Part of a small crew of committed Scottish highliners, photographer Owen Hope captures spellbinding images in impressive mountain locations. Here he talks us through some of his favourite pictures from a sport that's arguably still in its infancy.

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I encountered highlining for the first time in 2019. I was immediately struck by the experience of photographing the sport; it's unlike anything else you'll see through a viewfinder. I found that it combined so many aspects of what I enjoy both doing and photographing; mountains, climbing, people, adventure sports… you name it.

I have been slacklining since 2020 (a COVID lockdown hobby) and walking highlines myself since 2021. Being a highliner as well as a photographer has given me an insider, first-person perspective on this fast-paced pursuit that I cannot imagine I'd otherwise have had. It has been a real privilege to be so involved in the birth and growth of the sport in Scotland.

An Teallach

Rigging a highline between two of An Teallach's peaks is something that Michael, Lizzie and I have always fantasised about. As big mountain people, An Teallach was always on the radar, it just didn't always feel like something we could do. I can't think of many ridges with the same degree of exposure.  

After successfully rigging incredible lines between other inaccessible Scottish peaks, the dream of a highline on the An Teallach ridge began to feel like a proximate reality. Lizzie and I had independently been up multiple times over the past few years and were pretty familiar with what rigging up there would involve. As summer 2024 came around, it was just a case of finding a weather window when all three of us weren't working. 

We arrived on the ridge in thick mist. Once we finished rigging, the clouds began to blow through, occasionally revealing the sun and producing an incredibly vivid brocken spectre. This scene is one that none of the three of us will likely ever forget. Shown in the photograph, Michael crossed the line both among and above clouds, looking out to his left to see not only Loch Toll an Lochain but a 360° rainbow surrounding his shadow.

16mm | f/5.6 | 1/800s

Old Man of Stoer

About two months after I first stepped on a highline (a mere 20m midline in the woods), I received a message from Amar to say that he and some friends were going to rig to the Old Man of Stoer. He had seen a post of mine in Slackline UK's Facebook group where I'd made a plea to find other like-minded people, having just invested in my own gear.

I finished work at 5:30pm and raced to Stoer just in time to meet them walking back to their tents. I had visited the Old Man of Stoer on various occasions over the previous years, often just to take photographs of it. It was a bit mental to then eventually find myself stood on a highline strung between it and the land, 200ft above the crashing waves. This was the first time I think I ever experienced true exposure.  I managed to get two short sessions in before racing back to work for 15:00 the next day. This photograph is of Oscar McKittrick fighting some surf on one of his crossings. 

17mm | f/5.6 | 1/125s

Stac Pollaidh

In this photo is Michael Lehman from Australia. Michael was the first highline athlete I ever photographed (not to be confused with Michael Ross, who is the athlete in most of my photographs these days). When I first watched Michael Lehman rig and walk a highline in 2019, I truly believed that the sport was not for mere mortals like me. It was absolutely mind-blowing to see him stand up on, and walk along, 1" of wiggly webbing... all while remaining completely calm.

When the UK went into lockdown in early 2020, I bought a slackline for the park and gradually found that this wasn't quite the insurmountable challenge that it often looks like. Highlining's aesthetic is its worst enemy and is probably the biggest thing that stops people ever even beginning to entertain the idea of trying anything like it.

This photograph was taken of Michael during his return to Scotland in the summer of 2022. Michael, Severin and I rigged a c.85m line above the western buttress of Stac Pollaidh. During this trip Michael also established Sanity Cheque (E5, 6b).

50mm | f/2.8 | 1/640s

Loch na Gainmhich

The global highline community is small. Here in Scotland, I'd like to think we're especially welcoming to people visiting who want to get on highlines. There is a beautiful reciprocity that often leads to us getting incredible opportunities to thereafter experience other peoples' backyards from atop a highline. Michael Ross, another of the Scottish highliners, spent a long time working in Gran Canaria (a place that has incontrovertibly grown some of the world's strongest highliners). Through him, we've established a bit of a bond between the Scottish and Canarian highline scenes. 

In this photograph, Victor from Gran Canaria is walking above the iconic 'Wailing Widow' waterfall that cascades out of Loch na Gainmhich. We rigged this c.90m line on 120cm long ground-anchor pegs, as we often do. Of the hordes of tourists that passed beneath us, very few looked up and noticed.

