Extreme balance artist dares death in handstand atop chairs over precipice

LONDON - Extreme artist Eskil Ronningsbakken has been snapped courting death as he perched in a handstand atop a stack of chairs on the edge of a precipice.

The 30-year-old Norwegian, who has been practising his balancing skills since the age of five, was seen positioning himself on the edge of the Flydalsjuvet cliff in Geiranger, Norway, that could have invited a 304 metre fall.

But that does not stop the daredevil from attempting the balancing acts that he describes as expressions of art and not stunts.

“I’ve had this picture in my mind since 2001, and we had already planned to return to do the winter landscape after our success in September,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

“I always feel addicted to edgy places which gives me the feeling of flying, and this is one of the best venues I’ve been to so far,” he added.

Ronningsbakken continued: “I prepared for many different types of balancing and brought various props but the best outcome was the stack of chairs with me on top.

“I have three loose items under me, and balancing with my back towards the abyss there is no return at all if I fall.” (ANI)