Estonian daredevil to cross Seoul skyline on 160-metre highline
Estonian athlete Jaan Roose plans to walk a 160-metre slackline suspended 120 metres above central Seoul on Thursday, a feat inspired by South Korea's traditional tightrope art.
Estonian aerial athlete Jaan Roose is set to attempt one of his most dramatic challenges yet on Thursday: crossing a 160-metre highline strung 120 metres above the heart of Seoul. The line connects the Koreana hotel with the Dong-A Media Center, near the city's landmark Gwanghwamun palace and square.
The 34-year-old, a three-time slackline world champion, has built his reputation on daring urban crossings. He previously completed a 185-metre walk between Qatar's Iconic Towers. In 2024 he became the first person to slackline across the Strait of Messina between mainland Italy and Sicily, a 3.6-kilometre traverse during which he fell near the finish but was saved by his safety harness. Earlier this month, he spent 12 hours covering 14.7 kilometres on a line above the Danube in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Large crowds are expected to gather in Seoul to watch Roose attempt the crossing twice, at 1pm and 4pm local time, weather permitting. Organisers will postpone the walk if average wind speeds reach 10 metres per second or gusts hit 15 metres per second. Thursday's forecast calls for sunshine and light winds.
Roose said the idea for the Gwanghwamun walk came from a 2022 trip to South Korea, during which he discovered jultagi, the country's traditional form of tightrope walking. Unesco added the practice to its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2011. Unlike tightrope walking elsewhere, jultagi blends acrobatics with comedy — performers sing, joke and dance on the rope while trading banter with a clown on the ground, accompanied by live musicians.
