A-Basin Slackline Hero Gets Married In Slackline Ceremony Over Canyon
MOAB, Utah (CBS4) - The slackliner who saved a man's life on a chairlift at Arapahoe Basin got married over the weekend in his own slackline wedding.
In January, Mickey Wilson was out on a solo day at A-Basin when he saw a man dangling from his backpack on a chairlift.
Shortly after the incident, he posted about it to Instagram, saying "panic set in and we struggled in vain for about a minute to build a human pyramid to get him but the powder was too deep and we toppled over."
When it didn't work, Wilson said he "had a eureka moment."
"And I looked at the tower and I looked at the cable going down from the tower to him and I said, 'I can climb up that tower,'" said Wilson. "And I can scoot down it and get to him and make this rescue go faster."
Wilson made the incredible climb and walk, crediting his slackline training, as well as a miraculous catch as a ski patrolman threw him a knife to cut Richard free so ski patrol could administer CPR.
Because of Wilson's actions, Richard survived.
This past weekend, now, Wilson married his girlfriend, Purple McMullen-Laird, in a ceremony near Canyonlands National Park in Utah, according to the Summit Daily.
Arapahoe Basin slackline hero gets married while suspended over Utah canyon (photos) https://t.co/dc6Ca0PhHd
— Summit Daily News (@SummitDailyNews) August 28, 2017
More than 100 people gathered around the rim of the Fruit Bowl canyon to witness the couple and their officiant walk out on slacklines to a net 300 feet above the canyon floor.
Following the ceremony, the couple dropped 200 feet through a whole in the center of the net, which was constructed by Purple, and swing on a rope to begin their lives together.
The couple is now on their way to Hawaii for an all-expenses paid honeymoon, which was given to them as a gift by the Ellen Degeneres Show after the rescue.