Edward Yates is high.
He’s a thousand feet above the ground, the narrow webbing between his toes swaying back and forth, up and down. If he can walk 110 feet in a straight line, he will have conquered the Rostrum highline in Yosemite National Park.
Rostrum is a monument of slacklining. It’s more akin to mountain biking the slickrock of Moab than climbing the north ridge of Mt. Everest: The logistics of getting there are fairly simple, but flawless execution is what separates the wheat from the chaff.
Edward Yates is the wheat.
“You can’t feel any more exposure than you can on a highline. It’s 360 degrees of total air.” -Edward YatesYates was 20 years old when a friend in Boone, North Carolina introduced him to slacklining. Like many college sophomores versed in critical thinking, he voiced his first impression: “That’s kinda stupid.”