Spectacular spectacle at Tegernsee: Slackliner Quirin Herterich ran from one hot air balloon to another at a height of 80 meters: 100 meters in six minutes and 40 seconds.
World record!
Weissach
- A stunt like something out of a James Bond film: two hot air balloons perfectly coordinated by balloonist Michael Unger with pilots Andi Götschl and Thomas Köck on board rise simultaneously into the sky over Weißach on Monday morning. They are connected with an 88 meter long slackline that extends from one balloon tip to the other. Slackliner Quirin Herterich from Altenau sits on top of the Bräustüberl balloon - until the companion has reached a height of 80 meters and the slackline is stretched. Then the 27-year-old Herterich, multiple slackline record holder, sets off on the shaky path. Barefoot. At minus degrees and with winds of six to eight kilometers per hour. He carefully balances on the 25 millimeter wide polyamide ribbon. Step by step. Not only once does he stumble, scream in shock,catches up again. He continues to work and after six minutes and 40 seconds he reaches the top of the Tegernsee balloon. There he first takes a selfie for documentation and then sets off on the airy way back. Another 88 meters.
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Slackliner Quirin Herterich leaves the Bräustüberl balloon.
© Michael Unger
“A slackline has to be walked back and forth, otherwise it doesn't count”, he will say later after he has roped 70 meters on the safety line and broken the world record.
Analogous to the names of the balloons, he calls the route “From the Bräustüberl to the Tegernsee (and back)”.
No other slackliner before him has run such a long distance between two floating hot air balloons - especially not from tip to tip.
So far, slackliners have only dared to use ribbons that were no more than 15 meters long and stretched between the baskets of the balloons.
"Of course, it doesn't look so much optically," says balloon athlete Michael Unger.
Several world premieres at Tegernsee have already been made possible
With his balloons he has already made several spectacular world premieres possible on Tegernsee: in 2016 he pulled a SUP over the Tegernsee with a balloon, and in 2017 a paraglider jumped out of his basket.
It was Unger who brought the idea of the balancing act from top to top into play when slackliner Quirin Herterich, who is also an engineer and also carried out the static calculations, reported in spring 2021 with his suggestion of the "longest slackline between two balloons".
Despite all the boldness, two (or four with the pilots Andi Götschl and Thomas Köck) full professionals met who know their sport and their equipment so well that they can assess and calculate what is possible.
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Successful record attempt: from left: Thomas Köck, Andi Götschl, Quirin Herterich and Michael Unger.
© Alexandra Korimorth
“The specialty from a sporting point of view were actually the two movable sides. That was much more wobbly than between two rock faces and really not that easy, ”explains Herterich. The challenge for the ballooning team was to set up the two smallest 4,250 cubic meters of balloons from the fleet and let them rise so that the slackline is as horizontal as possible. Extensive calculations regarding wind directions, passenger weight and gas fillings as well as a total of 1007 meters of lines were necessary to bring the two balloons into the correct position on the ground. The only meteorological option for the undertaking was Monday. Only there was the light south-south-west wind and the good weather gap, which promised success for the undertaking.
The dozen or so helpers, the police and the Johanniter spontaneously stood by their rifles for safety.
And the farmers Andreas Hatzl, Martin Strohschneider and Mathias Stadler were also part of the airy party: They quickly mowed their meadows on the Greawasserl on Sunday and prepared an ideal starting and landing place for the latest world record "made on Tegernsee".
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