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Arapahoe Basin slackline hero gets married while suspended over Utah canyon (photos)

On Aug. 26, Mickey Wilson, the slackliner who rescued the skier who had caught his backpack on the chairlift at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area last January, married his girlfriend, Purple McMullen-Laird, in a wedding ceremony that is the first of its kind to ever be held on a space net accessed only by slacklines.

The ceremony took place in the Fruit Bowl just outside of Canyonlands, Utah. More than 100 people gathered around the rim of the canyon to see Mickey, Purple and Tim, the officiant, walk out on slack lines to a space net constructed by Purple suspended over 300 feet above the canyon floor. At the conclusion of the ceremony the couple dropped over 200 feet through a hole in the center of the net on a rope swing to begin their lives together. On Tuesday the couple heads to Hawaii for an all-expenses-paid honeymoon that was given to them by Ellen Degeneres Show when Mickey appeared on the show shortly after the rescue.

Shortly after the rescue, Wilson wrote a moving account about the incident, its aftermath, and life lessons learned.

— Bob Winsett


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