Is it safe to setup a slackline on a square pillar, or are the few pressure points likely to cause damage to the pillar / slackline? I have attached a picture as an example.. 
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3Depends on how these pillars were build. If they're just a few stacked bricks, they won't like horizontal forces. If it's reinforced concrete, all is well. But likely it's the former, so without further information, I'd say it's a bad idea.– helmApr 23, 2022 at 12:30
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Also, the risk that the part that goes around the pillar gets chafed quickly is quite high. Better find two decent sized trees.– PMFApr 23, 2022 at 14:36
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1 Answer
You might be putting yourself into peril by doing this. As mentioned in the comments, there are two main risks:
- The pillar is most likely made of stacked bricks and not meant to withstand the horizontal forces of a slackline. It could collapse anytime.
- The sharp edges of a pillar can cause significant chaffing on the line, particularly because it moves up and down while you walk on it. Small damages to the line can significantly reduce its breaking load. A tree is much smoother in that respect and most slacklines come with a textile ribbon that's placed around the tree below the attachment loop to prevent chaffing both to the line as well as to the tree.
Here is a page that calculates the forces exerted on a slackline (you might find one in english, too). A slackline of 20m length pulls with up to 15kn (1.5 metric tons!) on the attachment points when an 80kg person walks on it.
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I was fairly confident it was a bad idea because of pressure points, but had not realised how much horizontal force it exerts– GiannisApr 24, 2022 at 10:03