You start by slowing down your heartbeat, which has accelerated as a result of the adrenaline racing through your body. Then you concentrate. Your eyes zero in on the end of the one-inch-wide nylon rope that's stretching the distance across a raging, 335-metre-tall waterfall.
This was Stu Smith's first highline experience. It was a moment of peacefulness, but it was also one of the most stressful things Smith has experienced in his 22 years of life.
As his mind focused, the noise generated by the thousands of litres of water gushing down Shannon Falls every minute subsided into a single tone. The blue sky, Howe Sound and rocky bluffs blurred and the thin red line filled his vision. And then, Smith took a step.
"The only thing I think about is the next step," the Smithers native says. "It's total meditation."
Whatever you do, don't look down. That's the cardinal rule of highlining, the latest extreme version of the balancing sport of slacklining. A freestyle skier in high school, Smith said the two sports share one important ingredient — keeping one's eyes on the end point.
"It's really a mental game," he says, while practicing on the various lengths of slacklines set up at Nexen Beach.
Four years ago, after graduating from high school, Smith packed his belongings and came to Squamish, mostly to do bouldering. But while his first passion still exists, Smith found himself drawn to higher feats.
Smith started slacklining in 2007, when it was a little-known sport. Last weekend, the talent hit the spotlight, when American Andy Lewis danced on a slackline beside Madonna during the Super Bowl halftime show.
While highlining uses the same skills as slacking, it feels like an altogether new sport, Smith says.
"Once you step on a highline, it's like you are starting from scratch," he says.
Last August's walk over top of B.C.'s third highest waterfall marked the beginning of Smith's quest to challenge mind and body. He's hooked. Since the Shannon Falls trek, Smith has completed highline attempts across Moricetown Canyon, Quartz Pillar and Pixies Corner. Most of his achievements were caught on film.
"I come from the 'Jackass' generation," Smith says referring to the TV series featuring a group of guys performing self-injuring stunts and pranks.
In his teens, Smith attended the Gulf Islands Film and Television School. Besides being an adrenaline sports junkie, film production is one of his hobbies. Working when needed for an insulation company in Whistler, Smith spends a lot of time collecting shots around town. He's compiling them and by the end of the year, plans to piece together a short documentary featuring highlining throughout Squamish.
The film will also include Smith's next big feat. Insistent on keeping mute on the exact location, Smith will only say this summer he intends to set a record for B.C.'s longest highline walk somewhere on the Stawamus Chief.
"It's a big secret."
