Reuters: Oddly Enough: Austrian overcomes fear of heights to aim for slackline record

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Austrian overcomes fear of heights to aim for slackline record May 25th 2013, 16:30 Tweet Share this Email Print Related Topics Oddly Enough » Lifestyle » 1 of 6. Professional slackliner Reinhard Kleindl walks a high wire in front of the Frankfurt skyline May 25, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Ralph Orlowski Sat May 25, 2013 12:30pm EDT FRANKFURT, May 25 - An Austrian man tip-toed along a line strung 185 meters (607 feet) off the ground in Frankfurt on Saturday, attempting to set a new world record for "highlining" despite his fear of heights. Reinhard Kleindl, 32, used only his arms to balance as he walked twice along a 30-metre-long polyester rope anchored to the two wings of Frankfurt's U-shaped skyscraper Tower 185 above hundreds of cheering supporters. Kleindl said he was trying to set a new record for walking the highest urban highline, but no one was immediately available from the World Slackline Federation to confirm if this was a new record. According to Kleindl, the previous record was set by a group of French adrenaline junkies on a line about 120 meters above the ground, between the Les Mercuriales twin towers in Paris, two years ago. Unlike tightropes, slacklines are not held rigidly taut, making it harder to balance. After completing his walks, Kleindl whooped with joy and admitted he was a bit afraid of heights. "The effect of the height was worse than I had expected. The straight lines of the building just seem to drop down into infinity," said the long-haired and bearded Austrian. Kleindl, who studied particle physics before becoming a professional slackliner, was due to repeat his walk three times during a two-day skyscraper-themed festival that started on Saturday. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; editing by Belinda Goldsmith) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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