Would YOU sleep here? Thrillseekers pictured thousands of feet above Alps in HAMMOCKS ... and they tightrope walk to get there
- Extreme athletes have gathered for the annual International Highline Meeting in the Italian Alps
- Meetings first began in 2012 when the area was discovered to be perfect for highline enthusiasts
- They spend a week practising their sport in harmony with nature and without competition
Not everybody would feel as relaxed lying in a hammock strung thousands of feet up in the air between mountains.
But then these thrill-seekers high up in the northern Italian Alps aren't just anybody. They are members of a group of extreme athletes who have travelled to take part in the International Highline Meeting in Monte Piana, Italy.
The inaugural meeting took place in 2012, when Monte Piana was identified as a great place for the sport, easily accessible and with a glorious past and a fairy tale atmosphere.
The highliners came together for a week to practice their sport in harmony with nature and without mutual showdown, and it was such a success that now the meeting takes place annually.
There are seemingly no end of daredevils who like nothing better than to take up the challenges posed by highwire walking.
From natural geographical features such as waterfalls and gorges, to man-made objects such as skyscrapers and suspension bridges, tightrope walkers have attempted to walk across them all - with varying degrees of success.
It's a physical accomplishment which is not for the the faint of heart. Not at that altitude anyway.
Perhaps they are secretly trying to emulate that great high wire walker Jean Francois Gravelet, alias Charles Blondin, of France, who made the earliest crossing of the Niagara Falls on a three-inch rope 1,100ft long and 160ft above the Falls in 1859.
Blondin thereafter made each crossing of the Falls in a different manner: blindfolded; trundling a wheelbarrow; on stilts, once with a man on his back, and once and sitting down halfway to make an omelette.
These guys look like cooking a few eggs while they chill out in hammocks wouldn't be far beyond them.
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Just chill out man: A guitarist strums a tune while all around him the high wire experts relax. But how did he get the guitar there?
Come join! A highline walker heads towards his compadres who rest in a hammock on webbing stretched between rocks in the Italian Alps
Clingon: An extreme athlete makes the walk across a wire strung between the Italian Alps thousands of feet above ground level
Nearly there: After his long walk across this tightrope enthusiast is almost at the other side
Now get back up there: Losing your footing results in the inevitable, but a small safety rope stops this high wire enthusiast from plummeting to his death
Easy does it: A female highliner walks the line strung between rocks in the Alps as part of the gathering near Misurina in northern Italy
Walk the line: A dramatic shot from low down shows three of the highliners criss crossing the gorge
Cosy in there? This highliner is so happy to be resting in his snug hammock he's catching 40 winks
All tgether now, heave! Highliners tighten the webbings between rocks so they can continue to try new routes across the gorge
That's fairly high! This shot shows just how far above the ground these thrill seekers are as they nonchalantly walk across the webbings
Then three came along all at once: Highliners chat to each other, strung hundreds of feet above the ground
And so to bed: A huddle of tents forms the makeshift village for a week as the highliners get some well-deserved sleep before another day of thrill seeking
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