An Teallach highliner believes ‘anyone’ can learn the sport, falsely stereotyped as for ‘daredevils’
An An Teallach highliner believes that “anyone can learn to slackline”, despite false stereotypes of it being a daredevil’s sport.
With around four years of experience in the sport, photographer Owen Hope (25) decided to take on highlining An Teallach in July, alongside his friends Lizzie Wood (26) and Michael Ross (30).
From an outside perspective, highlining can appear as a “thrill-seeker” activity, but Owen believes that it’s not that different from other pastimes.
Owen said: “I understand it looks ridiculous, but if you look at it on a risk-management perspective — on the condition you’re using the equipment properly — it’s actually an incredibly safe sport.”
He went on to explain how slacklining works: “For slacklining, you use a flat piece of rope called ‘webbing’. In the pictures you can see the webbing has loops of rope beneath it, which is a backup, if there was ever a problem with the main rope. The person on the slackline is always tied in using with a leash, using rope attached to a titanium ring.
“When you walk on the slackline, the equipment takes the force of about one to four kilonewtons, and when you fall it takes about six to eight. Whereas the equipment is made to take 30 kilonewtons.
“So if you use the equipment properly and you understand how it works — it is incredibly safe and you’re well within your limits.”
Owen recently completed a post graduate degree in law, and is now working in health and social care.
“One of the things we all love about highlining is that when you do it in the mountains, you’re going to be up for there for about ten hours. It’s awesome — when else do you get the chance to spend ten hours in the mountains?
“It’s so otherworldly and calm, with beautiful light around the epic landscape of An Teallach. All of us feel incredibly lucky to do the sport.”
In 2020 Owen began learning to slackline, starting between trees at first. A year later he began rigging highlines himself.
He said: “I don’t want people to think it’s something they can’t do themselves, folk always tell me ‘I could never do that!’ But I truly believe it’s an accessible sport — if you’re fit enough to walk and stand on one leg, you’re absolutely fit enough to learn how to slackline.”
