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Alarm sounded over slackline strung between North Shore mountain peaks

North Shore Rescue posted this submitted photo of a person slacklining on Mount Strachan with the warning:
North Shore Rescue posted this submitted photo of a person slacklining on Mount Strachan with the warning:

North Shore Rescue (NSR) is sounding the alarm after receiving a photo of someone slacklining between two peaks in a dangerous location on Mount Strachan, above the Cypress Ski Resort.

NSR posted the image on social media along with the warning: "EXTREMELY dangerous and could kill our members flying in the area. We and the RCMP also fly at night — there is zero chance of seeing one of these lines at night."

Mike Danks, NSR search manager, said any helicopter that came in contact with the line would most certainly crash.

"That's a prime area where we are operating the aircraft looking for people," he said.

"We're going to be working with B.C. Parks to try to figure out who put that slackline up and to try to educate them about why they are so hazardous, especially in an area like that."

A slackline — or highline as it is sometimes called — is a length of flat webbing two to five centimetres wide suspended between two elevated points on which people attempt to walk or balance, similar to tightrope walking.

Danks says it's not the first slackline NSR has encountered.