Slacklining and highlining have changed Sean Englund’s life.
The former Fort Lewis College student began slacklining and highlining in Durango about a decade ago as a college student studying geology and cartography. Now he goes all over the country and the world competing in highlining and advocating for the sport he loves.
“Growth in the community and advocating for slacklining is a huge passion of mine because it changed my life,” Englund said. “It's a low-cost of entry sport, it's really simple and you can do it by yourself. So any opportunity where I see that I can further growth in the sport and just inspire people in our community that nothing's really impossible.”
Slacklining is a sport where an athlete walks, runs or balances on a suspended length of flat webbing that is fixed above the ground with two anchors. The difference between slacklining and highlining is that slacklining is done closer to the ground, usually in parks or other recreational places with the webbing anchored to two trees. Highlining is done a lot higher off the ground with additional safety precautions in place between mountains.
Englund first found slacklining as a teenager on the East Coast, touring colleges. Once he knew he was going to FLC, he thought he would really go for it and invest his time into the sport.
He enjoyed the focus that slacklining took. Englund had to drop everything else he was thinking about in his life, all the responsibilities and worries. Englund has ADHD and is mechanically inclined, so he found the focus of slacklining more appealing than other sports like soccer or football.
“I wouldn't have finished school without it, I don't think,” Englund said about slacklining. “I wouldn't have finished my Eagle Scout in high school, because it (slacklining) was my new vice; it was my new forced meditation.”
Englund did finish up at FLC and now works full-time at Trautner Geotech in Durango. Throughout his time at FLC, Englund kept working on his slacklining and highlining skills. He rigged the Twin Buttes for the first time and highlined across them in 2018.
The 29-year-old started getting sponsorship deals when he was 19. He remembers getting free equipment from a sandal company; Englund began taking photos of himself highlining and began receiving more free stuff and paid for content.
Free trips started rolling in with trips to Europe for commercials and China to compete in highlining.
“It's one of those things that just catches the eye,” Englund said. “It attracts people and it's good product placement. You put a sunset at the top of a mountain and someone is wearing your gear or using your equipment.”
Englund is on the board of the International Slackline Association and is a course manager and instructor for them.
Tragedy struck when Englund had a bad accident paragliding in October of 2023 and crashed in Durango. He broke ribs, fractured his vertebrae, disconnected his spine from his pelvis and more. He couldn’t walk for months. Therefore, he had a lot of time on his hands and it was the perfect time to start his company.
Uncharted Lines LLC has been around since January of 2024 and Englund is proud of what his company has accomplished. Uncharted Lines has done slacklining workshops with The Hive and has relationships with local nonprofits.
One of Uncharted Lines’ crowning achievements so far is working with one of the biggest extreme sports companies in the world, Tribu, to put highlining competitions in the Jackalope Festival in Virginia Beach, Virginia, from May 30 to June 1.
Jackalope Festival was an extreme sports festival that drew 50,000 spectators, which had BASE jumping, motocross jumping, skateboarding competitions and more.
Highlining can be a nice addition to an event like Jackalope like a piano can be for a classy event, according to Englund. Highlining can be very tasteful and almost a slow-paced art installation.
The Durango-based highliner had a friend competing at one of the Jackalope events in the past and Englund inquired about how to get into it.
He then cold-called and emailed Tribu and didn’t hear anything back. Englund stayed persistent and Tribu finally responded and wrote that it was interested. Englund laid out his vision and a deal was agreed to.
After site visits to scout where to put the anchors, Englund and Uncharted Lines participated in the Jackalope Festival. He called it a success and said Virginia Beach wants Uncharted Lines back next year.
“We rigged the most advanced urban highline to date in the U.S. on the ninth story of the Hilton to the rooftop of the Hampton Inn,” Englund said.
The highline was 150 meters long and the highliners competed in a 60-meter segment from one flag to another in the middle of the line. Athletes competed for the best time and Englund’s was 52 seconds.
Englund hopes a massive festival like Jackalope can expand the reach of Uncharted Lines, sponsor different events and continue advocating for slacklining as a sport by getting more youth into it. He wants to expand Uncharted Lines’ work with different nonprofits, to host a community signature event and work with different school programs about getting slacklining into their curriculum.
“People need to have a low-cost entry sport instead of just biking, rock climbing and skiing,” Englund said. “Those are all thousands of dollars, unless you're just going bouldering. So, we’re going to keep pushing for advocacy of slacklining and getting it more in front of kids.”
Follow Englund and Uncharted Lines’ adventures on Instagram: @slackenglund, @unchartedlines.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
