Tag Archives: balance community

Urban Highline World Record attempt

Few days ago, Ryan Robinson from Balance Community PRO team tried to establish a new Urban Highline World record on a 306m line in Montreal’s old port ! While almost thousand of people were watching he managed to cross the line with only  6 catchs !! No sent but still a huge performance for such a show and only 1 try ! Congrats !

ryan For more infos and the video, click there : http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/world-record-slackline-attempt

Posted in News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Spring with Jed !

Jediah Doohan, the new member of the Balance Community team just released an awesome video, and he tells us more about it :

“Hey Chocoslack,

Two months of spring hurtled passed me amidst a whire of slacklife as categorised by: gear talk, spending time with good friends, new rigging concepts, sessioning longlining and smilining/bouncelining and waterlining and highlining, meeting new people, establishing new lines and living in my van. Parts of southern Germany and Switzerland are featured in this film. I learned a lot along the way and am so stoked on the direction that slacklining seems to be going. Rad-sag-swag is my favourite kind of awesome.

So sit back, crack open that bar of chocolate you’ve been saving and I hope you enjoy some documentation of my most recent adventures!

Love”

Posted in News, Videos | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Balance Community Primitive Pro Kit

Jerry shows the new Primitive Pro Kit from Balance Community. Super light with super good gear and webbing. Perfect to bring on road trips !

Posted in News, Products Reviews, Videos | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The new locker by Balance Community

img_0274
Jerry is well known for his genious ideas!
His latest baby is the Alpine Weblock 4.0, a top quality locker. This weblock is incredible and probably the only one in the market that can adapt to any connector. Can you believe that it does also allow spanset ! Watch this video for more details  : https://vimeo.com/101400015
This piece of metal is futuristic : every details are designed for slackline optimisation. The look is also awesome.
You need one for sure ! But it’s costly : 113 €
Here is what Jerry said :
“There is one feature that has always been the number one thing that I want to strive for in the design of the weblock: versatility. Throughout the various iterations of the AWL, we have been making the device more and more versatile. Now, with the 4.0, having the ability to anchor the device with an extremely wide variety of connectors and directly to spansets and static rope anchors, it’s more versatile than ever before.
On top of the extreme versatility of the device, it’s also fantastic for highline rigging. Having the ability to attach various backups to the anchor hole as well as stack 2 weblocks on top of each other for mainline / backup rigging makes your highline anchor so much cleaner and safer!
This design has been a massive undertaking for me with close to 40 iterations and countless hours of testing and concept development. Not to mention, the 6 years of development of the webbing anchor concept that went into the ground-work for this design. I’m very excited to share this design with the community. I believe it will make the anchoring and rigging process much more enjoyable as well as simplifying everything within your anchoring system, thus making it safer.”
Posted in News, Products Reviews | Tagged | Leave a comment

New shackle by Balance Community

Here is the new invention from Jerry : the new shackle by Balance Community.
img_0224
It’s really thin. The idea is to be able to fit everywhere. It’s great to have a product made by slackliner for slackliner ! Good job Jerry !
To get it, it’s here :
Posted in News, Products Reviews | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Faith Dickey interview

That Slackline girl, and not any girl… She is the best female in our community, and one of the best highliner in the world. She understood that slackline is not a matter of muscles or gender, but it’s about passion, boldness, patience and willpower. She is popular, but abordable, she does crazy things but she is smart, she does free solo but she speaks in conference, she lives free but she cares about causes, she can slack alone but she organizes events, she is dead serious but do mindblowing stunts, she is an artist, she does free solo, she climbs, she does skydive, she highlines with costumes, with high heels,  under the rain ! she is one of the outstanding extreme sport athletes of the 21th century ! Austin should someday have a street named after her.

faith

Tell us who you are ? 

My name is Faith Dickey, I am 26 years old, a professional slackliner for a living, a vagabond at heart, and a beginner ukulele player.

Where are you from and where do you leave now ?

I am born and raised in Texas, where I am still a resident, and I live part time in California on the central coast.

What do you love most about your hometown ?

Austin is great! I think I love the live music and the food the most.

How do you enjoy slacklife ?

I love living my passion. My world revolves around equilibrium and the experience on the line. The sport of highline takes me to beautiful and unusual places, where I experience new cultures, languages and foods, and then I get to be in space, where normally only birds fly.

Do you manage to live by only being a pro slack athletes ? 

I often tell people being a pro-slackliner just means that your gear is worth more than your bank account.

Since how long do you slack and how did you discovered slackline ?

I’m a slackliner since 2008 and a highliner since 2009. I found slacklining in my hometown of Austin, Texas, at a park, and highline entered my life when I went to Europe to travel.

tumblr_n6jbdnOw1e1rzk7gpo1_1280

How did you enter into Balance community ? Was it your first sponsor ?

