“Buy things you can use for multiple purposes.” What NOT to Buy Episode 1 of 7 This is a free course shows you how to use a highline that is already set up. Our courses are A-Z content in blog format, glued together with an overarching blog we call a textbook. A blog format is easy to read, easy to update, and easy to translate. Be sure to begin at the TEXTBOOK and at the end of each episode we'll point you to the next. Each slackline specific company sells slackline kits. Unfortunately there is no perfect slackline kit that you can use every part for highlining in the future, and that is ideal if you buy things that can be used for both. Carabiners are always helpful but have limited use on a highline, and it's nice to have a slackline you can beat up in the park and save your highline webbing for highlining. Longlining in the park is fun, but to buy 100+ meters of webbing and big pulleys can get expensive and you may not use either on a highline. I do recommend the basic kits to start with if you do not currently own a slackline, because it is always nice to have a basic slackline. Just be mindful of future purchases as the goal is to buy things once! The background gear wall on HNTH is not success but failure. No one needs that much gear. We will show you the pros and cons of all the gear available that is relevant for what we are teaching in this course. You will have to decide if saving a few extra dollars on gear that might be heavier or less effective, or buying something that will be better long term is right for you. Where you live can also play a factor in what you buy. We try to give you the best tools to make those decisions. Things You DON’T Need: Ratchet slackline kits are the easiest kits to buy and set up.Even I own one for when I’m feeling extra lazy. However, you can not use any parts of these in a highline and not only that, they do not prep you for highlining as we walk on 1” (25mm) webbing and these are 2” (50mm) wide. Train on what you will be highlining on. Super low stretch polyester webbing is easy to rig in the park but sucks to whip on when rigging under 50 meters. If the stretch chart looks like this, where at 4kn it is lower than 4%, then it is not something you will want to highline on if rigging under 50m. Giant shackles or hardware, they are strong, but unnecessary and you won’t want to carry such heavy gear up a mountain in the future. Giant pulleys like the image of the 3” SMC pulleys are not useful for highlining, try to get a light weight pulley system like RAED has that could be used on big highlines. But even then you won't really need pulleys for highlines so just know that if you buy them, you will only be using them in the park. Diagram below shows the buckingham tension system which we use on highlines and if you add the 2 extra lineslides/hangovers it gives more mechanical advantage for park lines. Amazon or off-brand slackline gear. Only trust quality slackline companies for gear that you trust your life to. Don’t buy crap on amazon or eBay that you will trust your life to! Things you DO need: Harness: Buy a normal climbing harness. $40-$60 takes you a long way for a normal harness but many avid highliners use the Arc’teryx 395a with adjustable leg loops because it is so light weight. It isn’t good to sit in for long periods of time, if you plan on that for some reason, big wall harnesses give more padding. Just don’t buy that crappy harnesses you can rent at a climbing gym. Industrial harnesses with clip in points at your back or chest are also awful because you won’t be able to climb a leash once you fall. Just stick with a normal climbing harness. PAS: You need a personal anchor system to be clipped in near a cliff edge. Petzl’s Connect Adjust Lanyard is too short in my opinion but they do have a longer one that has two connections called the Petzl’s Evolv and that is nice for really steep areas that you need to be extra safe. For safeish scenarios, smaller personal anchors like Metolius Easy daisy is convenient to leave on your harness even when you highline but probably won’t hold you if you fell over the edge and loaded it with factor 2 forces. The Purcell Prusik is easy to home make with 5mm or 6mm cordelette. That is my preferred anchor when rigging highlines on cliff tops where I am not loading it full time. Shoes: If you choose to wear shoes while highlining, thin soled shoes are the best. Shoes can be great if it is cold outside or if you have plantar fasciitis and can’t walk on highlines for extended periods of time barefoot. But if it has a thick sole you won’t be able to feel the line and where your foot is relative to it Gloves: Some choose to use full gloves but I enjoy using fingerless gloves that are thin and can protect my hands but also give me dexterity while rigging or catching the line. Carabiners: You need some for anything you do. Carabiners should not be used in longlining, or master points of highlines but your PAS needs some and anything you are trying to keep from falling down a cliff needs some. If you have none currently, I recommend 6 non lockers like BD OvalWires as they are the work horse of what I use. I recommend 4 small auto lockers and 2 large ones which you can see weighmyrack’s great breakdown of all your options Lineslide. EVERYONE needs their own line slide if they plan on highlining. These are carabiners with wheels the width of the webbing. The two best ones on the market are the Hangover Royal (don’t buy the others, they have spaces in between the wheels) and now the Rollex which is comparable in every way as the Hangover. Don’t even bother with the cheaper models. You will regret it. And don’t buy locking lineslides. The lock spins when you are trying to get it on and off the webbing and is a total pain in the ass. You are either attached by a leash or a locking carabiner with a PAS so the lock on them is unnecessary HowNOT2 Contribute If you have something to share, we'd love to add it. Please be kind by delivering something ready to add, whether that is a video or an image or a written piece, and tell us where you think it best fits. It doesn't have to agree with what we included, but it does have to be respectful and professional. There are a lot of great ideas out there and this is a place they can be shared. ryan@slackline.com What's Next This course is free but not free to make. If it really helped you, please consider SUPPORTING US.

