World’s longest highline in Switzerland destroyed by a lightning

Longer than the Gods allow:
The Swiss slackline athlete Samuel Volery and his team set up the world’s longest highline (slackline) between two Churfirsten-Summits - the Zuestoll and Schibenstoll.
After managing to rig the 537m long highline and a promising first day trying to break the world record, an announced thunderstorm forces the team to withdraw to the basecamp.
When the clouds clear and the sun shows itself again, they can’t believe what just happened… The line is gone - cut by a lightning stroke.
Athlete:
Samuel Volery (www.slacktivity...)
Music:
James Merryweather ( / james-merryweather )
Camera/Edit:
Jan-Georg Wagenfeld (vimeo.com/user...)
For licensing /permission to use: Contact - wagenfeld(at)visual-whiteout(dot)com

[@SillyNamesAreSilly]

Man, you guys are really lucky that it did cause the line to break. That's the scariest part of this, if it had weakened both the main and backup substantially but not caused them to break you wouldn't have known. Awesome footage by the way!

[@dieselphiend]

+Jan-Georg Wagenfeld That's just incredible. What does a line that long cost?

[@dieselphiend]

***** I figured. Thanks.

[@PauloGomezPG]

I haven't thought about that until I saw this comment and geez! You're goddamn right!

[@finalbag858]

that violin player standing on the edge of cliff while playing was the scariest part.

[@garlicbread967]

Vivaldi four seasons

[@raulgarciaruisanchez9320]

Absolutly awesome, wishing someday i could try this shit

[@ZiuteK69]

Seems like the lines were cut by someone using high energy hand laser eg. blue laser... What do you think about this conclusion?

[@lucaosswald5545]

crazy!

[@eremagalhaes4510]

Amazing project! Litteraly touched by the gods, so much energy involved!

[@IntenceCeption]

How expensive are those lines?

[@MakeSushi1]

Just scary man!

[@snopppanda615]

Ikr

[@davidcopperfield-notthemag397]

Aaah, sad he didn't make the record. I bet he would have done it had it not been for that lightening splitting the rope! Good thing the lightening split the rope and brought it down or he may not have known it was weakened if only partially frayed. What a scarey hobby!

[@billandny]

do you ever get muscle cramps doing this?

[@diabl2master]

You guys need to get a drone to help you rig the lines!

[@visualwhiteout6759]

Indeed, this year it was done with a drone. Definitely a lot less dangerous.

[@creepstar8771]

lightening is created by a static charge build up on the ground created by air pressure. it probably used your line in several places to strike the sky as it would have been windy and the static charge would hold better in polyester. in any case,that high line stuff look like a lot of fun,and there were some phenomenal saves from falling off. great video and great job. :)

[@ih8tusernam3s]

It makes sense, you've basically got a gigantic antenna once it gets wet.

[@saram3449]

A part of me is happy the old record remains because it’s from a guy in BC but on the other hand it’s shame this happened after all their hard work :(

[@SlacktivityCh]

Concerning the World Record in Highlining, this video is quite old. Currently the record is held by Mia Noblet from Canada and Lukas Irmler from Germany who both sent a 2km highline a few months ago. Almost 4x the length compared to this video ^^

[@saram3449]

SLACKTIVITY oh I had no idea! I guess my info was a little old too haha, thanks!

[@Johnnyhumbkr]

Hey, isn't that the same violin music that's in the climbing film "Masters of Stone 5"? Awesome that you played it live!

[@TheIdeaFactory]

What? That's insane! Such an epic project and you guys were doing so good! Bummer about the storm and what happened to the line, but like was stated in the video, good thing no one was hurt.

[@paulomarcioalves]

Admirable project, people and place! Thank you for inspiring more people!

[@Rickswars]

Don't mess with the Gods Take the hint and leave.

[@SlacktivityCh]

We left and have come back a year later to finish the the project ^^

[@Rickswars]

@@SlacktivityCh Awesome, you guys have courage!!

[@michelelazarus5797]

how crazy !!! these guy's are crazy !!! the greatest ....

[@abelabel2669]

Ok, the line is about 1-2 Euros/meter, but where can you buy it?

[@abelabel2669]

I mean where can you buy the polyester slackline?

[@BLINDTUBEMARES]

I'd rather remove my own toenails with a rusty screwdriver

[@SlacktivityCh]

But please don't upload a youtube video when you do this weird thing...

[@ДарьяПетрищева]

you all absolutely crazy and absolutely awesome!!!!! waiting next try!

[@ZekeCogan]

why are the credits the most replayed part of this video :P

[@ManofWater]

woooowwww great video

[@ВасилийГудков-е6ч]

Кто переведёт, что там случилось со стропой?

