Transcription
Now picture this. You're inside the basket of a hot air balloon, and you're just about to climb outside onto a two and a half centimeter wide slackline. The slackline is attached to another balloon, but you are not attached to anything. You're just wearing a parachute on your back to save you in case you fall.
Everything is shaking, and you know that if you panic, lose control, and fall, and not manage to open your parachute in time, you will die. And now you're supposed to find the right balance, to walk to that slackline. I found myself in that situation last year. If I pushed it too far? Is it worth risking my life just for a stunt? Or am I even risking my life? Is it maybe just a logical progression of my hobbies, and it's all safe? How can I figuratively find the right balance between ambition and safety? That's what I want to talk about today.
I have always been a very curious person. I've always been interested in what we as human beings can experience. So, I guess I have always been drawn to the extreme, and I have always been quite ambitious when it comes to sports. So when I tried slacklining for the first time, I was instantly hooked. I like the challenge of it. And when friends invited me to go highlining, I was super interested to try it out. Highlining is when you're slacklining up high, and you're wearing a climbing harness, and you're attached with a leash to the slackline.
I felt well prepared, and without much hesitation, I stood up for the first time, and I completely lost my orientation and fell headfirst into the leash. The primal fears kicked in and paralyzed me. So I was struggling. And also on my second highline, it didn't look much better. You see, I'm shaking. I'm not in control at all. I'm, I'm under fear. Like, I kind of control it. I tried to hold on to it, but I just fall into the. You shouldn't even hurt myself, but I didn't let that stop me. So I continued trying, and it got better. I got better at it. I managed to catch the slackline when I lose control, and I got more and more comfortable with walking on highlines. And eventually, I felt so comfortable walking highlines that I thought, I don't even need my safety anymore.
And that was the day that I walked my first highline without safety. Free solo, as we call it. And that was a weird feeling because I, I felt like I did something I shouldn't be doing. I think I could never tell my family about this. And at the same time, I felt 100% under control. And that was my introduction into extreme sports. Although I'm not a big fan of the word extreme, because it doesn't feel that extreme to me when I do it. I feel out of control. I feel relaxed. If it was super extreme, I would think I would be doing something wrong.
If you look at this, this is a highline above Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It's about 200 meters above the city and 35 meters long. And as you can see, I'm not wearing a safety. I'm walking it free solo, but I'm relaxed. I'm focused, but I'm relaxed. And I'm even playing with the slackline. I'm bouncing up and down. And that's the state I want to be in when I walk a highline free solo, or in general, when I'm risking my life. I want to be relaxed and under, under control.
So after that, one thing led to another, and I started skydiving. And after that, I got into BASE jumping. So I jumped, I jumped from cliffs and buildings with the parachute. And eventually, I also started wingsuit BASE jumping. So you're flying in that kind of squirrel suit.
So why should you listen to a talk about extreme sports? Well, first of all, it's fascinating, of course. But why is that? So, I think it's because it's pretty hard to relate to. If you compare it to something like a marathon, you know how it feels like to run, and you also know that with a lot of training, probably even you would be able to run a marathon one day. But with these extreme sports, it's different. You have no idea. You cannot even imagine how it must feel like to do something like that, and you also don't know how you were trained for that.
The extreme in extreme sports usually relates to the huge and deadly consequences of a mistake. So the big challenge is, how can you avoid making these mistakes? How can you progress without risking your life? Or is it even possible? Is it maybe just a matter of time and luck until you die? So, in my opinion, the main question is, how can you find the right balance between the two opposing desires of safety and ambition?
And in my opinion, the solution is twofold. First of all, you need to cut the progress into small pieces. And second, and probably even more important, you have to be modest about your ambitions. For example, if you just started slacklining a few weeks ago in the park, and now you want to walk a highline like that, you will probably have a hard time. But that doesn't mean that you can never do something like that. It just means you need a different approach.
So if you introduce one new thing, you get excited. If you do many new things at the same time, you panic. You want to look, you want to leave your comfort zone because that's where progression is happening. But you want to do it the right way. If you manage to evolve step-by-step over time, and thereby expand your comfort zone, then you will be much more aware of what you can and what you cannot do. And you will also have a good feeling about introducing just a small new piece, even if your life depends on it.
And the same principle applies to free solo highlining. First, I learned how to catch the slackline at any circumstance by walking a lot of highlines. This is completely internalized in my system. I don't need to think about it. It happens automatically. Then I walked a highline which I want to walk without a leash, with leash, as many times as I need to to feel comfortable with it. I can also prepare for the mental challenge by reducing the safety, by for example, tying it to my waist or my ankle, which would cause an injury if I fell. So thereby, I can gradually increase the mental pressure. And if I still feel comfortable, then, then I might as well walk it without safety at all.
And this approach works quite well for me. And the question that I usually get is, why would you make something more dangerous than it needs to be? And my simple answer is, because I know I can. And this incredible certainty is a very unique feeling. But people usually are not convinced by that answer. So I compared to riding a bike. Most of us feel quite comfortable riding a bike. Although in the beginning, when you learned it, it was hard. You maybe even used training wheels so you couldn't fall over anymore. But you wouldn't have the idea of putting training wheels back on your bike now, just to be safer, because you know you have it under control, right? You don't need them.
