This year’s annual Rhythms of Rimba festival was hosted in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, where a gathering of conservation focused scientists, artists, musicians and activists came together to share ideas and passions about the changing planet. Environmental awareness and education was at the forefront of this event’s theme, where the public got to participate in all sorts of interactive outdoor experiences (such as the space net and slacklines) while also learning about important environmental issues and our human impact on the Earth’s biosphere.
We live in a complex world together and our future hinges on the ability to cultivate better balance with our surroundings and create more harmonious relationships with the diverse wildlife sharing this living space. The slackline is a great metaphor for this challenge, providing an opportunity to play outside, find our center, breath deeper and tread a little lighter. Fun is fun, and when people of all ages, religious backgrounds and different nationalities come together to smile, laugh, balance and enjoy the outdoors, a new language is communicated and something transcendent happens.
The space net similarly provided an experience for everyone to sit back, slow down and enjoy the natural beauty of a sunset with strangers. Ultimately our human net-worth is only as strong as our capacity to net-work with one another.
Thanks so much to Anton Ngui and Linn Yong for pouring so much blood, sweat and tears into this event year after year, it was an honor to be a part of your vision. A big bow of appreciation goes out to my main rigging and adventure partner Scott Rogers for joining in the epic adventure, it was surely one we’ll never forget. To Tree Net Willy for coming through with some desperately needed paracord and nets at the last minute. And finally to all the other participants, local bad asses, speakers, bus drivers, DJs, hotel staff, etc. who helped out in the process, you are greatly appreciated. This kind of collaboration doesn’t happen without a community who supports it.
Roughly 400 rag-tag dirt bags and silent heroes from across the globe gather in the sandstone cliffs outside of Moab during Thanksgiving 2015 for Gobble Gobble Bitches Yea and Turkey Boogie; two festivals that are dedicated to supporting each spark that engulfs the imagination and pushes the limits of human possibility. Within 10 days, 17 highlines were strung, two space nets suspended and one Russian BASE swing constructed in the middle of the desert by dreamers, inventors, and influential creators coming together to create an unstoppable community. “It’s a cool environment to do groundbreaking things with talented people. It always has been and will continue to be that way.” says Scott Rogers, Director of the upcoming Wingate Motion film “Sky Tribe”. This group creates an atmosphere only portrayed in the Hollywood blockbusters, like finding the magical wardrobe or taking the red pill; you feel like you’ve made it to Neverland.
The tight, red canyon walls drop more than 350 feet below leaving you standing at a precipice of possibilities. Everywhere you look you are surrounded by the world’s best of the best in extreme sports, and each one of them is here to collaborate with your inspiration. That is where Scott Rogers and Cody Tuttle, Co-Directors of Wingate Motion, come into play. Documenting such incredible feats was a no-brainer for these two alongside the help of Brian Mosbaugh, Corey McCarthy, and Sarah Taz. Scott and Brian are two of the original Moab Monkeys and have been a part of the festival since it started many years ago. “At the beginning, we were setting world records every year. At the very first GGBY we rigged a 135 foot highline with Terry Acomb called ‘A Walk In The Sun’ and that was a world record. Several years later, Andy Lewis walked a 330 foot line which was the first highline longer than 100 meters,” Scott remarked. While records never have been a priority at the festival, they tend to happen thanks to the creative, open, and energetic people who gather there year after year.
Photo: Cody Tuttle
It was only a matter of time before the world would find out about GGBY and the Turkey Boogie events held in Moab. In eight years, the GGBY event grew from a mere 15 people on a camping trip to 400 people choosing “the outlaws over their in-laws” as Scott describes. With the growing community, 2015 was the biggest event yet, with GGBY and the Turkey Boogie mashed together for the second year in a row. The Wingate Motion production team hung off cliff faces, climbed tall boulders, and bounced across 4WD desert roads to work with the most talented Wingsuiters, BASE jumpers, and Highliners in the world. Over the week we captured the first two-way wingsuit flight off of Castleton Tower, the longest human anchored highline, the rope swing to BASE and Russian swing to BASE, just to name a few. “The cool thing about the event is that it’s a collection of so many awesome people that are so creative and so open to expressing their creativity uninhibited, because it is such an open and welcoming environment that it’s conducive for doing new and cool things,” says Scott. And that’s exactly what Wingate was able to capture.
