I was terrified of heights – now I’m an acrobatic highliner walking a rope strung between MOUNTAINS. This is how I dealt with my fear of death…
There was a time when Taylor St. Germain was so afraid of heights that she couldn’t even climb to the top of an indoor climbing wall – “that even three-year-olds could conquer.”
Now a world-class highliner, the 25-year-old walks freely across narrow slackline ropes suspended hundreds of metres in the air, performing acrobatic tricks and stunts.
Filming her dazzling performances has helped her become a TikTok star, with almost 50,000 followers mesmerized by her pieces that she performed for the camera while walking on slacklines, high above the ground, in breathtaking locations.
In a video, Taylor from Canada shows how she gathered the courage to start highlining and how she doesn’t let falling and dangling in her safety harness deter her.
As she slowly walks across the finish line, she admits that when she first started the sport, she “spent more time falling” than getting up.
Taylor St Germain (above) is a world-class highliner who free-walks across slackline ropes strung hundreds of feet in the air while performing acrobatic tricks and stunts
Taylor’s dizzying feats have made her a TikTok star with nearly 50,000 followers. In a video, Taylor reveals how she gathered the courage to start highlining and how she isn’t deterred by falls
She tells her followers: ‘When a child learns to walk, he doesn’t fall 50 times and think, ‘Maybe this isn’t for me.’
“It sucks to fall, but it’s part of the process of learning to walk and I think that’s what I love about slacklining. It’s literally just learning to walk again. It puts you back in that constant state of failure and it takes a special kind of resilience and strength to decide that you’re going to keep doing it.”
In another video, Taylor explains how she gets back up after falling by jumping up and down.
She says, “There are two ways I usually do it. Either I use the momentum of the bounce to pull myself up with my arms and swing myself back to the top of the line.
‘If I have less resilience, I can hook my leg over the line and pull myself up with my arms, grab the line and climb back up.’
Taylor also shares advice on overcoming fears with her followers. In the caption of one video, she wrote, “Highlining has allowed me to confront my fear of death in a very physical way, and it’s helped me recognize the other places it shows up in my life.”
Taylor said highlining helped her face her fear of death. She said, “It takes a special kind of resilience and strength to decide that you’re going to keep doing it.”
Taylor said falling is “part of the process.” She is pictured above highlining in Utah’s Zion National Park
Taylor said she uses the “momentum of the bounce” to pull herself back up on the line if she falls. She is pictured on the left in Switzerland and on the right in Squamish, a mountain town north of Vancouver.
Speaking to the camera while balancing on the highline, she says, “I used to be terrified of what I do now. I’ve learned a lot on my journey to be able to do this. The very first thing you want to do if you want to overcome your fear is understand where your fear comes from.
‘I wasn’t afraid to be on the highline, because I knew logically that everything was safe here. I didn’t take unnecessary risks. Even if it looked like it. I was terrified of highlines for the same reason most people are. I’m terrified of dying.
“So if you can get to the core of why you’re afraid of the thing you’re afraid of. Then you can face it better, because you can rationalize to yourself that you’re not in danger.”
Taylor first tried slacklining, where the rope is attached relatively low above the ground, before she felt comfortable enough to tackle the “higher” and “scarier” lines. She is pictured above highlining in Squamish
Taylor said highlining “feels like dancing in the air.” She is pictured on the left balancing above the sea in Mallorca and on the right in Squamish
Taylor told MailOnline separately about her fear: ‘There was a time when I couldn’t get to the top of an indoor climbing wall (although there are three-year-olds who can). But I started to get over that before I started highlining.
“It’s interesting because as a kid I was absolutely terrified of heights. Roller coasters scared the hell out of me, but I didn’t mind climbing trees. As I got older, it just seemed like the fear got worse, which happens to a lot of people.”
Rather than let her fears hold her back, Taylor decided to tackle it head on. She first tried slacklining, where the rope is attached relatively low above the ground, before feeling comfortable enough to tackle the “higher” and “scarier” lines.
She admits it’s an “ongoing process,” explaining that there are some lines where she “feels no fear at all,” while others leave her feeling “paralyzed.” She adds, “The difference is that I can work through the fear much more easily and quickly now, and I’ve built up enough confidence in myself and the gear to get through it.”
Taylor’s highlining adventures have taken her across Canada, America and Europe, from over the ocean in Mallorca to the rocky landscapes of Zion National Park in Utah. She even competed in the LAAX World Highlining Championships in Switzerland this year.
Taylor says her favorite thing about highlining is that it “feels like you’re dancing on air.”
She said: ‘I feel so free on the line. I can push myself constantly without fear of impact. It seems extreme, but other freestyle sports are much more dangerous in terms of impact injuries. For us, there is no ground to touch. We just fall in the air and get caught by your line and harness.’
To make sure she’s safe, Taylor always ties herself in securely to the line. She said, “Whether I’m rigging the line or getting on the line for a session, I triple check my tie-in and I always have a buddy checking me as well.”
For those who still want to try the sport, Taylor says, “Don’t try to highline on your own. There are so many nuances to rigging that you can only learn through experience, not by watching a YouTube video.”
