Slacklining at the Totempole in Tasmania. SLYT. (Previously: Funambulism on Wikipedia)
posted by growabrain on Jan 25, 2011 - 24 comments

When Man on Wire won a Grand Jury Prize: at Sundance this year, many could hazily remember Philippe Petit's high-wire walk between the World Trade Center Towers in New York in 1974 (previously) but few knew the extent to which the entire endeavor was a wacky multinational caper. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn on Oct 11, 2008 - 32 comments

Slacklining is like tightrope walking on crack. There's even instructional sites dedicated to it. I'd never heard of it until running across this pretty unbelivable video, which led to the discovery of keywords and what is apparently an entire culture. Some of the basic tricks include surfing, the 360, various acts of balance reminiscent of breakdancing or olympic balance beam and even a front flip. Oh, and of course then there's complete insanity...
posted by twiggy on Aug 18, 2007 - 38 comments

On this day in 1974 French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the still-unfinished (and largely unrented) towers of New York's World Trade Center. In the course of a single morning, the unexpected -- and illegal -- actions of a daring young Frenchman and a few of his confederates would change public opinion about the troubled towers, which were courting financial disaster and facing a barrage of architectural and social criticism (pdf).
posted by three blind mice on Aug 7, 2005 - 17 comments

"Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting."
Karl Wallenda, January 21, 1905 – March 22, 1978

After 43 years of waiting, Karl's adopted son Mario Wallenda, now 64, rejoins his family dynasty and returns to the high wire. (more inside...)
posted by miss lynnster on Jan 21, 2005 - 11 comments