things since may

it's been since april or may since i've written!!! a lot has happened, and i am excited to write about it all.

me on my dad's home line!

first: mike and i were sent to the east coast for some gibbon touring AND we got to spend some time in new hampshire, climbing at rumney with our friends jared, bess, and their darling baby layla! the tour was fun - we got to drive from colorado -> pennsylvania all the way to maine - into canada, and then BACK to colorado. it was tons of driving, but some of the demos were GREAT - as well as our attempt to get into canada with an enterprise van full of slacklines and metal structures. we were treated like bandits! mike almost lost it (and he NEVER gets that way). needless to say, we made it into the country but were informed that if we didnt leave in one week, there would be a warrant our for our arrest. NICE.



after the tour, we climbed. and i have to say. that week is when i actually progessed the most, ever, in my climbing. we would climb all day, almost every day. jared and mike were also up for really hard climbs, so bess and i had to try them! i lead my first 5.10, with many more, AND one 5.11a. i felt fearless! it was also great to spend time with such awesome people, i hope to see them again soon (and layla!!). please  check out www.jaredphotography.com to see some of jareds work. you'll enjoy it, i promise.

after the tour, mike was shipped off to germany for slackline events and competitions. so, i was left on my own for the first time with no place to live and no plans. being a nomad and living that lifestyle with mike as a companion was one thing, but ALONE?!  it was one of the scariest things i ever had to face. just me and my dog. what to do? for the first couple of days. i stayed with my friend evan in boulder, co. he's a ginger (just had to put that in there). evan will always be the guy who took me for my first trad climb. and it was the beginning of my obsession with getting my own trad gear! (for those of you who don't know what trad climbing is - it means that there are no bolts in the rock for you to easily clip into. to trad climb, you need gear that will fit inn the natural cracks and features of the rock, so that if you fall, that gear will save you.). my first trad climb was a 5.7 in boulder canyon at a place called "the blobs". it was a blast!!!! i now have my own set of nuts and am saving up to buy my first cams. thanks evan!

after boulder, i continued on to moab, utah (pretty much my favorite, and the most beautiful place in the US). there, i stayed with my friends brent and canyon and got to climb, slackline, and goof off for a month! in moab, i lead my second trad climb, called "lucy in the sky over potash" and it's rated 5.10a. i climbed it a bunch of times on top-rope first to feel comfortable, and then lead it trad . so terrifying, yet so amazing at the same time. i spent most of my time climbing, hanging around the water holes with my dog, helping to weave the tree nets in brents yard (see photo below) and meeting awesome people @ free lunch (if you go to moab theres a free lunch provided for anyone, offered by volunteers: please attend free lunch, u will meet amazing folk guaranteed - including a gentleman who's live for 10 years without utilizing money AT ALL).

these are the tree nets - brent taught me out to 

weave, and i was addicted!

this is my friend ross, be-"laying"

and this is my beezer, playing in the water :)

when i would get sick of moab (which was hard to do) i would drive about an hour to terry's house in fruita colorado. there, he has a sanctuary of slacklines (longlines, highlines, 100 foot chains, you name it), not to mention the location is astounding. so, i would crash there for a few days, spend my alone time, and then trek back into moab for some more adventuring.

eventually, finally, after what it felt like a millenium: mike returned! i picked him up in salt lake city, where we stayed for the outdoor retailer show with the gibbon crew! such a blast - we got to meet all of the team members from across the country (neil, micki, hayden, brad, and new  employee in the office : glynde!) glynde is 48 years old. glynde throws back flips off of the slackline. also, he rides skateboards on his hands in the middle of the night....see video below.

http://www.facebook.com/emily.sukiennik?v=app_9953271133#!/video/video.php?v=521141367040&subj=1068669277


alas, mike and i are back to colorado where we park it for a few weeks, and then fly to san diego, ca for the action sports retailer show for gibbon. which was, a blast! we stayed in this GORGEOUS house with a pool, a hot tub, a sauna in one of the bathrooms....you  name it. we had fun at the house, and also rocked it at the show. we had a competition which gathered a crowd, and hayden nickell won! congrats to him. his prize: a brad new surf line, AND to compete against alpha mike (yes, my boyfriend mike). below are a few pics fro, the show (oh - and we were across from the miss reef 2011 photo gallery booth thingy- which we gibbonized).

no caption.

that's all for now. enjoy! :-)

Moab...coolest place ever!!

