A Slackline Record Is Shattered 1.5 Miles Off the Ground

A pair of German slackliners have crushed a world record, walking between two hot air balloons 1.5 miles above the ground. The previous record height was 1,900 meters, or about 6,234 feet or just under 1.2 miles, per News.com.au. Performing separately on Saturday, Friedi Kuehne and Lukas Irmler stepped out of a hot air balloon at a height of 2,500 meters or about 8,200 feet. They wobbled and shook, at times balancing on a single foot, as they made their way across the slackline to a second hot air balloon at the other end. Both were tied to a back-up line in case they fell off the main one.

Kuehne then ventured out a second time without his support line but with a parachute strapped to his back. Shouting to his wife that he loved her, he skydived off the slackline, "which was kind of my personal dream," he tells Nine.com.au. He says it was "the craziest slackline world record Lukas and I have done together so far and we've done a lot of those together." Kuehne and Irmler are "veterans of the slackline world, holding multiple records," per Euronews. Irmler previously held the record for the longest distance covered on a skackline at 1.25 miles, per WKRC. The latest record was verified by the International Slackline Association. (More slackline stories.)