Introduction

When tensioning your slackline it can sometimes feel nearly impossible to get any more tension on the line. You try running with the rope in your hands, or pushing off the tree with your feet, but nothing seems to make it budge. Well, there are a few techniques that you can use to get the most power out of each pull on your rope. I will go into two of these techniques below.

Technique 1 - Running With Your Body Weight

The first technique I would like to go into is the technique of running with the rope--using your body weight to tension the line. To aid this technique, it is best to find a spot that will help you use your body weight while pulling the line tight. The ideal spot places your anchor trees at the top of a small hill or there is a downward slope behind the tree. However, this is not necessary in order to use this technique. What you want to avoid though is having an upward sloping hill behind your anchor tree. Running uphill will make pulling tension way harder than it should be.

Alright, now that we have our spot, how do you run with the rope using your body weight? It's quite simple. Take a hold of the rope leaving your multiplier pulley (having a handled ascender makes this task MUCH easier) and lean back away from the multiplier pulley. Now start walking backwards, making sure to keep your arms fully extended and your weight fully applied to your hands. You don't want to be using your arm strength at all during this part of tensioning: your legs should be doing all of the work. This is where having that downward slope helps out a lot--it will help your apply more of your body weight to your hands.

Technique 2 - Heave Ho

Once the above technique starts to get hard (feel the burn!), you may want to switch over to the Heave Ho technique, which will allow you to get absurd amounts of tension on your line no matter how strong you are. With an optimal setup, you can get up to 30x your body-weight in tension on the line with a simple 5:1 pulley system and a 3:1 multiplier!

The most important aspect of this technique is the posture that you have when you are pulling. You want to use your legs and never use your back or arms. Your legs are very powerful, you should use them to your advantage!

Okay, now that we are ready to pull, grab onto the rope leaving your multiplier pulley with your Heightec Pulsar Handled Ascender and position yourself behind your tensioning tree (off to one side such that one foot is on the stump of the tree). Place the closest foot to the tree at the very base of the tree, so that you can use it to push off of. Now, lean back and put all of your weight on your hands, making sure to keep your back and arms straight. Now crouch down all the way so that your butt is nearly hitting the ground. Now, with all of your weight on your hands and leaning fully away from the slackline, PUSH with your legs. At the end of the movement, you should pull yourself up by bending your arms, which will allow you to slide your ascender up and repeat the action. Do this until your multiplier reaches the static pulley, then reset and do it again.

This technique is the most effective in the medium-high to high tension range. When the tensions are lower, it's quite easy to overexert yourself. Remember to pace yourself and tension slowly but surely, especially when you are using a dynamic webbing that needs a lot of tensioning room.

Remember to take breaks in between multiplier resets and STAY HYDRATED! Both of these things combined with the above techniques will ensure you can get your line to your desired tension, no matter the length.