Jordan Tybon
Highliner/Photographer/Magazine Contributor
Longest Swami walk in the world: 72m
Highline: 72 meters
Longline 220 meters
For me, slacklining is something absurd. I find joy in it precisely because it has no direct value; it is not in any way necessary. We do it simply because we love it, and we ask nothing more of it.
I discovered slacklining through climbing, some friends had set up a line in the local climbing gym and I gave it a try, with little success. Yet I was immediately drawn to it and soon after purchased a piece of generic climbing webbing and two slings and began to put up simple systems anywhere I could, at my home, at work or in the park. I met Janek in Morocco in January of 2008 and was very keen to try some highlining with him, so I began to practice more often and eventually felt comfortable to walk when I met him in Poland in June 2009. Since then, I cannot stop highlinig; I have completed more than 100 highline projects, and in the future I hope to work with the team to establish more first ascents, in more alpinistic settings. Highlining and longlinig are my two passions, but I also find surf tricks to be a relaxing and sportive method of recreation.
When you are out there in that enormous, unbound space, the emptiness extracts all of the seemingly important concerns out of your body and absorbs them; as against an invisible, impassable wall, you are pressing yourself against the limit of what is present, and nothing can pull you away from this awareness. From this moment onward, learning to overcome your emotions and autonomic responses, you are forced to rely on only yourself. Anxiety is transformed into focus, and unease into calm. You breathe. There is no language, no expression, only action. You are there, alive, and you are enjoying the feeling of being alive. This is pure being. It is not so much a feeling of freedom as one of an absolute presence, an unquestionable awareness of what and who you are. This is the limit and you know how you will fare, because it is only under great stress that we see who we really are.