[@steveeisenburger6011]

Yes, ridiculously big.

[@ShiftQuick]

Just the idea of standing out there at that height is terrifying. How surreal it must feel.

[@UrbanEndeavors]

Bummer dude! At least you all seemed positive about it. Got to camp for a few days and at least walk on it. All for a reason..

[@keongbalap2299]

Lightning gave you guys..warning!!!. ..not to overconfident on that place..

[@AVERT-]

just watched...really cool looks like such a beautiful place and experience I bet it is so much fun to hike and camp up there ...amazing ..be forever grateful that you and your friends can share those times and experience!

[@TheSateef]

cool that you brought your own band! its not that surprising it got hit by lightning, the line will act like a lightning conductor (lowest resistance path to ground) when wet

[@korneliusoderso]

This is awesome guys

[@johnmedeiros8553]

Couldve done without the violins 🤦‍♂️

[@xJae14x]

But... that was the best part.

[@JamesMadelin]

AMAZING! Great video, keep up the fantastic work...merci!

[@orangemafuk]

So sick, bummer about the line breaking, dual fiddles totally made the video though.

[@audiomystic]

How much backup protection did you really have here?

[@JonasKonijnenberg]

Really nice to see this adventure with all the explanation! The line still looked quite stable although it's so long

[@19sts87]

another great project guys! looking forward for training with you :)

[@minch333]

What a shame! At least the video was great :) good luck next time

[@thatweareall]

como técnico electricista son un reto ,los rayos son una expresión fuera de serie en la naturaleza.

[@newFaction64]

Why no backup line?

[@SlacktivityCh]

There was a backup line. But this is a 5 year old project and back then we often had our backup lines tight ;-)

[@namasivayamsivayam519]

Wonderful performance thanks

[@alee7275]

I can’t put into words how much I wouldn’t want to do this

[@davidMax78]

Philippe Petit would be Happy to see that....

[@JuanGomez-uc7wv]

it was very sad, this yeard all will be perfect.

[@Toresz999]

Sad, but it was not the longest one. There was a line with 1020m distance: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGjFh3aof92fqtU

[@Rickswars]

Ok internet detective

[@peterprem77]

Respect! Awesome video, awesome people. Keep it up!

[@brianwilliams2]

thats some real final destination shit

[@TheSoundoftheunivers]

Did they only rig this line to 2kn? Why so loose? How tight should low stretch longlines be rigged?

[@TheSoundoftheunivers]

+Georg Aloa Thanks for the response! I'm inspired by the accomplishments of so many slackliners over the last 10 years!! I just ordered a 200m line (2% stretch.)Would you suggest that I practice walking my new line at as low of a tension as possible with anchor height (sag) as the limiting factor?

[@AmarGHamry]

Can you please tell me what Camera did you use in this video ?

[@AmarGHamry]

+Georg Aloa oh thanks.

[@Rickswars]

Kodack 300.

[@AmarGHamry]

@@Rickswars dame its been 5 years

[@matleyo]

Very cool Guys!

[@todeluc]

push it to the limit

[@piezoelectric627]

Wooow, i really get sad when your line was burned. I could help to get a new one.

[@SlacktivityCh]

+Pablo Guadarrama Hi Pablo, no worries, we will repeat that line and take revenge on the gods :-)

[@TimsLab]

Fuug'n cool!!!

[@michaelmitchell8567]

Well done!

[@tracyhouser3138]

Amazing!

[@Ronniholt25]

Ah man. That looked like it took a lot of work to put together. I hope everyone got to try it out before the lightning took it.

[@andrewnicholas4951]

Wen soloing wivout safety cord this is pure Russian roulette and spitting into the eyes of ur love ones before now and after. The offspring u won't bare . Null and void. This craziness is a destructive addiction.( without safety harness) Respect the life I've been given. How wud u feel if ur parents did it? Risk reward ratio= harmony/balance. Life's true cycle is challenging enough. Wots next - doin it blindfold walking backwards and a couple of somersaults along the way? Wake up feel think wots really true and right

[@SlacktivityCh]

Well, we do not support free soloing but we respect people doing it. However, this video is absolutely not about free soloing so we do not really understand your comment..? But yeah, doing sumersaults is definitely a thing - and on top of that it is a lot of fun :-)

[@huippujaba7438]

Looks funny. I used to walk wires in kids parks but then I grew up.

[@SlacktivityCh]

Oh we hope that parts of you are still a child. The world is definitely a better place if you keep being playful ;-)

[@keongbalap2299]

That violin should play chill and relaxing music.. its like back sound scene action racing movie....bad music

[@SlacktivityCh]

Apparently most people don't share your opinion. We were on place and it was just epic to listen to that violin music in nature! :-)