Slacklining has arrived

in Canada. After a 30-kilometre drive up Highway 28 northeast of Peterborough, we oriented ourselves at the Interpretive Centre and joined a tour led by a Curve Lake guide half a kilometre to a building designed to protect the petroglyphs. Inside, a raised platform extends around a 55-metre by 20-metre dome of limestone that was originally exposed to the elements. On its surface more than 700 images carved between a thousand and 1,500 years ago depict shamans, snakes, and other symbols whose meanings are lost in time. It’s a fantastical site deserving protection.

What’s special? The Learning Place Interpretive Centre explains how the petroglyphs were discovered, relates their stories, and links them to First Nations culture.

CANADIAN CANOE MUSEUM

This is the world’s largest collection of paddled watercraft. It’s on Monahan Road in Peterborough and worth half a day at least to take in its array of canoes and kayaks. Former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s fringed buckskin jacket and Bill Mason’s red canoe are part of the collection – as is a folding canoe, which came as a complete surprise to me.

What’s special? Years ago, Eric and I built our own cedar-strip canoe and discovered the museum’s paddle-carving weekend. Three volunteers walked about a dozen of us through the techniques of fashioning our own custom-built paddles. Eric and I now have two paddles ideal for flat-water paddling with Windigo, our canoe. Check out the range of other workshops offered by the museum.

More information is a click away at Peterborough & Kawartha’s Tourism and the Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site of Canada. 

A “SKINNY TRAMPOLINE” TO WOBBLE YOUR WAY TO A NEW KIND OF FITNESS

By Leslie Foster

Maxym Langlois, a fit, competitive 20-year-old has been a climber (gyms, rock faces) since childhood. But it was a kid who shamed him into slacklining. One day at the gym, he saw his first slackline and tried it out.

“I couldn’t even walk a metre,” he recalled. “And there was this little 10-year-old kid that walked the entire length! My ego was bruised,” he said with a laugh, “and I spent the next four hours practising. I couldn’t walk the next day.”

These days, “I like to install my own line in parks or behind the Parliament [Hill]. I even competed in Boston. Now I do it mostly just for fun in parks,” Langlois said.

If you want to see slacklining in action, Altitude Gym on Boulevard SaintRaymond in Gatineau is one place to go.

The real pros like Langlois have long since gone beyond just getting from one end to the other of a flexible piece of webbing strung between trees or anchors. It’s like a trampoline, stretchy and bouncy, with ratchets to adjust the tension at each end.

It’s a bit like breakdancing. Experienced slackliners do flips, get two people onto the line at once, even practise yoga. I watched Langlois balance on his hands with his body parallel to the ground. Impressive!

A slacklining performer is anywhere from a few centimetres to a couple of metres in the air doing these tricks, so there are safety mats below to prevent cracked heads from hard landings in indoor settings.

The sport originated in the climbing world, so a climbing gym like Altitude is a predictable location. Unlike a tightrope’s round rigid wire or rope, slacklines are flat so your foot doesn’t roll, and more dynamic – stretching and bouncing like a long narrow trampoline. The flat surface is easier to learn on, and beginner versions have a rubberized texture for added friction and grip.

When you get the hang of slacklining, count on improved core balance, mental concentration, fluidity of motion, agility and strength. Langlois says when he’s on the line, “I’m only thinking of my steps, my stomach, my arms … about what I’m doing in that moment.”

Slacklines are polyester or nylon. Polyester is more rigid, easier for beginners and adaptable for “longlining,” hooking up several slacklines for distances longer than 15 metres. Nylon is more flexible and best for those spectacular tricks by the pros.

A three-centimetre-wide line is best for beginners, but skilled slackliners often use one half as wide for “highlining” and traversing longer distances.

Kits for all range of skill cost from around $80 and you can spend up to $300. They’re on sale at Mountain Equipment Co-op, Altitude Gym, Play Value Toys, Mastermind Toys and Amazon. ca. Here’s some for beginners:

Slackline Industries Play Line is a wide design with a rubberized texture for added grip. It comes with a bonus “help line” so you can hang on, kind of like training wheels on a kid’s bike.

Slackers Wave Walker also has a help line.

Gibbon X13 Funline is made from tightly woven polyester. It’s a little more rigid, but its rubberized surface provides added grip.

If you buy one, think “safety first,” starting with location. Set it up in

super-visible. It’s no fun blundering into a line you didn’t see.

Use tree protectors, or a strip of carpeting, rags, cardboard, or anything else at your anchor point to protect trees and your equipment.

Langlois’ tips for beginners? First, walk placing one foot in front of the other. Second, keep your arms relaxed, not tense. And lastly and most importantly, practise, don’t get discouraged.

a highly visible location with no pedestrian or bicycle traffic. Once it’s up, keep an eye on it because it’s a tempting but dangerous attraction for children. Use lights, fluorescent tape or signs to prevent accidents by making it

PHOTO BY MARIECLAUDE CHARRON

Does he recommend slacklining? “Yes! It’s a fantastic sport. And you can set up anywhere you have two trees.” 

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