14 DAY TRIAL // Much can be said about extreme artist Eskil Ronningsbakken, but not that he cares for his life. The daredevil performs some of the most impressive and dangerous stunts in the world, such as dangling on a bicycle running a thin wire stretched between two cliffs, some 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) in the air. The DailyMail has recently published some photos of the stunt man, who describes himself as an “educated balancing performer,” which also reveal an interesting thing about him: he likes to perform with little to no clothes on.
One of the previous stunts he's performed has been to lift two hot air balloons into the air, connected by a cable, and then to walk from one to the other, several thousand feet in the air. He says that his extensive training as a circus member, which is what he's been doing since the age of five, helps him a lot in these crazy attempts, and that his focus aids him pull every last one of them off with relative ease.
“A stunt is something you see in movies, often done with mattresses, safety lines or nets. What I do is draw a picture with vulnerable human beings and their bodies, in the surrounding of mother earth. That's the balance between life and death, and that is where life is,” he told the UK publication. “I have performed professionally for almost 14 years now, so it's hard to compare one piece to another. Biking upside down on a wire 1000m above the Norwegian fjords in fresh biting wind still stays as one of the most exciting moments of life.”
“I feel fear, of course I do, we are humans and we have a natural sense of self-preservation. However, I must control that before I undertake any new project because that would lead to lethal mistakes. If I ever find myself totally fearless then that is when I will stop what I am doing. I would dream of balancing on the top of the Burj in Dubai, the tallest building in the world,” he added.
The balancing acts he does might, indeed, seem a work of art, as Eskil pointed out. Some of the stunts he has performed in the Norwegian fjord have been made increasingly difficult by the wind blowing at a height of 1,000 meters through a very narrow corridor. And being subjected to such an extreme weather without wearing any clothes can take its toll on the human body. However, with a history of balancing on, between and underneath air balloons, as well as on cliffs and ice cubes suspended thousands of feet in the air, it seems likely that we'll be hearing more from Eskil Ronningsbakken.