Posts from the ‘Blog Entries’ Category

Nov 8

Call of the Abyss

“Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear — the earth remains and so does the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break… I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun.”

~ Edward Abbey in Desert Solitaire

The call of the abyss sometimes whispers to me but occasionally it will yell. Many consult their inner voice or intuition when making big life decisions, but for me I refer to this inner calling when considering options and migratory movement. Here in Moab, Utah the expansive horizon of red rock and mountain stretch on as far as the eye can see, accented by the infinite sandstone towers which can only be described as geological anomalies erected from the wild mind of Dr. Seuss himself. This breathe taking landscape has always been a constant reminder of nature’s immense diversity and creative creation. Here in the high desert, there’s a guarantee for getting lost and the potential for finding oneself amongst the many rock layers, endless slot canyons and resilient spiky cactus. This holy land of Utah not only holds a never-ending supply of highline space, beautiful boulders and infinite crack systems begging to be climbed, but it also claim a rich history of Native American past and present.

In short, I am simply and utterly inspired by this setting of the world and the people who call it home. Sitting atop the cliffs of this desert, overlooking the quaint but growing town of Moab, Utah (population 5,000), the eloquent words of Edward Abbey echo through my mind momentarily and bounce off the canyon walls for eternity. Every Fall for the past three consecutive years I’ve frequented this rock mecca, never staying more than a month or two at a time, but the current migration somehow feels more permanent than ever before. Back in Oregon goals were reached, dreams attained, lessons learned and with this progression a complimenting sense of change has since stirred. Life has led me to this destination with many new visions of the future and a renewed energy to reconnect with the most talented community of psyched slackliners, B.A.S.E. jumpers, rock climbers and adventure enthusiasts I’ve ever had the privilege to know. Exiting my car at the grocery store it’s impossible not to notice the majority of all passing vehicles are 4 wheel-driven and able living quarters for the like minded nomadic desert wanderer. Having an addiction to crack has taken on an entirely new meaning out here and I love it! My concept of what is possible in walking on one-inch and the mysterious abyss which lurks below loudly calls to my senses. Whether you’re fix is single track bike riding, jumping off cliffs, climbing rocks or any number of other “extreme” outdoor activities, there are strong and healthy addicts everywhere. These are the details of life that bring a smile to my heart and a deep satisfaction with the community I am a part of. Where no limitation is the limitation. This experience of highlining in elevated perspectives between slot canyons, desert towers and natural rock arches persuades my inner desire to explore the spaces between, to breathe the air up there.

Having arrived in Moab a little over a week ago, I’ve quickly settled back into a supportive community of psyched individuals with big dreams. Ryan Matson, a long time friend and avid rock junky has offered me a place to stay in his desert kingdom during my transition and I’m forever thankful for his kindness and support. Situated atop the highest domesticated point in Moab, Matson lives and works at The Sunset Grill Restaurant which overlooks all of town and the cliffs beyond, offering the most epic city view and sunset vantage point. For the past many years Ryan has lived in the Moab area maniacally devoting his free time to pursuing a passion of climbing desert towers and establishing new highlines throughout the desolate desert area. He is a like minded person with a large collection of gear, a huge Jeep capable of conquering all rock terrain and a friendly enthusiasm which guarantees a life extra ordinary. Ryan is one of many in this motley crew of motivated monkeys who seek out big adventures and accomplish the impossible more often than most will in a lifetime. To say the least, life is stimulating with this bunch…

To sum up recent events since my migration southeast, I’ve already walked 8 highlines (5 of which were new and sent on-sight), surpassed my longest highline record of length and established a new FA (First Across) highline spanning 190 feet. “Tangerine Dream” is the name of the newest line (bolted by Terry Acomb/Ryan Matson and equipped by Jeremy Shive) out at the Slackhouse, which represents one of roughly 26 developed areas for highlining here. In addition to experiencing individual success, my buddy Jeremy Louis added to the sendergy of Tangerine Dream by walking his new personal record on-sight and full-man. Having been in Moab a short time the progression is tangible and contagious… While living in town, days typically begin warming up with acro-yoga, sessioning Ryan’s backyard highline (122′ long and 50′ high), drinking a lot of coffee and eventually setting out for the remote desert with a caravan of monkeys in tow and a cloud of dust trailing behind. This life seems to get exponentially better as the stoke for highlining continues to cultivate and exploring the wilderness seems ever more expansive than before.