Hanging out in Moab, Utah ROCKS. It is definitely my new favorite place in the US!!! Mike and I have been doing a lot of highlining and climbing here, and are staying with friends Brent and Canyon (who have so graciously let us crash on their couch). We accompanied Andy Lewis as he rigged the World Record Highline of 330 feet and have been attempting the line until a few days ago. The line turned out to be WAY too heavy to walk!! The record was 28 steps, which is surprising considering Mike and Andy are two of the best highliners in the world. Here is a video that I made summarizing the trip :)




The line was really intimidating, super loose and super heavy. The boys tried so hard that they completely exhausted themselves both mentally and physically (you shoulda seen the bruises!!) I didn't really focus my energies on the world record line. Seeing the two of them fail really didn't give me much hope. So, I focused more on the 120 footer that would be my personal record if I walked it. This line had only been rigged once before by Dean Potter, who did a B.A.S.E jump off of it. Andy rigged the line and I avoided it for about a day. I didn't want to think about it until I was actually ready and standing up to walk. When I did....I was completely in the zone. I didn't want to fall. I didn't want to have to crawl back to the beginning and try 10 more times, so I pressed on as hard as I could. I lost my balance due to fear a couple of times but fought it, hard. In the middle I had the most trouble...I started to think about where I was, the exposure, the risk of falling and having to begin again; but, then I heard Andy's voice..." calm, relax em....breathe!!!". So, i did. I relaxed and I felt my entire body let go of all its tension.  I tried to hold that until the end....and when I got there I realized that I had on-sighted Dean Potter's B.A.S.E line. EEK!!! My biggest accomplishment yet. Not only was it my longest highline, but my longest on-sight. I was satisfied. I tried to walk back, but was completely distracted by the accomplishment so I let it go and basked in the glory of beating my personal record :)

Here is a photo of me on the line!

Some other accomplishments:

Ryan Matson walked his first highline ever, along with three others! (22 feet, 47 feet, 66 feet an 92 feet)

Justin Adkins also walked his first highline and all three of the others!

Libby Sauter and myself both walked our first highline in a swami belt (meaning no leg loops....so if you fall, it could potentially hurt quite a bit).

Hayley Ashburn sent her longest highline of 66 feet!

Andrew Tysinger sent the 66 footer after quite a bit of hesitation, or what we call "The Fear"

Taylor Fool did a tyrollean on a highline: her first highline experience!

Brent and Canyon Cain both did a Tyrollean and Canyon also did some intentional whippers (he threw his body out into the abyss)!

and MUCH more was accomplished during the trip.


We also did some climbing as well, which was fun for me because I haven't in such a long while! Brent and Canyon put up some routes for us and I was honestly amazed at Canyon's ability....he's 13 years old and leads 5.13 TRAD!!! Here are some shots:

Canyon Leading

 That's all for now!! Mike and I are off to the East Coast to do demos for Gibbon and to climb/highline as well! I'll be sure to update soon.

  Amazing sunset the other night....

Knee still hurts. Not good! I'm a bit concerned that it won't be healed in time for the trail, which would be a big bummer. Injuries are no fun!! It's so hard not to climb and slackline as usual. I feel so....trapped! I just want to move around, but I'm stuck sitting on my butt. I guess I should stop whining about it and be patient (patience is a virtue, right?).

Anyway, in better news....my last day at work is tomorrow and then I am going to Indianapolis for Gibbon to slackline with Jeremy. I'm gonna have to take it easy because of my knee, of course, but it should be fun! Then after that I start packing and moving out of my apartment. Eek!! A new chapter shall begin. Mike and I will head to Boulder, CO where his parents live....and we'll hang out around there for a little while and see how my knee progresses. From there, we'll figure out the next step. I've always wanted to check out Boulder, so I'm psyched about that! And of course seeing all the slackers that live there.

