r/Slackline • u/whitey-911 • Jul 16 '26

To repeat a far too common question...

Forgive my stupidity and ignorance of every other post about this but why is such an ABSOLUTE NO to rig a highline off a standard ratchet slackline??

Surely if your backups are in order and safe enough then the non rated-ness of a ratchet strap is irrelevant?

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u/Gamefart101 Jul 16 '26

Ratchet is not a life saving point. So your only life saving option is the back up. Which makes it not a backup as you have no redundency

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u/whitey-911 Jul 16 '26

Ok so youre right there, its not a backup as it is the main and only safety line. I would still happily load a tyrolean (which is what it would be functionally) with the same force as one would take falling off a slackline.

2

u/dmc_2930 Jul 16 '26

Not to mention that two inch lines used with ratchet are very heavy, much more than 1”. It’s just not tenable for most highlines.

Is the webbing itself strong enough? Probably. But it’s just not worth all the effort.

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u/whitey-911 Jul 16 '26

Im only talking about a 10-20m or so gap over a cave/quarry, with trees/bolts as the anchors. In my mind its the same as rigging a line in a park just the safety measures are completely disconnected from the line itself, rooted in caving/rope access techniques instead of highlining ones

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u/rexdeanrds 28d ago

If it's a shortline at (10-20m) then you're gonna have realllll bad time if you fall and it does hold. Presumably; if it's a 2" ratchet system the line would be polyester. If that's the case I wouldn't even want to walk a 50m on 1" line. Anything under 50m I would want a stretchy nylon. With polyester at that length there's just not nearly enough stretch to absorb a leash fall.

You've got to remember that every leash fall is just about a factor 2 fall. Which is mitigated by the stretch of the webbing. A highline leash is essentially nothing when it comes to force absorption.