Photo: Cody Tuttle
Wingate’s “Sky Tribe” lives somewhere between the documentation of the rare extreme sports we all know and love, and the embrace of the friends and outlaws we love as family. This community is built upon striving for more as a whole, thus empowering the individual; making each world record event a group achievement, which can’t be explained better than witnessing the human anchored highline. “That’s why we are making this film, to not only document this amazing event, but to inspire other people and other communities to continue doing things that they are passionate about; to grow, to create, to inspire others who continue to increase the collective amount of good things that we still have as humans in this world and try to offset the bad.” Scott describes the passion behind the film project we all share at Wingate. This film will unveil a totally new world for anyone who has not experienced the BASE or Highlining community, creating the feeling of a world hidden in another reality. This is our family, our Sky Tribe, and we encourage you to share, join in the fun, and to hopefully be inspired to go out with your own tribe and discover the realm of human possibility.
UPDATE:
Check out how the 9th annual Turkey Boogie/GGBY gathering has grown in yet another Red Bull featured video below. A tribute to the slacklove that Terry Acomb has so graciously offered to the world of extreme sport athletes exploring the red rock wilderness of Moab, Utah.
A new evolution of space net rigging finds its way into the mainstream media as a worlds first music gig high in the sky above Queenstown, New Zealand. Sponsored by Jägermeister and featuring the UK sensation band Modestep, this was truly a project of epic proportions. The space net has now found another use outside of its extreme platform for sports such as BASE jumping, rope swings and highlining around the world, having been converted into a globe trotting suspended musical stage. Who would have thought, right? What a pleasure it was working with the wonderful staff at Jägermeister this past September in the beautifully scenic countryside of New Zealand, especially while getting to know the witty and talented musical duo of Modestep. Pat Lundy and Josh Friend, you two are legends!
There’s so much that takes place behind the scenes to make a project like this become a reality so I wanted to officially recognize the hard work and efforts of Secret Compass, who helped coordinate this event with me for 15 months leading up to the live gig itself. Tom McShane, Tom Bodkin and Dave Lucas you guys are amazing individuals who really worked your butts off to get this ball rolling and on time. To all the invaluable local New Zealand mountain guides: Hugh Barnard, Davie Robinson, Bruce Dowrick, Tarn Pilkington and Tony McCutheon, without you all we would have been lost in the cold wilderness for a long time. To AJ Sutherland, Donna Allen, Tim Reid and Tim Pierce your audio and visual expertise allowed us to have real sound in real nature. Tony Young, thanks for creating all the stunning aerial drone shots that made for a beautiful cinematic touch. Geoff Ellis, you persevered in working around the clock to create the necessary perspex platforms for all the instruments and band. Heli Glenorchy, your piloting skills in the backcountry are top notch and nothing short of perfection. Sherwood Queenstown thanks for looking after us and providing ample flat whites for our caffeine needs every morning. Last but not least, my main rigging hand and long time adventure partner, Scott Rogers, you’re such an incredibly talented professional to have at my side when undertaking these big commercial stunts. Your thoroughness and diligence in all these impressive endeavors with the Moab Monkeys never goes unnoticed. The same can be said of Cody Tuttle, of Wingate Motion, who was one of the principal shooters for the main feature and ‘behind the scenes’ video seen below. Your artistic eye and fierce courage to get the shot in the toughest of circumstances is truly inspiring. A lot more could be elaborated about the trials and tribulations of this crazy project but I’ll simply let the videos speak for themselves. Thanks everyone for all the hard work and enthusiasm on this breathtaking worlds first live music gig high in the sky. Cheers!
In my youth, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would eventually be paid to build large commercial rope swings, jump out of hot air balloons with a parachute and regularly work on television productions as part of my adult career. Immediately after finishing a formal education and graduating from college, I boldly set out on an unconventional life path living out of my car, climbing mountains, walking highlines and BASE jumping all over the world. Possessed by a passion for global travel and a proclivity for immersing myself in outdoor adventure sports, I’ve pursued life the only way I know how, with total commitment and dedication to that which makes me happy and serves other people’s happiness. Working as a professional athlete, photographer/videographer, stuntman and high-angle ropes rigger over the years has provided me a unique skill set in confronting fear safely and carving out my own professional niche in the commercial industries. In the past 10 years, I’ve successfully grown a working resume doing various jobs across the hot deserts of Namibia, deep in the humid jungles of Brazil, Borneo and Thailand, above the urban madness of Bangkok and Rio de Janeiro and atop the high mountains of Nepal, Switzerland and New Zealand, among many other extreme environments. My confidence and proficiency in high risk locations has essentially become a key asset to this trade of rigging expertise, which constantly requires timely perfection, mental clarity and absolute thoroughness with clients. I’m not sure if Las Vegas, Nevada, exactly fits my definition of a pristine wilderness where I prefer to work, but the surrounding desert undeniably has its own serenity and peace far from the distracting bells and whistles of the obnoxious casino strip.
