Walking across Rock Canyon? Yes please, highliners say

Barefooted, Ryan Robinson double checks his handiwork and takes several deep breaths to relax. The sun slowly begins to sink toward the horizon as a 160-foot line of nylon webbing sways in the wind. After several hours of hiking, drilling and rigging, the time has come for Robinson to make a first attempt on his creation in Rock Canyon. With nothing but more than 220 feet of air between him and the rocky canyon floor, Robinson stands up on the inch-wide webbing and begins to walk.

"When you're up there, everything changes," Robinson said. "You're just exposed."

Robinson is one of several members in a growing community of highliners in Utah Valley. The sport of "highlining" challenges participants to conquer their instinctual fear of heights by methodically walking a thin line that spans a large gap between two rock ledges. Although the highliners are connected to a safety leash that prevents them from falling to the ground, the fear of falling is still very real. To them, that is the allure of the sport.

"When you do it long enough, that freak out becomes a wonderful experience," Robinson said.

Creighton Baird, a Provo highliner, agrees.

"You're absolutely terrified but you're mentally clear," Baird said.

Baird explains that the task of overcoming what he calls the "self-preservation instinct" makes highlining unique.

"It takes an incredible amount of balance and body control, but what really sets it apart is the mental game behind it," said Baird, whose other hobbies include sky diving, rock climbing and canyoneering. "It's just you and your mind in a very pure element up there."

Despite the ever-present fear, highliners insist their sport is much safer than it appears. With a strong background in rigging and using climbing equipment, the highliners are adept at setting the lines. In addition to the safety leash, each proper set-up includes a backup line in case the first one fails.

"It's a big responsibility," Baird said. "I'm going to make sure that there's no way anything bad can happen with my rigging."

Because the sport is relatively new to the area, local highliners are able to head to Rock Canyon and surrounding mountains with a drill and bolts looking for places to set new lines. Robinson has already created two lines, including a 300-plus-foot line that bridges the opposing walls of Rock Canyon, since moving to the Utah Valley in November of last year.

"I think it's human nature to progress into newness," Robinson said. "It sort of builds a strange balance between the nature that is there and conquering something that wasn't there."

Robinson says the ability to create new lines has changed the way he views the craggy features of mountains. Connecting two cliffs with a line has become a creative outlet.

"It just changes the dynamics of the scenery," Robinson said. "It keeps me driven."

Baird expresses the same level of excitement for further exploration.

"There are still limitless amounts of high lines to be set," Baird said. "All it takes is a canyon."