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19 Nov, 2015 06:48

Once upon a high-wire in the West: Slackliner sets 500m ‘walk of death’ record above Utah desert

Once upon a high-wire in the West: Slackliner sets 500m ‘walk of death’ record above Utah desert

In a death-defying scene reminiscent of a Sergio Leone spaghetti Western, French daredevil Théo Sanson has performed an almost unbelievably breathtaking 500-meter walk across a tightrope high above the Utah desert, claiming a new world record.

Sanson, a professional slackliner from France, walked unaided across a tightrope rigged from The Rectory to Castleton Tower in Castle Valley, Utah – one of the world’s most spectacular desert landscapes.

A magnificent video, set to a rousing Ennio Morricone-esque spaghetti Western soundtrack, shows the slackliner balancing and walking high between two rocky peaks. You can almost feel the vast expanses of Utah desert way beneath Sanson’s feet – and the feeling of being utterly alone at the mercy of the elements, with only his amazing balancing skills preventing him from falling to his death.

Sanson says on his website he would “rather die from passion than boredness” and describes his endeavors by saying: “Walking on a line has always scared people to death, and that’s normal… I’m still afraid to die, but what would be life without risk?”

Earlier Sanson was also caught on camera while practicing Yoga asanas on tightrope over a gorge explaining his passion to dangerous slacklining by arguing everyone has to “serve his spirit because at this time body serves the mind.”

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