Hollywood and Santa Monica Beach Trip!

A couple weeks ago, Mike and I were sent down to Hollywood for a Television show called "The Doctors" on CBS. We were representing Gibbon Slacklines and were on the show to demonstrate and explain why slacklining is great for the body! I had never been on television before so it was a bit nerve racking at first. We had to do a rehearsal the day before the taping, which was very relaxed and kinda silly...."stand here, but don't stand there! don't stand too close to this guy...he needs his space. be sure to be excited. but don't talk too much. be brief!" I tried to obey all of the rules :) We made up a little slackline routine and Mike had to bow afterwards. SOOO not him! Anyway....it was quite the experience and I'm glad I got to go. It was cool to see what goes on behind the scenes! So many cameras, sooo many people with different jobs to do (lighting, maintenance, stand in's, audience that claps at certain times, people that give you the microphones, people that escort you to and from, make-up and hair stylists, etc). It was totally weird seeing myself on TV.....not sure I liked it. I had to wear gobs of make-up too which wasn't fun! Mike certainly didn't enjoy that part either.

After the show, we had the whole day to ourselves so we went to Muscle Beach in Santa Monica and hung out by the water, ate at "Bubba Gump Shrimp" just like in Forrest Gump (which we had watched the night before!), and slacklined over the sand. Met some really great people that day! I'm really glad I got to go and have that experience.

25 Random Things About Me! (This is what happens when it's slow at work...)

1) I am addicted to chapstick. I keep it by my bedside just in case I wake up in a fit of chapped lips.

2) I can walk highlines thousands of feet off the ground, but I cannot willfully jump off of things. It terrifies me!

3) I laugh hysterically when people fall down to the ground (and are alright, of course). Sometimes it get me in trouble :-P

4) I was the most bratty/selfish little girl you would ever meet (don't worry, I realized it, and I've changed).

5) I really don't like being around negative people.

6) Sometimes, I have the strangest urge to swim in extremely cold water.

7) I have an affinity to balancing (gosh, it's fun!).

8) I absolutely love dogs. I LOVE them. If I'm grouchy, show me a dog and I'll be instantly cured.

9) If I could live at any point in time, I would choose to live with the Native Americans. They truly lived life fully, and in a way that I would love to experience! No creature comforts.

10) I believe in many, many different kinds of love.

11) I'm terrified of childbirth.

12) I keep a box of letters that I've received throughout my life, from friends and family, and read them about once or twice a year. It truly refreshes me and helps me gain perspective on how much things have changed, and how much things will always change. It's also nice to reminisce!

13) I have recurring dreams that I can fly, but I only do it at night when no one can see me.

14) I think that happiness is a choice, and I've chosen it.

15) One of my favorite words is "Sneeze".

16) I'd like to experience as many new and different things as possible in my lifetime.

17) I've lived in 8 US states and hope to live in many more!

18) I was born with a large red birthmark on my left shin that looked exactly like a rose. People would ask WHY my Mom tattooed her daughter. The birthmark disappeared around age 3 or 4. Strange!

19) After all the sports I've participated in (pretty much every sport under the sun) I've NEVER broken a bone. Lucky me!

20) My Dad had me on ice hockey skates when I was 6 years old. Then when I was 7, I was the only girl on an all boys hockey team. Such a tom-boy!

21) When my sister was born, I suggested that she be named either "Booshoo or Clupup". They proceeded to name her "Malorie Kathleen" which didn't stick. They changed it later on to "Kristen Renee".

22) I think that society has created a very skewed view of life in general. 

23) The only thing I want to spend my money on is Gear and Travel!

24) My mother is the most loving, caring, and intuitive woman I have ever known. As Jenelle says, she is a kindred spirit.

25) I really hope the world doesn't end in 2012. I'm having too much fun!