Highlining enthusiast and filmmaker Aidan Middleton wants to dispel one particular misconception about his favoured pursuit: that it's an adrenaline rush.
One can be forgiven for believing so. Why wouldn't your heart be pounding when you're trying to balance upon a thin line, dozens or hundreds of metres up in the air? It's a natural response, but those who let it master them are hard-pressed to become proficient at the sport.
"I think that highlining is more like a forced meditation," says Middleton. "It's something that you have to be calm in order to do. When you get out on a line for the first time, there's absolutely adrenaline, you absolutely are scared out of your mind, and you'd be ridiculous not to [feel that way].
"Your brain tells you that it is wrong for you to be in that space, but it is really, really safe. We have backups for everything. [We're harnessed in] and we walk on fully redundant systems. It's really about training your mind to get over the adrenaline."
Those principles hold true, even when you're navigating a highline atop the mighty Stawamus Chief.
Heaven's edge
Rising more than 700 metres above the ground, the Chief is a monolithic granite dome treasured by the people of Squamish. It dominates the local skyline, is witnessed by all who pass through, and it's a hub of activity for highliners, climbers, mountain bikers, paragliders and hikers alike.
One of the area's most iconic lines is aptly dubbed "Heaven," and it is situated on the Chief's highest point. A most worthy challenge for anyone, but Middleton and his gang decided to go one step further: utilizing Heaven as a central hauling point to establish a three-pointed line running down the middle of the North North Gully.
They documented their adventure in a short movie: A Line to Nowhere.
Middleton explains a traditional highline connects two locations one can stand at (like both sides of a gorge). In this case, the crew made their own endpoint: a spacenet suspended in air where all three lines would meet.
It took an early morning start and six or seven hours to ready the apparatus and inspect it for safety purposes. Coincidentally, a group of Middleton's friends were rope-swinging from a place lower in the gully around the same time—their exhilarated hollers providing an apt soundtrack to the anticipation of the "line to nowhere."
"We wanted to do something new, obviously," Middleton explains. "For years as highliners, we've been coming up to the Chief … and [the three-pointed line] had been in everyone's head for a very long time. We saw that as a way to give us one long leg of net that you could walk down [the middle of the gully] and have a view that looks like forever."
You'll have to watch the film to see exactly how things unfolded, but rest assured: the experience was worth the wait.
'Something you can get involved in'
Having created videos since youth, Middleton recently began to film his gang's exploits into social media-friendly reels. A year ago, he attended the premiere of Cheakamus Canyon, an episode in a series called The Squamish Highliner's Journey to 1.1k by fellow highliner Jérôme Ratté-Leblanc. It inspired him to work towards his own movie.
Middleton chose to shoot his debut flick with a 70-year-old camera.
"I like the visual aesthetic of 8mm film, but I do think that there is something to be said for using old formats to evoke timelessness," he says. "Slacklining hasn't existed for that long, and highlining even less so … but [the old camera] gives you a lens where you're looking at those sports as though they've existed basically forever. It lets you forget about when the thing is happening, and focus on groups of people going after their silly goals out in nature."
Some outdoor films depict a sense of hazardous, high-octane tension, with viewers allowed to imagine fatal results if the daredevils they're observing make a critical error. Yet Middleton wants to present highlining as a safe activity defined by fun, leisure and quality time spent with a thriving community.
It is a hobby that average Joes can pick up with the appropriate training, practice and mindset.
"If you see highlining and it interests you, it's something that you can get involved in," Middleton elaborates. "Ask anyone who does it now if they thought [they would start] five years ago, they'd probably say no. It's an incredibly valuable thing to train your mind to get over stressful situations. Highlining has done so much for me and others in all aspects of life."
Interested? Consider heading down to Squamish's Junction Park on Thursday evenings throughout the summer and partaking in a weekly meetup of local slackliners.
Don't forget to catch the premiere of A Line to Nowhere at Howe Sound Brewing on Nov. 20 from 6:30 to 9 p.m as part of the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival. Tickets are available at vimff.org/show/squamish-mountain-mixer.
