Attention slackliners!
The Outdoor Council of Australia is adopting our Australian Adventure Activity Standards (AAAS) and we need your input.
What is the AAAS?
The AAAS’s are a set of standards that encompass many outdoor activities such as climbing, abseiling, hiking and canyoning. These standards have been adopted around Australia and are vital in gaining approval from land managers for guided and commercial activities, as well as forming a solid foundation for acceptable recreational behavior. Having our version for Slacklining and Highlining ratified by the Outdoor Council of Australia, is a great help to our ongoing fight for access. This document has been drafted and edited by the ASA (Australian Slacklining Association) for over 12 months and now we invite you to provide feedback and suggestions too.
Please submit your comments to the ASA committee before 21st May to: info@slacklining.org.au
The current draft for the AAAS’s can be found here.
“Midlining is highlining at heights up to 10m where a traditional backup fall could cause impact with the
ground, therefore additional safety measures are taken into account to eliminate this risk. Back up line must
be tighter than a normal Highline”
– I think this is an outdated definition, it doesn’t mention intermittent connections. The ISA says “slacklines that are high enough to facilitate a safe leashfall on a backup rope are referred to as midlines for their lack of exposure”
Yeah, I agree, 10m is arbitrary. I guess we need to ask the question, “what is the purpose of defining a midline?” My take is any highline that is rigged should be done so in a way to avoid a ground fall in the case of a main line failure. If it can’t do that, then it’s an unsafe highline, which shouldn’t be apart of good practice. Lots of highline’s can be rigged with with a risk of ground fall, some over 100m in height, which doesn’t make them a midline.
My opinion on the matter is the term midline is redundant and should be removed entirely. It adds nothing to the guidlines for good practice.
The published version of the AAAS document can now be found on our website in the documents tab under “Slacklining & Highlining Aus Adventure Activity Standards” to view, follow link below.
View PDF – Highlining Aus Adventure Activity Standards (AAAS)