“Practice everything that you can at home.” Preparation Episode 2 of 7 This is a free course shows you how to use a highline that is already set up. Our courses are A-Z content in blog format, glued together with an overarching blog we call a textbook. A blog format is easy to read, easy to update, and easy to translate. Be sure to begin at the TEXTBOOK and at the end of each episode we'll point you to the next. If you are going to a highline festival or invited to a highline project, then you don’t want to waste that precious opportunity trying to figure out things you could have learned at home in the park. We make sure you have the right gear, know how to use it and can mount the line and stand up on it. There is a lot more to highlining than just the walking part and we observe “newbies” exerting a lot of energy on things they shouldn’t, wearing themselves out, limiting the amount of time they can enjoy the fun parts of highlining. Some Preparation Tips: Learn your harness before you need to use it How to put it on How tight it needs to be If it is auto locking or requires double backing Practice tying a figure 8 to your harness before going highlining DON’T PRACTICE WALKING A SLACKLINE IN THE PARK WITH A LEASH. It could flip you upside down hitting your head on the ground. We need to fall feet first in the park and head first on highlines so this cannot be practiced in the park. Practice climbing a leash in the park on either a slackline just above your head or tied around some monkey bars Climb a leash by flipping upside down, putting a foot, thigh or shin on the leash, then reaching over to pull yourself up high enough to grab the highline Practice mounting (going from underneath to on top) on a slackline that is high enough that you don’t hit your back on the ground when you hang underneath. Use your legs as counterweights to flip over to the top of the line Practice line sliding in the park on a line high enough in the middle that your butt doesn’t rub against the ground. Please don’t walk on slacklines that are too high to fall off safely Get comfortable going from one anchor to another Gently test what happens when you aren’t straight so you can see how it rubs the edges of the webbing Practice clipping and unclipping it while hanging on from underneath Play with different keeper sling options (so you don’t drop it) Practice slacklining in the park (obviously) but not just tight lines, practice loose lines as well as many highlines feel like that more often than tight park lines. You CANNOT practice falling for highlining in the park. You must fall head first and do a flip each time you whip on a highline to not get thrashed around by your leash and this you can only visualize to prepare, or watch lots of highline videos Prepare your backpack You will need 2 liters of water on a normal day and 4 liters on a hot day Bring snacks that sound delicious (and not just sugar) because after you have adrenaline in your system you won’t feel like eating You may also need sunscreen, bug spray, toilet paper, camera, and something to contribute to the team Bring empty space! Have a bag empty enough to help carry gear. HowNOT2 Contribute If you have something to share, we'd love to add it. Please be kind by delivering something ready to add, whether that is a video or an image or a written piece, and tell us where you think it best fits. It doesn't have to agree with what we included, but it does have to be respectful and professional. There are a lot of great ideas out there and this is a place they can be shared. ryan@slackline.com What's Next This course is free but not free to make. If it really helped you, please consider SUPPORTING US.