24mm | f/1.4 | 1/2500s

Atholl hills

Highlining eventually becomes a logistical rather than physical challenge. While walking many 100s of metres on a highline is not an easy task, it is very often easier than the task of assembling the resources required to rig the line. In 2022 we got a home-grown crew together to rig a 320m line in the Atholl hills. I can't wait to get on more big lines.

Walking this direction on the line, into the sun, meant that your eyes adjusted for the white slackline and not the dark hillside. The effect was that, despite being hundreds of metres above the glen below, all you could see was the near-luminous slackline. This photograph shows Michael walking into what feels like an abyss.

24mm | f/1.8 | 1/8000s

Old Man of Storr

Once you get quite comfortable walking along highlines, the next thing is to engage in the problem-solving task of rigging safely in interesting places. On Hogmanay in 2022, friend and highliner Aidan Lynch was staying up in the highlands with some friends, near Kyle of Lochalsh. I suggested to him that we make the most of him being up north and that we go and rig a highline on the Isle of Skye. 

This rig wasn't really as gnarly as the photo suggests. The Old Man of Storr is pretty accessible. We wanted to rig something to the actual Old Man itself, but we didn't come with enough gear. We'll do that in the summer, first.

This photograph is of me and was taken by Aidan Lynch. I set my camera on the tripod and got him to press the shutter.

24mm | f/5.6 | 1/1000s

Beinn Eighe

The first time we rigged a proper alpine line in Scotland was in 2023. We grabbed a weather window to haul a highline rig to the top of the famous Triple Buttress above Coire Mhic Fhearchair. After a few years of getting on some pretty exposed highlines, this was the first time in a long time that I rolled onto the line to be met with a short and sharp adrenaline rush. It was just so damn exposed. A few hundred metres beneath us sat the remnants of the crashed Lancaster bomber.

The adrenaline quickly disappeared. Despite what you might think, it isn't an adrenaline sport. If you felt loads of adrenaline, you simply wouldn't be able to do it. We managed to get pretty comfortable on top of Beinn Eighe that day. There was hardly a cloud in the sky and temperatures went up to c.20°C. I was quite desperate to stay until sunset when the light would soften, and I managed to convince the others to get on board with this. There's something incredible about being in the mountains when it gets dark. This photograph is of Michael during the last session of the evening.

24mm | f/5.6 | 1/1600s

Stob Coire nan Lochan

By this point, we had almost entirely lost interest in rigging longer and longer lines. Instead, we were on a mountain binge. Especially given our resources as a group, it seemed natural to prioritise rigging shorter lines across increasingly dramatic gaps. With this in mind, I had invested in a pretty lightweight set-up.

Amar, Michael and I made the most of a good weather window in Glencoe. Without having ever scouted it before, we rolled the dice on the slog up to Stob Coire nan Lochan to rig a line between the buttresses. After a bit of troubleshooting and some creative anchor building, we rigged a pretty tiny highline. Only c.25m long, although it spanned this pretty mind-blowing piece of airspace set against a background of the Aonach Eagach and Ben Nevis. This photograph is of Michael Ross cruising around on the line. He would go on to take three rocks out onto the line for some juggling.

16mm | f/5.6 | 1/250

Old Man of Hoy

Earlier this year I was suddenly added to a Facebook group chat called "Hoy 2024". Our friend Tom Brown, who we spontaneously met late last year, had friends in the US who desperately wanted to rig a highline to the Old Man of Hoy. Needless to say, we all shared this desperation but (until now) had never had the resources to even contemplate it.

With a team of eight, we rigged this line. It pretty much went exactly according to plan. Walking the c.180m gap between the Old Man and the land, with 300m cliffs surrounding you, was a bit mental. This photograph is of Lizzie during one of her sessions. 

24mm | f/5.6 | 1/320s

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About Owen Hope

My name is Owen and I'm a highliner and photographer from the Scottish Highlands. Although not my chosen career path, I have been taking commercial jobs as a photographer since 2018.

You can find the bulk of my favourite work in various portfolios across my website: www.owenmhope.com.