About 5 years ago, I invested in equipment and got Scuba Certified for Open Water Dives. Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule and moving relatively far from the ocean, I have not been able to dive since then.
After going to the Caribbean and chasing a Black-Tip Reef Shark while snorkeling, my love for the water has been reignited! This summer I plan on getting re-certified through a relatively inexpensive refresher course, so I'm excited to swim with the fishes again!
A few months back, I heard of one of my newest favorite outdoor activities: Slacklining.
Slacklining is done by tightly stretching 1" - 2" high strength nylon webbing between two anchors (usually trees or posts). Everyone's method for set-up differs; I use a carabiner pully system to get mechanical advantage in the system, while some people opt for an easier to use racheting come-along to crank the line tight.
After the line is sufficiently tight, the goal is to get up on the line (standing, sitting, kneeling, whatever you what!) and walk it, do tricks on it (spins, flips, poses, etc) and just have fun in general.
Slacklining has a very steep learning curve, as it is basically a form of tight rope walking, coupled with trampoline gymnastics. This dynamic blend makes even just an hour of casual slacklining an extreme core workout!
Check out this video of the Gibbon slacklining team doing their thing!
Lately I've been trying my hand at learning a few more rock climbing moves, and my favorite so far is the 'Dyno', or 'Dynamic Move'. Basically what you do is get a good footing and grip, then lunge for the next hold, completely letting go of the wall. This is a relatively difficult move to get right, as it takes a lot of coordination and finger strength.
My results:
I managed to get a few moves down, my furthest so far is about 4ft straight up, but I was forced to stop after a hold stripped most of the skin off one of my fingers, so looks like its time to give dynos a rest for now.
Here's an awesome video of an epic dyno!
So recently I've been really excited about the summer because I want to do a lot of 3-7 day hiking trips across the eastern US.
Can anyone recommend me some good hiking spots or tips?
Also, hoping to invest in some good gear, so far I have a hand-me-down backpack and sleeping bag from an uncle, a tent, stove+cookware, camelbak and nalgenes, and stuffsacks. I'm looking into water filtration systems as water is kind of important sometimes.
Cheers.