“Look good, feel good, safety third” Safety Episode 3 of 7 This is a free course shows you how to use a highline that is already set up. Our courses are A-Z content in blog format, glued together with an overarching blog we call a textbook. A blog format is easy to read, easy to update, and easy to translate. Be sure to begin at the TEXTBOOK and at the end of each episode we'll point you to the next. Highlining can be a very safe way to achieve the most reliable flow state from any extreme sport, but it is inherently dangerous and we need to respect the “gravity” of the sport. We have lost members of our slack family to using an improper leash, forgetting to tie in, anchor failure and falling out of a harness in extreme weather. Fortunately, as far as we know, we haven’t lost anyone to being near a cliff edge without a personal anchor. Mistakes can happen, and they can be fatal. But a more common occurrence is non-fatal injuries that can happen when whipping around metal rings, getting body parts caught in the leash and being near cliffs when taking a leash fall. A REPORT by the ISA shows what types of injuries happened during 2015. Use a PAS (personal anchor system) whenever you are working near a cliff edge! If you are just sliding across a line, you can use a PAS clipped to both the main and the backup while sliding on a line slide. You CANNOT use a PAS as a leash. Do NOT walk a highline with a PAS connecting you to the highline. Don’t get distracted while tying in. You only do this once, it has to be perfect. There is no redundancy for leashes. Even if you don’t understand rigging, check highlines before you get on them. Are they padded properly so the webbing doesn’t rub cliff edges? Are there obvious flaws? Are there aluminum carabiners in the anchor system (this is not generally accepted safe practice)? ○ Is the leash tied properly to the rings? Buddy check every time before highlining. Be checked or check your friends for these 5 things: Is the harness on correctly and is it double backed if the harness requires it? Does the leash go through the same 2 points of the harness that the belay loop is going through? Is the figure 8 tied right on the harness. You can count the parallel lines 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and see the tail is tied off. Is figure 8 tied right at the rings. Do they have loose things on them or things in their unzipped pockets? If you see someone tying in, don’t talk to them but instead buddy check them when they are done tying in. Keep your friends safe, don’t put them at risk. If the weather is bad, don’t get on a highline. Lines can get struck by lightning or high winds can cause injuries or shake you out of your harness (by opening the buckle). You cannot fall out of your harness if you are upside down (if it is installed properly). A properly installed harness cannot be pulled off. You should only be able to fit 1 fist inside the loop, anymore than that and it is too loose. Don’t drop anything while highlining. Check your hats, phones and other random loose things on you so you don’t litter or drop things on people that may be under you. You want your figure 8 as close as possible to your harness and your figure 8 to not have holes in it so you don’t get fingers stuck inside when it cinches down during a whipper. Try not to grab the leash when you whip, so many injuries happen when people fall and grab a leash that wraps around their arms or fingers. Don’t catch or lift your weight off highlines inside your knee, elbow or armpit area. This can cause nerve damage. Rather, use muscular areas of your body or your hands. Avoid areas on highlines called “no fall zones” where it is not safe to take a leash fall or you may hit the cliff wall or a rock. Scoot or slide past these sections. Don’t put your arm over the highline near your lineslide, it can pinch that soft skin near your bicep! Don’t get your hair, clothes or fingers stuck in lineslide wheels. Be mindful about where things are. Control your speed while sliding. Ziplining a highline can cause heat or damage to webbing. If someone hangs unconscious in a harness, especially upside down, they could die in only minutes from blood not circulating properly. They need to be rescued ASAP. HowNOT2 Contribute If you have something to share, we'd love to add it. Please be kind by delivering something ready to add, whether that is a video or an image or a written piece, and tell us where you think it best fits. It doesn't have to agree with what we included, but it does have to be respectful and professional. There are a lot of great ideas out there and this is a place they can be shared. ryan@slackline.com What's Next This course is free but not free to make. If it really helped you, please consider SUPPORTING US.