Not only has the call of the abyss contributed to my growing sense of happiness in a life on the line but I’ve also discovered a new appreciation for the land here and how I choose to interact with it. So much of my everyday joy of living has stemmed from discovering new ways to experience the world and by learning how to escape my comfort levels regularly, and my newest findings have led me to the basics of sustainability in a very grounding way. With an abundance of Native American culture all around it’s hard not to be curious about how our ancestors thrived in the desert before my existence and for the first time in my 27 years of life I’m now learning a most basic skill. That is, how to make fire from my surroundings. This ability is essential for human survival, especially with the winter nearing, and undoubtedly even the youngest members of a community could once conjure up such “magic” efficiently. Being a product of the modern era, however, this expertise has been lost to many. Luckily for me, one of the many traveling characters amongst this slacklining community is an educated friend who goes by the name of Phoxx. He has been teaching and practicing primitive living techniques for a very long time and upon request he seemed happy to spread his knowledge with my enthusiastic mind. Through his tutelage I am learning new skills that may one day save my life. In summary, after the past four days and three nights in the desert I have learned to make a portable candle/stove from a can, Pinion Pine sap and Juniper bark. I’ve also been taught where and how to gather natural materials for making an assortment of fire making tools such as a stick and bow. Having now successfully made three fires with this technique I’m excited about the growing prospect of living more sustainably off the land and feeling more confident in my survival abilities in the desert. In short, I’ve been putting more effort into expanding my awareness of both my external settings and internal feelings throughout all the adventures in Moab… I thank all the supportive monkeys around and offer a deep guttural grunt of thanks in return… UUUUGGGGHHHH UUUGGGGHHHH!

~Brian Mosbaugh

Oct 22

A Dream Manifested

“What is it that confers the noblest delight? What is that which swells a man’s breast with pride above that which any experience can bring to him? Discovery! To know that you are walking where none others have walked; that you are beholding what human eye has not seen before; that you are breathing a virgin atmosphere. To give birth to an idea — to discover a great thought — an intellectual nugget, right under the dust of a field that many a brain-plow had gone over before… To be the first — that is the idea. To do something, say something before anybody else — these are the things that confer a pleasure compared with which other pleasures are tame and commonplace… These are the men who have really lived — who have actually comprehended what pleasure is — who have crowded long lifetimes of ecstasy into a single moment.” ~Mark Twain

The day seemingly started like all others, nothing drastically different from the rest, aside from the lingering anxiety and excitement from the previous nights sleep. Escaping from my tent into the crisp Fall morning air I realized today was THE day, the highline was finally rigged and awaiting its first crossing… This feeling of mixed emotions, of both elation toward the prospect of success and the stress of confronting a deep challenge, is something I often struggle with when a big line is rigged and the showdown is moments away. “The Kingline” of Smith Rock State Park has, in short, been on my life’s “to do list” ever since I started climbing at Smith 5 years ago. As I saw the obvious rock features towering above the climbing mecca I knew my destiny had been sealed. Ever since that day I had envisioned the two points in space connected with an imaginary line with every passing day I entered the park, it was quite literally staring me down and haunting my dreams. Rising up 500′ above the Crooked River, which snakes its way around the sculpted volcanic rock of Smith, the gap appeared to initially be about 200′ apart but was later discovered to be around 180′ instead. This distance was certainly going to be a revealing test of my balance, mind and willpower to stay centered and on the line throughout. Would I stand the pressure or fall from fear of success or failure? The day had not fully started and I knew the answers weren’t far away…

Photo by Patrick O’Neill

In the end, it was on my third day of battling The Kingline that success was met and a dream was fulfilled. The feelings I have surrounding this drama are of pure happiness and a complimenting sense of relief. The first walk had gone just as I had imagined, a lot of struggle leading up to a sense of calm completion. After a couple days of walking to, and beyond, the half way point I knew it was possible to finish. This realization always entails two conflicting emotions which I patiently try to juggle with in pursuit of success. It allows me to understand that I am able to meet my challenges head on with hard work but simultaneously brings me out of the momentary focus of being in the moment and not anticipating the outcome of my efforts. With every attempt on the line I had to pull myself from the excitement of finishing the walk until I was back on firm rock ground atop the opposite tower. The struggle to stay calm minded, detached from expectation, and steady with each step is often in contrast to the invading commentary of the minds filtering monologue. Your mind knows you can walk the line but somehow convincing your body to do so is always a delayed experience. There is often an indescribable gap between the visualization of success and the actual achievement of it that has to be gently coerced into manifestation. I’ve come to know these penetrating voices in my mind as “the committee,” where I imagine the many personalities of myself bickering back and forth around a table, incessantly talking when silence is all that is needed. Each voice tries to dominate above the rest and all that comes from this is distraction. The real challenge in staying continually focused on the line involves mastering the ability to silence the ranting noises and staying in the moment of the present uninterrupted. This is the technique I have learned to push past my limits, fears and anxieties in all walks of life. To embrace the present and bask in its ever changing potential for new experiences.

