
Thomas Spöttl (Snöüdl Snomas​) – Treasurer ISA, Secretary Slackline Association Austria, Vienna

Review:
Harald Höglinger – Chairman Slackline Association Austria, Wien
Philipp Gesing​ – President German Slackline Association, Slackline Tübingen e.V.​
Christian Rojek – Slackline Berlin​
Guido Häfeli – Slackin’Spirit Association​ Lausanne
Laetitia Go​nnon – President Slackline Gèneve
Igor Scotland​ – Chairman Vienna Slackliners​
Damian Jörren​ – Landcrusing Slacklines, Slacklab.de, Dresden
Marian Harbach​ – Slackline Hannover

Translation to English:
Marian Harbach

Layout:
Andi Erschen​
Elias Hodel​

Illustrations:
Samuel Bucher (Unkle Sam​)
Sonya Iverson​

Photos:
Tobias Marti
Thomas Buckingham
Stefan Junghannss

The post Longline Recommendations Published appeared first on International Slackline Association.

Congrats on a beautiful new record. For more information, see the Red Bull article and the video below. Also, on FranceInfo.fr.

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On November 15th, Théo Sanson (FR) sent a 493m highline in the Utah desert, a project masterminded by Andy Lewis. Check out the video below and part of the story written by Andy which will be published in full this spring by Slackline U.S. 

“Hands down this is the scariest, most fear inspiring, inner child murdering, monster of a highline — I have ever seen. Just walking 1/3 of this highline would break my Personal Record by nearly 40 meters!!~ I’m not sure if it’s the 2000′ of exposure, the 1600′ of line stretching into oblivion, or the fact that I consistently BASE jump from lower than the amount of SAG this line has… But flabbergasted is all I feel at the anchors. Full on– 110% — flabergastification.” – Andy Lewis, Facebook post

Beginning in 2010, in the last 5 years I have been a part of rigging 40+ tower highlines in and around Moab, and this gap was always on my radar. It was just a matter of time and organization. When the World Record this summer went to 469m, and then hit 477m with Samuel Volery, I decided to go on Google Earth and measure the Castleton line because I thought— at first– that the new record might have already exceed the distance of the gap, and I was curious. I knew it would be close.

I uploaded Castle Valley and measured the distance… 510 meters. I imagined the highline, 2000ft high, on the summit of 400′ towers, 1600+ft long, and at that moment, I posted online that we should rig this gap and try to walk it. I put an image of my measurement from Google Earth and said I had all the gear! Many people responded or displayed interest, but only Theo actually came to Moab; and he came with a crew with stoke pouring out of their ears. Now, it was 6:30am and I had to get out of bed and push myself out to the highline. This was a project just for fun, by slackers who just love slacking; and sometimes the fun comes from pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. I tossed my covers to the side, and embraced the November chill on my skin as I headed to the kitchen to make coffee.

The Castleton Line spanned the distance between two of the most epic and iconic formations in the desert. Castleton itself is a vertical sandstone tower, a sentinel over the Colorado River, and The Rectory, our second anchor, a jagged collection of spires across the saddle connecting them. At 1600 or more feet across, with sag of nearly 150′ this line not only had the potential to break world records, it defined a level of highlining so massive it infringed on federal airspace. Hence, me being up at 6:30am filing a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) to make sure any pilots in the area knew of the line.

Read the full story soon, in Andy’s own words, published by our partner, Slackline U.S.

Andy Lewis is a rather infamous slackliner and basejumper known for his sketchy antics and passion for life at full throttle.

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The highline extreme – World Record gathering on the Moléson

During the last weekend of September highliners from all over Europe gathered on the Moléson in Switzerland to deliver a great show and try some of the longest highlines ever rigged. The event was organised by Samuel Volery from slacktivity.ch in collaboration with Claude Gendre from une-bonne-idee.ch. After last year’s success of the event, more highliners turned up and enjoyed a free stay sponsored by the restaurant and the cable car company.

There were four lines rigged from the cable car station ranging from 45 to 150m as well as the two world record lines at 296m and 477m. The good atmosphere and the beautiful weather above a sea of clouds gave everyone high spirits. Sarah Rixham (GB) broke the women’s world record on a wobbly 122m line during sunset. Furthermore the 296m line was sent in succession by Nathan Paulin (FR), Friedi Kühne (GER) and Alexander Schulz (GER) over the course of two days, but this new polyester world record should not stand for very long, as Samuel Volery (CH) was on his way to send the 477m when Alexander finished its shorter sibling. Thus, on the 26th of September, Samuel Volery broke the overall highline world record on a polyester line (PES mainline and backup, 2x 48g/m, 2 cm wide webbing,) full PES over a beautiful sea of clouds lit by the sunset.

Everyone was glad to have been part of this event and Saturday evening ended in a big party in the summit restaurant, much to the amusement of the other guests.

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Participants discussing various topics related to slacklining in public spaces. Photo: Benj Herren / Julian Huber.

From the 22nd to the 28th of August, roughly thirty people from Germany, Austria, the UK and Switzerland gathered in Bern, Switzerland, to join efforts in brainstorming and creating recommendations on how to gain and preserve access to public lands. Philipp Gesing, Thomas Spöttl, Charles Chater and Thomas Buckingham were the leaders of the four delegations.

The event was funded by the Swiss branch of a European programme called “Youth in Action” (YIA) or Erasmus. The YIA funding is available to cover the costs of travel, food and accommodation in order to bring young Europeans together for different purposes. To find out more about the YIA program, see here.

