Elephant Slacklines in Taiwan, Long Dong

3 weekends in Taiwan and we were blasting it. Trad Course after Trad Course followed by lots of catching up with friends and insane amount of  高梁酒, Sake and Taiwan Beer, we got around on one of our free days to set up a slackline. This is a high line project I was hoping to do for a long time since the first time I visited Long Dong as it is a really beautiful place with rocks sticking out of the sea everywhere.

Photo by Alvina
Photo by Alvina

Lubin is one of my  friends in Taiwan whom I met through slacklining. When i saw the stuff he and his group were doing in Taiwan including a 60m highline on a bridge I was super psych to meet all of them and join them for a session. This time FHM is doing a photo shoot with Lubin and i thought it will be cool to have Elephant slacklines appear on Taiwan FHM! (look out for September issue!)

For the photo shoot, they put up a 15m highline in Backdoor area, Long Dong and these guys were wicked on it. Frankly, I can’t wait to see them and Elephant Slacklines to appear on the September issue!

After 10 or more days of climbing and walking around in the sea cliff crags, Andy, Charity and I decided to get the highline done in the middle of the week before everyone got too tired. My calfs and shoulders were burning from the walks and climbs and I could imagine it could only get worse as days go. I rang up my Taiwan buddy, Stephen Parr, told him about our plans and he was so pumped about getting his virgin highline done in Long Dong. This is the sea gap that I spotted for our highline in Music Hall.

This was one of those things we set up and get friends together to have great fun. The setup was mainly rig by me with the help of Andy, Stephen and Ben. The rocks on the site was super strong and we placed many trad gears and slings around the rocks for anchors. The rig was great, just need some refining and we settled for a 22m line at about 10-12m above the sea with some huge rocks sticking out of the sea.

Andy helping to rig the anchors on the opposite side
Andy helping to rig the anchors on the opposite side
Stephen watches closely for his next highline setup
Stephen watches closely for his next highline setup

The line was very hard to walk on since we did not set it flat and we were riding it upwards. The fact that the line is about 10m longer than the last high line we did didn’t help too. The location with the waves and the wind coming at you distracts the mind and further thin out my chances of sending the line. I had many attempts on the line but my mind was not able to shut out the distractions and my body was getting very tired. However its was a great experience and I know I need more training after this to send a high line like this. I will be back !

Notice how the line is riding upwards?
Notice how the line is riding upwards?
Getting started on the line
Getting started on the line

All photos above by Charity Goh. Thanks for the great help in this project in Taiwan.

Stephen on the line
Stephen on the line
Charity dumps the camera and give the line a go!
Charity dumps the camera and give the line a go!

4 thoughts on “Elephant Slacklines in Taiwan, Long Dong

Leave a reply to Hee Cancel reply