Photo by Patrick O’Neill

The reflections I’m now left with at Smith Rock are a combination of amazement and psyche for the future projects ahead. After devoting a great deal of energy, money and time to the development of the present 19 highlines in the park I feel as though I can finally leave with a clear and happy conscience. My journeys now lead me and Ethan Holt toward Moab, Utah to revisit old friends and many gaps in space above the majestic red sandstone of this beautiful country. What will manifest from here on is yet to be determined, but big goals await completion and new terrain remains unexplored in South America! The appetite is hungry for more adventure as I remember to live in the moment, be patient with my dreams and be thankful for those which have been met and conquered. I have now walked The Kingline full-man (in both directions) and have witnessed many friends giving their best on its beastly length. Without the help of Ethan Holt, Christian Krr and many others this line would not have been possible to realize. I acknowledge and am incredibly thankful for the help and encouragement of friends and family around me who have led up to this exceptional experience. Without the team effort we are nothing, so onward and upward we will go.

~Brian Mosbaugh

Here’s an epic short clip, captured by Nick Braun, of my walks on The Kingline. This cinematic experience is brought to you by the local central Oregon company LineCam, a new and revolutionary filming technology destined toward a great future. Click HERE to explore news and other short films captured from this up and coming cinematic style. Please explore their website and make sure to show support by clicking the LIKE button on Facebook.

Also, you can follow the adventures and photographic work of Tyler Roemer by clicking HERE

Sep 18

Temple of the Wind: A Monumental Addition to Highlining

As the dirt slowly settled following the first annual Smith Rock Highline Festival, a handful of the local slackliners have teamed up with other visiting slackers to tackle some of the more serious highline projects which remained untapped after the gathering earlier this month. The most recent and impressive addition to the ticklist of accumulating highlines here at Smith Rock, and also marking the 18th line to be established to date, was rigged by Ethan Holt, Christian Krr and Brian Mosbaugh over the past week. It required two days of hauling heavy packs along rocky ridge lines to the summits of The Monument and Anglin’s Tower and entailed many hours of hiking in 90 degree heat during the day and leaving by headlamp at night, hoping not to aggravate the lurking rattle snakes and scorpions in route to camp. This rigging mission also demanded a lot of loose rock scrambling and hauling heavy packs up vertical rock faces, as part of the many challenges confronted leading up to a finally successful experience. When all was said and done constructing this monster of a line, it required close to 1,000′ of climbing rope to get the initial guide line across the gap in order to ferry the 300′ of slackline and backup materials across to their respective anchors.

The Monument has stood out for a long time as an obvious spot for an impressive highline, but it wasn’t until Christian’s infectious enthusiasm to take on bigger challenges hit the Smith Rock scene that we all mustered the energy needed to see it through, allowing for another slackline dream to manifest into reality. “The two towers were some of the first I saw here,” Christian commented shortly after arriving to the park for the first time, “and I thought, WOW, between those towers there must be a line.” “When I finally reached them it was like this big gate was open, it was perfect! The next challenge was how to reach the summits and get the line across, and in the end somehow it all worked out,” he explained after establishing the first walk of the line and entitling it Temple of the Wind. Christian is based out of Berlin, Germany and is once again on another highlining road trip across the United States hoping to leave his mark and test his balance one step at a time. Over all, Temple of the Wind weighs in at an impressive and intimidating 230′ of length with 450′ of dizzying vertical exposure below which pulls at the very depths of the human psyche.

As made obvious by the lines title, the gusting wind is unrelenting through this corridor of rock towers so good luck waiting for any calm external conditions in this location. When attempting to successfully walk a line of this caliber, Christian reveals that, “I just stare at one point near the anchor, basically giving my mind something easy to do. I try not to think about walking, since the body totally knows what to do after walking so many slacklines. I just let my reactions take over and focus on my breathing,” he explains. When asked about any final or lasting impressions he had concerning the new line, he mentioned a specific quote that kept going through his mind after seeing the photos and scale of his performance, “I am just a speck of dust inside a giant’s eye.” This seems to be one of the universal impressions which highlining so readily offers to those who practice it. The perspective of being so high above an abyss, and witnessing first hand the larger scale of our small presence, is ironically a very “grounding” reminder to tread carefully with meaning in a world that is much larger than any one of us… Christian will go for the full-man walk today as a couple of other contenders will put their balanced minds and bodies to test against this new Smith Rock test piece.

~Brian Mosbaugh

Giving the greater perspective of Christian’s walk across Temple of the Wind

Aug 23

Moving into cyberspace…

So, I finally procured the website domain and am currently navigating through the many customizing options in order to create a comprehensive and exciting webpage which I have been planning for years. The goal is to cultivate a shared space that is both interactive, professional and inspiring for the slacklining world to follow and participate with. I will document what’s happening in the world of slacklining in both video and photograph form, so stayed tuned as the SLACKLINE MEDIA inundates your life. I only ask that you please be patient with my limited computer skills and knowledge as I slowly begin to create this website for your viewing enjoyment.

Thank you for visiting the developing site and I hope to have it better organized over the next couple weeks to come. Until then, slack on and make sure to make it out to Smith Rock State Park for the first annual highline festival that I am hosting this upcoming week. It begins on August 31st of this month and will continue through the 3rd of September. Slackliners are welcomed and encouraged to stay for as long as their schedules can allow!

~Brian Mosbaugh