kimweglin

Gigs mostly. There's actually quite the market in advertising/marketing, performances, modeling/commercial acts, teaching, etc. I also do graphic art/wedding design/signage/calligraphy/and manage a slack resource website, but gigs provide some nice income and travel on the side ;)

cheese belongs on everything

As much as I love the mountains and the sky, my favorite place to be is actually underwater...and my favorite place on Earth that I have been was this tiny island called South Water Caye off the coast of Belize, situated on their barrier reef. The snorkeling there was incredible. (I'm so excited because I finally get to go back there for my honeymoon!) Some other stand out moments would have to be: -Earlier this year, I went to Iceland and I got to highline on a glacier...I've never been so cold in my life, but it was one of the most spectacular things I have ever done/seen. -The town of Zermatt in Switzerland holds a special place in my heart. The way the Matterhorn and the alps tower over that tiny town is like no other. I recommend paragliding at FlyZermatt if you ever go there and visiting Papperla Pub! -Highlining in front of Vernal Falls in Yosemite with the thunderous, water crashing down a mere 20-30 feet away from me was one of the times I felt closest with nature and understanding this world.

I've been slacklining for about 3.5 years now, and highlining for 3 years! I started in the park, as 99.9% of people do. I met someone slacklining and he got me on a line, and I tried it and instantly fell off and fell in love. I loved how hard and frustrating it was. With every fall, I HAD to keep getting back up to prove to myself that I could do it. I bought my first slackline that night, and I saw a picture of someone highlining shortly thereafter, and new I would do it someday.

For the most part, my thoughts are generally hyper focused on the moment and my balance and my walk....being hundreds or thousands of feet above the ground kinda does that to you ;) But there are good days and bad, and that's what I love about slacklining. It is a super humbling sport, and it really shows you what is going on in your mind and your body. Some lines I get on and I've walked them a million times and it's easy and my mind drifts and wanders, and when that happens, I know I am not challenging myself enough or pushing my limits, which I always seek to do. So then I know I have to try harder. And then other days, I'll get on the same line that was too easy for me the day before, and I can barely stand up or take a step. Usually when that happens, I have other things going on in my life, and I have to assess why I am so distracted mentally and feeling so defeated to the point where I don't believe I can't walk a line I've done a bunch of times before. There's a lot of self analysis that goes into highlining...I'd honestly say it is 95% mental and 5% physical.

It has been an interesting journey seeing the disconnect between mind and body. Sometimes my brain tells me to fall or give up, and I am 100% certain I am going to fall. I'm expecting it...and then my feet will keep walking. Or I'm certain that I am going to keep walking, and my feet will make me sit down. Highlining has really pushed me to get the mind/body disconnect back in sync, and showed me that nearly everything in life is just about making a decision--whether you are going to stand and fight and keep stepping, even if it's just one step at a time, or if you are going to let yourself be defeated and give up before you've accomplished anything.

We set it up as we do with most highlines, except it required a lot more people to help. In general, we start by getting the anchors rigged. This net is pentagon shaped and required 5 different anchor points. 4 of the anchors were made up of bolts, and one of the anchors we rigged all naturally with spansets and rope by wrapping rocks. We then backed that up to bolts that were nearby. Then we focused on getting a tag line across the gap (usually a string of paracord or cordalette. We use a line that is not our slackline since we trust our lives to the strength of the webbing and don't want to risk getting it stuck on anything or abrading it on rocks). Once we have the line tagged, we tie the end of it to our slackline, and use that tag line to pull our slackline across. So with the net, we have to tag all the separate anchors, and have people at each anchor that are able to slowly let out the net/pull in the tag. This net in particular weights probably about 500 lbs, so this is not an easy feat, and takes a lot of hands to do. Once we get the net to where we want it in the middle of the canyon, we all take turns putting the webbing into weblocks (gear specifically made for highlining). We then put tension on the slacklines using a pulley system and line grip, and we are done!
Because this net is so large/weighs so much/and there's usually a lot of people on it, we also embedded dynamometers into each anchor in order to constantly measure and record the tension that we put on every side.