“Your gear is super safe, if you don’t screw anything up.” Gear Episode 4 of 7 This is a free course shows you how to use a highline that is already set up. Our courses are A-Z content in blog format, glued together with an overarching blog we call a textbook. A blog format is easy to read, easy to update, and easy to translate. Be sure to begin at the TEXTBOOK and at the end of each episode we'll point you to the next. Do you know how long to make your leash, or even what a leash is and how it works? How do you use your line slide and where do you put it when you are not using it? Learn these things plus how NOT to use your harness in this subject. It is important that you are familiar with the gear that you interact with on a highline that is already rigged. Gear Tips: When you are stressed out, you will only be able to use subconscious actions so be sure to understand all your gear really well BEFORE you highline. What kind of harness do you have? Double back or auto locking? If you can see all the way around the buckle (O shaped) it needs to be double backed The visible part of the buckle should be in the shape of a C if it is auto locking Do not tie into the belay loop. It isn’t that strong, it doesn’t offer redundancy, and there is too much movement on the loop and rope when you do that you risk having rope on rope abrasion. Clip carabiners (and line slides) to the belay loop because carabiners get cross loaded if you try to put them in the two points on a harness Install the leash up through your harness when starting your figure 8 so the knot sits nicely when you are sitting in harness Put leash through both points of your harness (waist belt and leg loops), the same two points your belay loop goes through. Leashes that you tie too short won’t allow you to stand up all the way and leashes that are too long risk getting caught around your feet and are more difficult to climb. Find the happy medium for your body size. Tie the figure 8 knot as close as possible to your harness If your lineslide is attached to the belay loop with a sling, you can just clip it to 1 gear loop on the harness. If your lineslide has no sling, you can clip it to 2 gear loops so it doesn’t bounce around. When you clip a lineslide to the highline, be sure your wheels are on properly, the wheels are on the top side of the main line, and the backup is also clipped inside the hangover. You can mount the line without taking off lineslide, then remove it while sitting on the highline. If you have a hat, use a hat leash so you don’t lose it. Run the hat leash through your hair or shirt so it isn’t loosely flopping around. Buffs can keep the sun off you, keep you warm, keep sweat out of your eyes, protect your ears when water lining or be used for blindfold walking. Wear bright colors if you want your photos to look awesome! HowNOT2 Contribute If you have something to share, we'd love to add it. Please be kind by delivering something ready to add, whether that is a video or an image or a written piece, and tell us where you think it best fits. It doesn't have to agree with what we included, but it does have to be respectful and professional. There are a lot of great ideas out there and this is a place they can be shared. ryan@slackline.com What's Next This course is free but not free to make. If it really helped you, please consider SUPPORTING US.

“Don’t be THAT guy (or gal)” Etiquette Episode 5 of 7 This is a free course shows you how to use a highline that is already set up. Our courses are A-Z content in blog format, glued together with an overarching blog we call a textbook. A blog format is easy to read, easy to update, and easy to translate. Be sure to begin at the TEXTBOOK and at the end of each episode we'll point you to the next. Not everything you do will kill you, but you could lose friends over some things. Learn how to take care of people’s gear, how to tie off the leash when you are not using it, and the expectations of each member of a highline team or an attendee of a highline festival in this Etiquette subject. Etiquette Tips: Don’t step on people’s gear, unless you are highlining of course! Stepping on gear that is laying on the ground can damage it prematurely. Secure your leash to the anchor when you untie. Leashes can slide to the middle of highlines making you quite unpopular. When you borrow a line slide (Hangovers/Rollex), RETURN THEM as soon as possible. They are not cheap or convenient to purchase, and they grow legs easily if loaned out. Go out of your way to return what you borrow. Some line slides have tiny spaces in between the wheels, make sure you don’t get the webbing caught inside, called “Flossing”, because it can damage the webbing. Be sure the roller is flat on the webbing. The knot at the ring(s) should never be half done. If you touch it, adjust it, mess with it, change it, or loosen it… then make sure it is 100% done. Oftentimes people don’t think to check that knot and should never be left half finished. Leave no trace! Our highlines should be in better condition after you leave, than how you found them. Pick up trash, don’t drop things while highlining, avoid glass, etc. Everyone should contribute. Please don’t show up empty handed. Bring food, water, stoke, carry stuff, or take photos or offer back rubs. If you can’t rig that is fine, but please find a way to contribute. Please have good conduct, especially when there is a crowd. Don’t do drugs publicly, crank your music or yell swear words while other people are watching. It is already difficult to get access and acceptance, so please represent well. Respect how much effort it takes to be a trip leader and make their life easier. Don’t be entitled, or act like a consumer. Please help, and help where it is helpful. While hiking down upper Yosemite falls trail, Kim Weglin, Garrison Rowland and I picked up all the trash you see on the blue tarp for Andy Lewis’s #trashbagchallenge. Let's make areas better than we found them so our world stays beautiful. HowNOT2 Contribute If you have something to share, we'd love to add it. Please be kind by delivering something ready to add, whether that is a video or an image or a written piece, and tell us where you think it best fits. It doesn't have to agree with what we included, but it does have to be respectful and professional. There are a lot of great ideas out there and this is a place they can be shared. ryan@slackline.com What's Next This course is free but not free to make. If it really helped you, please consider SUPPORTING US.