![spacenet hammock spacenet hammock](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/7b/e6/80/7be68006363ea9fdc52eba3d12953a48--moab-utah-utah-usa.jpg)
One group of highliners didn’t wait for a visit from Lewis and recreated the space nets themselves. “We basically set up the nets like the monkeys set up their nests,” Lewis said. At one point, Lewis took his invention to the Borneo rainforest in Southeast Asia, where he weaved giant rope nets in trees. Since then, Lewis has traveled across the world, taking his “thug mansion” to places like Spain, Portugal and British Columbia. Perfecting this new and unique craft took Lewis about seven years. He began stringing the handmade nets in one tree and then worked his way up to weaving nets spanning as many as 20 trees.
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Lewis describes his space nets as a “mix between a treehouse and a spider web.” Rather, the invention began as backyard hammocks and nets in trees. Lewis said he didn’t originally plan to use the space nets for highlining purposes. Highliners are often attached to the line with a rock climbing harness called a “leash.” Highlining takes slacklining one step further by stringing the line up at extreme heights. The slack requires individuals to frequently steady themselves as they walk on the one-inch nylon webbing beneath their feat by waving their arms above their head. A slackline is similar to a tightrope, but, as the name implies, has slack. Space nets are an off-shoot of slacklining and highlining, both sports that found a home in Utah’s dynamic outdoors. And he believes he has every right to call them what he wants - after all, he invented them. Slackline,” calls the nets “thug mansion” in reference to the 2Pac song.
![spacenet hammock spacenet hammock](https://www.craftcouncil.org/sites/default/files/2017-06/Toshiko-Horiuchi-MacAdam-SpaceNet-Structures-Kids-Play.jpg)
These woven hammock-like nets are also known as “space nets.” Andy Lewis, popularly known by the extreme sports community as “Sketchy Andy” and “Mr. It’s just one of the many ways BYU students love to “hang” out.īut one Utah resident has taken to extreme hammocking: suspending a 2,000 square-foot hammock made of woven rope across a canyon with a drop of more than 400 feet. Walk down any Provo neighborhood street on a warm day and it wouldn’t be surprising to see someone lounging in a hammock. Rather than host different sites to bounce around, three midlines would be rigged at Seldom Seen Greenway where the festival could all come together and slackline.An Indonesian Uliner highlines to a space net the group created. July 1st: Conflux Day 2ĭay two was structured differently than day one. Back at the top of the city, the sunset cast beautiful colors over the skyline while slackers got some final steps in before it was time to de-rig. Some slackers left dinner around dusk to bike to Emerald View. The food court style dining made it easy to accommodate the large group. In the evening, everyone met up at local restaurant incubator Federal Galley to enjoy some delicious eats. Individuals lent a helping hand left and right to make this day possible logistically. In true form, the slack community worked seamlessly to make this event come together. Speakers played music while slackers sipped juice boxes in the shade courtesy of Adam. A 150' longline challenged seasoned slackers as they carefully inched across the webbing suspended in the air. Here slackers rigged parklines, hammocks, and space-nets to relax and get wiggly in the park. The third location hosting slackline happenings was Washington’s Landing on Herrs Island. Special thanks to Tyler for being the Washington’s Landing Attendant. Recognizing the potential for collaboration with similarly minded outdoor organizations, the original grass-roots members incorporated into “Steel City Slackers” in March of 2017. As the community grew, they began to expand the horizons of where slacklining was possible in Pittsburgh. After over a year of hard work by members of the Pittsburgh slacklining community, the city’s first urban slacklining festival was just around the corner.įor years the city has been home to a passionate group of slacklining enthusiasts who explored the city with a keen eye for opportunity. Bridges and tunnels now characterize Pittsburgh and provide the fundamental infrastructure for a city that slacklining could call home. The city of Pittsburgh centers around a confluence of waterways, which, over the natural history of the region, have shaped the geography into rolling green hills. On the eve of June 30, slackliners along the East Coast hastily packed for the weekend’s adventure. Conflux 2018 - Pittsburgh’s Inaugural Urban Slackline Festival