After completing a unique and challenging rigging job down in Namibia earlier this year (CLICK HERE FOR THE BIGGER STORY), working on an adventure reality television series called Global Gladiators, Scott Rogers and I received an unexpected phone call from our previous employers. They inquired if we were available during the summer to provide our unique rigging skills constructing a large human rope swing between flying hot air balloons. Having built, designed and operated many complex rope swing systems over the past decade, we got some basic details of the envisioned stunt and enthusiastically said yes. Contracted as the key riggers for yet another German program, entitled Joko vs. Klaas – Duel Around the World (or Joko gegen Klaas-Das Duell um die Welt in German), we began excitedly preparing ourselves for a hot desert job site somewhere outside Las Vegas.
The show Joko vs. Klaas, which is hugely popular in Europe, is a travel game/reality television program (running since 2012) which showcases celebrity hosts, Joachim ‘Joko’ Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, as they challenge one another to endure a slew of outrageous and mentally challenging obstacles all over the globe. Imagine a Jack Ass meets Fear Factor competition amongst daring friends with a big budget. Examples of their creative madness include them literally being duct taped to the side of a skyscraper (hundred of feet above the city of Bangkok) while singing karaoke, being placed in the middle of a room (wearing bomb squad grade protection equipment) as its literally blown up with explosives, collecting hallucinogenic honey in Nepal (from active bee hives on the sides of exposed cliffs) dangling from hemp made ladders, etc. Our project involved a slightly different interaction with fear, mostly dealing with intimidating heights, requiring Klaas to jump out of a hot air balloon into a gut dropping 250 foot long rope swing thousands of feet above the ground. This style of pendulum rope swing is a rigging design that both Scott and I have perfected for many commercial productions, but the changing variable for this stunt was that the fulcrum point of the swing would be secured to a separate hot air balloon flying parallel in the sky.
For every story they say there is a beginning, middle and end. For this story there is a stop in Thailand, Poland and Switzerland. During a 3 week circumnavigation around the globe, Scott Rogers and myself spent about a weeks time in each country playing with gravity and doing a little “work” along the way. It was a trip of many firsts for me where I experienced my first (B)uilding B.A.S.E. jump, rigged a new world record urban highline 600′ above Bangkok’s busy city life, committed to my first terminal tracking BASE jumps in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, and saw so much more along the way. I attempted to capture some moments on the blazing trail and here are a few glimpses of the beauty and diversity of the sights, sounds and people we got to play and smile with. I hope you enjoy!
First stop on the world adventure travel tour is Bangkok, Thailand. Scott Rogers, Andy Lewis and I got busy right off the airplane rigging a 560 foot long highline 600 feet above the urban sprawl of the hot humid city environment. This was all part of a deodorant commercial in collaboration with Gibbon Slacklines. Thanks Jan Kaeding for the amazing invite and excellent memories.
The new world record length urban highline has finally been rigged after waiting on the vectran to pass through customs. It weighs in at 170 meters long (557′) and 160 meters high (524′)… Andy made his first attempts on the line in the middle of the night at 3:00 AM. He was able to walk the last 30′ or so successfully but we’re waiting on daylight to really get the rig dialed in… One of the most impressive lines I’ve seen to date! So much thanks goes out to everyone who has been a part of this effort and project that is finally just starting: Paul Amornwet of tab Agency, Jan Karl Alexander Kaeding of Gibbon Slacklines, Balance Community: Slackline Outfitters, Scott Rogers for all the rigging assistance and as well a big shout out to our support team of Thai climbers that have been such a big help!