Locally the meeting was organised by members of SlackAttack – the slackline association of Bern (member of Swiss-Slackline), namely Thomas Buckingham, Alexis Gonin, Benj Herren and Marc Thompson. Additionally the meeting preceded the Bern City Slack Festival. This provided a good opportunity for the founding members of the ISA (Swiss Slackline, Slackline Verband, Slackline US & Slackline Germany) to meet in person, in one place and delineate what still needed to be done before the official foundation could take place.

Participants in the YIA meeting set up slacklines in multiple locations around Bern and were on hand with fliers and questionnaires to talk to the locals about their perspectives. Photo: Benj Herren / Julian Huber.

The atmosphere during the event was very lively, which in part can certainly be attributed to the delicious vegan food cooked by Benj Herren and Alexis Gonin. Nonetheless people were very productive. The meeting sometimes could be compared to an anthill. The rare opportunity to live together with a large group of international slackliners was seized and it did not take long for a workflow to develop.

A number of groups treated different topics of interest, such as communication with authorities, actively performing roleplays while others focused on rigging safety and other topics. The daily routine also included going out to three slackline spots in Bern on bikes and enjoying the weather while interviewing passer-by’s and discussing the safety and legal aspects of the spots.

Great things happen when energetic people come together for a good purpose.  Photo: Sarah Gmeiner.

The feedback gathered at the end of the week suggests most participants were able to take something back home with them from the event: be it motivation, knowledge, new approaches or insights into other slackline communities. The event was a success and hopefully it will inspire more of its kind in the future.

As part of the YIA program, this flier was produced to share our thoughts about how to responsibly use, enrich, and share public spaces.

YIA – Enriching Public Space Flier (English)
Translations of this document coming soon.

This project was supported by the CH Foundation

Marc Thompson has been slacklining for 4 years, is on the board of SlackAttack and studies English and Spanish language and literature.

German

Vom 22. bis am 28. August trafen sich ungefähr dreissig Slackliner aus der Schweiz, Deutschland, Österreich, Grossbritannien und der Schweiz in Bern, um gemeinsam Empfehlungen für Zugang und Erhalt von öffentlichen Räumen auszuarbeiten. Philipp Gesing (DE), Thomas Spöttl (AT), Charles Chater (UK) und Thomas Buckingham (CH) waren die Verantwortlichen der vier Delegationen.

Das Event wurde von der CH Stiftung im Programm “Jugend in Aktion” unterstützt. Die Stiftung deckt Kosten für Reise, Verpflegung und Unterkunft damit junge Europäer für verschiedene Zwecke zusammenkommen können. Mehr Infos hier.

Lokal wurde das Meeting von Mitgliedern des Berner Slackline-Vereins SlackAttack organisiert, ein Mitglied von Swiss-Slackline, dem Schweizer Slackline-Verband. Konkret waren das Thomas Buckingham, Alexis Gonin, Benj Herren und Marc Thompson. Zusätzlich eröffnete das Meeting das darauffolgende Bern City Slack Festival. Hier trafen sich die Gründungsmitglieder der ISA (Swiss Slackline, Slackline-Verband Österreich, Slackline US & Slackline Deutschland) um die letzten Vorbereitungen vor der offiziellen Gründung anzugehen.

Die Atmosphäre während des Events war sehr belebt, was nicht zuletzt auch am köstlichen veganen Essen von Benj Herren und Alexis Gonin lag; nichtsdestotrotz waren die Teilnehmer sehr produktiv. Das Treiben glich des öfteren einem Ameisenhaufen. Die Möglichkeit mit einer Gruppe internationaler Slackliner zusammen zu leben und zu arbeiten wurde genutzt und es entwickelte sich schnell ein Workflow.

Diverse Gruppen beschäftigten sich mit verschiedenen Themen, wie Öffentliche- und Selbstwahrnehmung, auch Kommunikation untereinander und mit Behörden. Die tägliche Routine beinhaltete auch Slacklinen bei verschiedenen Berner Spots, Passanten wurden mit Rollenspielen und Umfragen konfrontiert und in Diskussionen wurde nach Lösungen gesucht. Die Teilnehmer waren auf gemieteten Fahrrädern unterwegs.

Das Feedback nach der Woche war positiv und alle Teilnehmer konnten etwas von der Woche mitnehmen: Sei es Motivation, Wissen, neue Ansätze, Einsichten in andere Kulturen und in Slackline-Szenen und vieles mehr. Das Meeting war ein Erfolg und wird hoffentlich in Zukunft ähnliche inspirieren. Das Programm “Jugend in Aktion” gibt es in vielen europäischen Ländern, erkundet euch danach.

Dieses Projekt wurde Unterstützt durch die CH Stiftung.

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Urban Highline Festival was held again in Lublin, Poland in July as part of the annual city festival. In it’s 7th year, UHF is organized by Jan Galek, Faith Dickey, Jordon Tybon, Piotr Błaszczak and a rotating crew of riggers and offers the unique experience of walking out of the city hall windows and between church spires.

With 2-300 highliners attending, we took advantage of the gathering to talk a bit about the International Slackline Association and ask for input from the community. Sonya Iverson and Bradley Duling made a presentation about the development of the ISA thus far and our goals. The following day two workshops were held with 33 people attending to talk about the development of national associations and the model of the International Slackline Association.

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