And in the same way, I know that I have the slackline under control. And I also know that the only difference is happening in my head. The slackline behaves the same way whether I wear a leash or not. But I have to be 100% sure of my skills to perform the same way. And that's what it's all about. So you could say the ultimate challenge in free solo highlining is the ultimate challenge in trusting into your own skills. Ideally, I enter a meditative state, a flow state. I'm completely in the moment. I'm not thinking, just acting. It's a feeling of complete peace of mind. I feel free. And this is a very unique experience. And I usually have trouble appropriately describing it to people who have never been in a similar situation.
But I'm also well aware of the fact that I cannot reduce the risk completely. But I think neither can you in everyday life. And I'm okay with that. Because I might die in a car accident. I might get a deadly disease like cancer. Or, you know what? And I accept it as part of my fate. So, so far, I tried to convince all of you that extreme sports are safe. Nobody complained. But you probably like, wait a minute, that's not true. Why are, for example, so many base jumpers dying then, if it's all safe? But of course, you're right. I just tried to show you that it can be done in a safe way. But it needs a lot of self-restraint to follow these rules.
Let's say your goal is to fly a wingsuit through a hole in a cliff. And I would say that's a pretty ambitious goal. What about if your goal is to fly your wingsuit through a tiny hole in a cliff before summer ends? Then you're most probably over-ambitious. In my opinion, the key aspect of extreme sports is temperance. You need to find a certain balance in your mind to stay safe. A certain balance between stagnation and excess. And there's a saying in, in the sport that goes, "A good BASE jumper is an old BASE jumper." And I think that captures the idea quite well. You should always be focused on staying alive, and not on competing for records.
If you're always comparing yourself to others and trying to be better than them, then sooner or later, you'll be pushed at the edge of what can be done without seriously risking your life. And I think no personal achievement is worth that. So if the only reason you're jumping from a cliff is because you get a huge adrenaline rush, then sooner or later, you'll get used to that, and then you will want more. So if I'm flying one meter above the ground with my wingsuit this year, maybe next year I want to touch the branches of the trees. But where does it end?
So instead of always wanting more, rather appreciate what you already have. Instead of only doing it for the kick, try to, try to enjoy the whole journey, to hike, the nature, and sharing it with friends. Because I think it can make, in the long run, it will make you more happy and balanced than rushing from one goal to the next. So, for example, this is me on an almost 4000 meter high mountain in Switzerland. And this was just such a beautiful chunk. It was in a really unique scenery. It was between the clouds, directly to watch the sunset. And I didn't need to do any risky maneuvers on this flight to, to enjoy it. It was just perfect the way it was. So I didn't do it for the kick.
But why did I do it then? I think it helps to always stay aware of your motives. Why am I risking my life? What are the goals that I'm chasing? In my first year in the sport, I spent a couple of weeks in Italy doing a lot of jumps a day with my tracking suit. A tracking suit is similar to a wingsuit, lets you fly better. And I was really motivated. So I wanted to become better fast. And I was indeed progressing a lot. But I was also losing respect of the dangers involved in the sport. So instead of introducing one new piece at a time, I jumped from a cliff where I had never jumped before, and I flew a dangerous line on my first attempt.
And since I have a video of it, might as well talk you through how a small mistake can look like in this sport. So usually, you would just fly straight and open at the end of the belly. But I thought, oh, I'm actually still high enough. I can fly to the left and fly by those cliffs a little bit to spice it up a bit. Then I realized, okay, I'm actually staying, staying pretty close to the cliffs for a pretty long time. Then I'm already quite low to open my parachute. So now I'm, oh, I have to shoot. And yeah, this actually turned out quite well because I didn't hurt myself, but I brought my parachute. So I had some time to think. And in hindsight, I know that the only reason I wanted to fly that line was because I had seen a video of someone else doing it. I wanted to prove myself that I can do it as well, that I'm good enough.
So I tried to learn my lesson. I changed my approach. Now I always try to stay aware of my motives. Why am I risking my life? Is it just for fun? Is it because I'm getting paid for it? Am I looking for acceptance and fame? Or is it maybe my last chance to jump from a certain cliff because the next day I have to leave? I think in extreme sports, the extrinsic factors like money, peer pressure, or cameras can be pretty dangerous. Because you have to be comfortable with the situation. You have to feel confident to do risky stunts. And every time it's different. So you need to assess the conditions again and again and adapt to them.
So let's go back to our initial situation. I'm between the two hot air balloons, sitting on the slackline. I'm about 500 meters high. I have done many jumps much lower than this. I have plenty of time to open my parachute. So there's lots of margin for error. I'm not afraid of dying. In this case, I do feel a lot of pressure though. It's a big project, a lot of money is involved, a helicopter is in the air, and the crew has high expectations for me to perform. Now, if I had the same pressure on a stunt, on a stunt with less margin for error, I would be in trouble. Luckily, on my third try, I was able to walk the whole slackline successfully, and it was one of my most intense highline walks so far. And it was a huge relief, I guess you can imagine.
So what's my takeaway? In my opinion, extreme sports can be safe, but it depends a lot on how you approach them. You need a huge amount of self-restraint, and most importantly, you need to find the right balance between ambition and moderation. And this is a very individual thing. So you shouldn't be looking for it comparing yourself to others. You should rather stay observant of your own feelings and your own motives. If you feel scared or under pressure, think about why it is so, and think about whether it's worth it. And you shouldn't compromise your safety ever, not for money, nor for acceptance.
And I'm well aware that temperance is not a very sexy virtue. It's also not the most compatible virtue with our economic system, which is based on competition. But I think it can have a positive influence on our lives. Because through temperance, we can learn to control our urges, be balanced, and gain freedom. Thank you. [Applause]