Chapter Two: The 6th Annual Urban Highline Festival (Lublin, Poland)
Slackliners from around the world have been gathering in the quaint historical town of Lublin, Poland, for the past six years rigging dozens of highlines in this amazing urban setting. Thanks to the efforts of Jan Galek, Faith Dickey, Jordan Tybon, Wojtek Kozakiewicz and so many more, this gathering continues to grow in attendees as the slack scene becomes globally widespread and more individuals discover the benefits of being better balanced people. This celebration takes place alongside a massive gathering of Carnival arts comprised of mimes, aerial silk performers, contortionists and other acrobats. The vibe is so much different than Bangkok and it was an incredible experience to see so many familiar old and new faces in the community of modern slacklining. Officially the Europeans have been pushing the sport in a huge way with monumental advances in the lengths of highlines walked and exploring new environments to establish lines in space. Without a doubt, the two church highlines were my favorite to walk at this gathering. If I could share one bit of advice concerning this event it would be to attend every year if you have the chance!
Chapter Three: The Valley of Death or Glory (Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland)
Welcome to the world of 2,000 foot tall limestone cliffs amidst the most beautiful alpine mountain environment you’ve ever imagined. With gondola services that take you to the top of either side of the valley with countless world-class BASE exits. This magical place is either a Disneyland paradise for talented wingsuit pilots and trackers to test their skills or The Valley of Death if you make any mistake. Taking anywhere between 8-15 second free fall delays, before pitching your pilot chute and being under an inflated canopy, you can leap from these great heights and fly like superman. After landing in a soft grassy field you’re only a 15 minute walk to the nearest local pub and cuisine. For those more adventurous types, a couple gondola rides plus a 3 hour hike in the mountains can get you to the top of the infamous North Face Eiger Wall. This place absolutely blew my mind in terms of how outrageously scenic it was and the gravity of having to perform every jump with flawless execution. It seemed everyday someone was having a cliff strike, landing in the tall trees or worse, which added to the commitment level of every action I took. I’ve made it a goal to spend time in this magical place every year, as long as I’m current in my flying skills. Thanks so much to Andy Lewis, Scott Rogers and Jimmy Peterson for being there on my first long free fall delays, you brothers will always be near and dear to my heart!
Monkey missions in Moab typically consist of several adventure sports all coming together in beautiful locations and with an amazing group of talented friends. This past week of shenanigans was no different and in typical monkey fashion I’ve stepped away from the experience reviewing the photos, videos and memories with a sense of overwhelming awe and appreciation for all the incredible people and life pursuits we’re collectively creating here in this desert paradise… The privilege of being surround by so many inspiring and gifted people in this outdoor community is a constant reminder that life is continually moving toward new adventurous pursuits that we all get to share with one another.
Andy Lewis finishing up his sunset sends of Demonix and Diabolix. Walking from one desert tower to another and back to the desert rim to finish up the days work.
All in all, four separate desert towers were summited (The Warlock, The Cauldrons and The Witch), two beautiful tower highlines establishhed and four new BASE jumping exits opened. As far as logistics go, it took a solid 3-4 days of hot exposed adventure rigging/climbing to gain access to all these points in order to prepare for the accomplishments ahead. With two new highlines established; Demonix (51 meters/167 feet long) and Diabolix (67 meters/220 feet long) many visiting slackliners saw new personal bests go down. Seeing so many people struggle through fear, apprehension and difficult circumstances, while having success in the end, is always an inspiring note to end on. Scott Rogers, recovering from a very serious tib/fib fracture only six months ago, successfully walked both highlines (setting a new PR) and joined myself on a BASE jump from the summit of The Warlock tower, which hasn’t happened in what seems a long time. Sharing these types of adventures together as a group of friends and athletes always brings us closer and I love seeing the elated smile of my friends after landing a canopy. It’s a precious moment that I lack words to describe its excellence.
Watching my personal heroes overcome huge life obstacles and come out on top as wiser better people reminds me that I’m surrounded by the right crowd and instills pride in my heart. This community has always inspired me to improve my focus and balance and this past adventure helped stoke the fire even more as the summer heat kicks in and the desert adventures continue on. It was a pleasure sharing this experience with everyone involved (Faith Dickey, J.R. Racine, Ray Diaz, Daniel Albrecht, Monica Beck, Parker Gales, Dan Krauss, Aleta Edinger, and Scott Rogers) and I know we’ve all stepped away from the experience as better people with a bigger smile on our face and new stories to someday share with the grandchildren. I hope everyone continues to love life, push themselves in new directions and share amazing experiences with the precious people they’re surrounded by. Slack on!
I've committed my life to the pursuit of world exploration and pushing the boundaries of human limits. I have a strong passion for climbing technical rock routes, BASE jumping in the mountains and walking lines of 1-inch webbing at varying heights. In this shared space I hope to convey the stories of inspiring outdoor communities and individuals who interact with nature adventurously.
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