Highlining in Gibbston Valley
The second annual Gibbston Valley Bridge Gathering will take place over the Easter Weekend. The social non-profit event will host enthusiasts from around Aotearoa for four days of highlining, camping, challenges and AcroYoga in front of a breath-taking backdrop.
The event started in 2022 due to a lack of highlining gatherings within the region – Queenstown is known as a hotspot for slacklining and highlining. This year, they’ve managed to pick up some sponsors and hope the momentum will continue in future years. There will be ten lines suited to a range of different levels and everyone is welcome to join in.
Carly Centracco and Gavin Lewis are Queenstown locals who are enthusiastic about highlining and the event’s organisers. They say that there’s a pretty close crew within Queenstown that get together every Wednesday for balance nights, and a handful who are super eager to highline.
“Slacklining is the umbrella sport and highlining is a discipline under the slacklining umbrella,” says Gavin.
“A highline is a slackline which is 15 metres or more up in the air. It’s exactly the same concept, it’s just higher up and so you have some more safety precautions and you’re tied in. Quite a few people do slacklining weekly in the gardens, but if we’re talking about highlining itself, it’s very niche and a smaller group. Especially in Queenstown, I would say there would probably be no more than eight at the moment, who regularly go out to highline all over the Lakes District.”
The event is free and anyone is welcome to come watch. Many in the group will be camping at Wellspace, which will incur a small fee, but will include use of their sauna and cold plunge, pizza oven and a warm marquee. There will also be various award categories.
“We’re going to run a few fun events throughout the weekend, targeted for each category – so our very much experienced highliners, then the in between people and new people that are just starting out,” says Carly.
“It’s very much a gathering where we want to bring more people to try out highlining because it’s kind of hard to go out and find someone that highlines. This year we have ten lines, which is good because we have one for beginners – it is quite scary to try for your first time. We try to make the entire gathering as safe as possible, which is why we’ve introduced that line. Everybody’s able to try any line that they want.”
Slackline Queenstown is not currently a club, they’re more of a community, however they would love to develop into a club and introduce more members that are invested in it.
The event will run across the long weekend at Oxbow Adventures in Gibbston Valley and will be hosted on private land with permission from the owners. Those who attend will need to be aware of the risks, however there will be a rescue system on the day. You can get involved with the community through the Slackline Queenstown Facebook page and find out more about the event at the Gibbston Valley Bridge Gathering Facebook page.
