When Nathan Paulin was a kid, he had a fear of heights. He's apparently gotten over that, since he spent part of the weekend traversing a high wire from the Eiffel Tower across the Seine. Reuters reports that the 27-year-old acrobat practiced for four years to make the nearly 2,000-foot journey, perched on a slackline suspended more than 225 feet above the ground, where a cheering crowd watched.
"It's really beautiful starting from the Eiffel Tower," Paulin said, adding that the height didn't faze him. It took the daredevil about 30 minutes to complete his task, which the Guardian reports was done with just a safety lanyard keeping him tethered to the wire. CNN notes the difference between slacklining and traditional tightrope-walking: While the latter keeps the wire taut, the former, which is what Paulin did, involves a looser wire that moves as the performer does.
Paulin took several breaks to sit or lie down on the wire during his attempt, which was performed to help celebrate Europe's Heritage Days. "It wasn't easy ... concentrating, with everything around, the pressure ... but it was still beautiful," he says, per the Guardian. Paulin, who has crossed the Seine before on a high wire, holds several world records for his feats, including a 5,400-foot crossing while suspended nearly 1,000 feet up in 2017, per his website. Watch Paulin's weekend crossing here. (More daredevil stories.)
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