Originally I was sponsored by Gibbon, but after a few years of cooperation it was apparent that it was not a good fit, as highline was not the focus of their company. I have known Jerry (the owner of BC) for years and consider him to be an inspirational character with lots of integrity, so I was honored and happy when he offered to sponsor me!

You are the most accomplished and famous slack female. How is it like to be a girl in the slack community ?

To be a girl in the slackline community is similar to be a girl in all outdoor sports where there is a male majority. It has its benefits and disadvantages. I strive to change perceptions of gender and behavior resulting from social conditioning, and I look forward to a day when there is balance in participants of outdoor and extreme sports.

DSC_0270 copy

How was it to do the volvo truck video ? Was is hard to do it ? and how many tries did it take to walk the line on full speed ? 

The volvo stunt was one of the most difficult lines I’ve walked, though I lost count of how many attempts it took. The rehearsal and shoot lasted 2 weeks, with many attempts. Normally I am the one moving the highline, and in this case the movements were unpredictable and caused by two moving trucks! I enjoyed the experience but I prefer the mountains.

The longest line you ever walked: highline and longline, free solo ?

My longest Highline is 350ft long, my longest longline is 728ft, and my longest highline free solo is 92ft long.

What did you do last sunday ?

Last Sunday I walked and derigged the famous Yosemite Falls Highline, then hiked down the 3.5 mile steep descent.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be ?

It is a hard question! I guess I would choose to always be aware of my ego and not let it direct my emotions, words or behavior. I could use some more patience too!

A phrase you say often is :

Come On!

DSC_0041 copy

A common misconception about yourself is :

That I am fearless. 

Your biggest fear is :

Losing people I love, being alone and death.

Your biggest worry is :

That changes daily.

Your biggest weakness is :

Ice Cream.

A guilty pleasure of yours is :

Facebook.

An excuse you use often is :

I’ll do it tomorrow. 

Something you could use more of in life is :

Meditation 

DSC_0126 copy

Something in your refrigerator ?

Hot Sauce and Butter, always.

What country would you most like to visit ?

At the moment, Madagascar and Cuba.

What webbing do you usually use ?

Type-18.

Your favorite possession is :

My Ukulele

Your first thoughts upon waking up are ?

That depends on the day!

What passion did you have before slacklining ?

Fashion Design and Art. 

taftpoint-by-jordan-1024x685

The last meal you ate was :

Creamy Salmon Pasta.

The last text message you sent was :

“That Too ;)”

The best advice you’ve ever received was :

It is what it is, Let it be, and This too shall pass.

The best word to describe your life is ?

Ramble.

What quality do you admire most in other people ?

Patience, ease.

One mistake you’ve done rigging a line ?

Forgetting the leash.

Highline should be completely free or there should be rules ?

There should be protocol, etiquette and ethics, like in Climbing.

You think free solo is :

Fascinating.

Where did you travel during 2014 and what are your best slackline memories ?

I traveled to the Puget Sound, in Washington (US), Yosemite Valley and Joshua Tree, California (US), Austin, Texas (US) Moab, Utah (US) and in Europe I traveled in Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. My best slackline memories are in most of these places—Yosemite is always humbling, Europe is always wonderful, and Moab is where I beat my record with great friends!

What goals would you like to achieve this year ?

400ft Highline, 1000ft longline, better self-marketing, more surfing.

Do you like chocolate ?

I love chocolate. Dark chocolate is my favorite!

Last word :

Advice for beginners: Keep taking steps, no matter how shaky, and when you are absolutely exhausted and cannot possible go any further, try one more time.

 

Posted in Interviews, News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Primitive Tensioning Strap by Jerry

We all know the problems generated when you tension your primitive slackline : you loose length and damage your webbing. Our friend Jerry have found a  great way to tension your primitive slackline while keeping the line you walk on separate from the tensioning system. Never worry about damaging your slackline webbing or having to build a primitive system right in the middle of a long webbing. Get your own on balancecommunity.com
Jerry shows how the system work :

Posted in Pro Tips, Products Reviews, Videos | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The new Selma fid from Balance Community

img_0232

Balance Community is once again on top of the game when it comes to innovation and slack science.

The Selma fid is a kind of knitting needle. It’s for expert who are in love with slack products and enjoy to personalize their equipment.

This type of needle is used in marine to make strong rope loops. It’s actually not that easy to use properly.

It’s highly recommended  to train on climbing rope or big marine ropes before using it on your final amsteel.

Balance Community offers 3 sizes at a reasonable price from $8 to $11. It’s a very strong tool and it’s fun to play with it. It’s definitly made for knitting fans and anyone who wants to dig deeper into rope science !

Tomorrow we’ll give a full tutorial on how to use it and make a loop.

img_0234

To buy, it’s here :

http://www.balancecommunity.com/selma-fid

Posted in News, Products Reviews | Tagged , | Leave a comment