Falko Traber (born in

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, October 13, 1959) is a German

high wire Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...

artist. He is a direct descendant of one of the oldest artistic families in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the legendary

Zugspitze The Zugspitze (), at above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Austria–Germany border runs over its western su ...

tightrope Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...

artists. The name was given to the Traber family show after their spectacular performance in 1952, after their 2964-meter-high performance on the

, the highest mountain in Germany. Born during a tour in France, Falko Traber traveled with his family to more than forty countries. Falko Traber is the last of his brothers to still perform the high wire; his brother Charlie died in 2007 at the age of fifty-four. Traber made the profession of high-wire artist his calling, and set a large number of

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

. An exhibit devoted to Traber and his career has been on display in the National Museum in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

for several years.

World records

*1978: Spent ten days and ten nights (264 hours) continuously on a high wire in Düsseldorf *1982: Spent eleven days and nights in Alstertal Shopping Center *1996: Crossed the town of

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

on a 640-meter-long and up to 60-meter-high wire rope *1997: Set another length world record in

Weil am Rhein Weil am Rhein (High Alemannic: ''Wiil am Rhii'') is a German town and commune. It is on the east bank of the River Rhine, and extends to the point at which the Swiss, French and German borders meet. It is the most southwesterly town in Germany an ...

, crossing 700 meters of rope on the rear wheel of his specially made Suzuki motorcycle at an altitude of 80 meters *1999: Re-enacted the feat of his ancestors as a culmination of his previous work, crossing the

with a bicycle on a 12 mm wire rope 600 meters high. He also stood on his head on the bicycle's steering fork. *2002: Spent thirteen days and nights (312 hours) without interruption on a high wire, at an altitude of about ten meters, under the open sky in a wildlife enclosure in which there were several fully-grown, hungry white tigers *2006: Walked on the longest freely hanging ropeway in the world – the 3S-Umlaufbahn in Kitzbuehel at a height of 412 meters

News

On July 16, 2007, Traber appeared in the "Globo", the largest Brazilian daily newspaper, which featured his run on the cable car to

Sugarloaf Mountain Sugarloaf Mountain ( pt, Pão de Açúcar, ) is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

TV

* Kabel1, life adventure, July 2007 report * Aeschbacher Swiss television SF, January 2007, Falko Traber had a guest appearance in an Aeschbacher talk show broadcast * ORF Vienna by Prima Vera, December 2006 * Pro7 SAM, December 2006, report of the Christmas man on the high wire * , October 2006, "walk on the wire rope of the Kitzbüheler 3S-Bahn" * RTL-Explosiv, 02.11.06 "Falko Traber in 412m height on the rope" * SAT1-Nachrichten, 02.11.06, "Falko Traber on the ropeway in 412 m in Kitzbühl" * SWR Night Cafe, 15/09/06, ''fate parents house" * Discovery Channel Worldwide, 2003, "The best artists of the World"

References

External links

Falko Traber Show websiteFalko Traber website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Traber, Falko 1959 births Living people Tightrope walkers German stunt performers People from Besançon