Aerialist Nik Wallenda completed a tightrope walk that took him a quarter mile over the Little Colorado River Gorge in northeastern Arizona on Sunday.
Wallenda performed the stunt on a 2-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet above the river on the Navajo Nation near the Grand Canyon. He took just more than 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the rope swayed.
The 34-year-old Sarasota, Fla., resident is a seventh-generation high-wire artist and is part of the famous “Flying Wallendas” circus
family– a clan that is no stranger to death-defying feats.
His great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, fell during a performance in Puerto Rico and died at the age of 73. Several other family members, including a cousin and an uncle, have perished while performing wire walking stunts.
Nik Wallenda grew up performing with his family and has dreamed of crossing the Grand Canyon since he was a teenager. Sunday’s stunt comes a year after he traversed Niagara Falls earning a seventh Guinness world record.
Wallenda wore a microphone and two cameras, one that looked down on the dry Little Colorado River bed and one that faced straight ahead. His leather shoes with an elk-skin sole helped him keep a grip on the steel cable as he moved across.
About 600 spectators watching on a large video screen on site cheered him on as he walked toward them. A Navajo Nation ranger, a paramedic and two members of a film crew were stationed on the canyon floor and watched from below.
The ranger, Elmer Phillips, said Wallenda appeared to be walking like any normal person would on a sidewalk. But he said he got a little nervous when Wallenda stopped the first time.
“Other than that, a pretty amazing feat. I know I wouldn’t even attempt something like that,” Phillips said. “Very nicely done.”
Amazing. I can'[t imagine why anyone would want to walk across the Grand Canyon on a wire rope. Let me make full disclosure. I refused to watch it live. I have horrible acrophobia and it literally makes me sick.
I did watch the rerun. It also made me sick. He spoke to the Lord the entire time crossing. As he got towards the end, the thank yous switched from Jesus to the Discovery Channel.
The entire walk took 22:54 minutes. Wallenka made history. Tomorrow the cables, lights, wires, electricity and machinery will all be hauled away. The Navajo Nation will return to normal.
I kept hearing about the “pristine” Navajo Nation. Actually, the Navajo Nation is anything but pristine. Anyone who has ever been to the Navajo Nation can tell you that it is very UNpristine and sadly it shows all the signs of the poverty of the people who live there. The national monuments are kept fairly decent but once you get away from Canyon de Chelly and the tourist part of Monument Valley, things go downhill. Many people living on the rez don’t have electricity because of the expensive of running it out to the homes. Hopefully the Discovery Channel will leave things a lot better than they found them.
Navajo representatives gave Nik turquoise bear claw neckwear for protection. He presented them with miniatures of the Empire State Building because his walk was talker than the Empire State Building. Hopefully the Navajoes will come away with a little more wealth.
If you haven’t been to the Grand Canyon, time to book a trip. It is breath-taking. No one conquers the Grand Canyon.
I find amazing that he can even walk on flat ground, much less that high wire, carrying around such big …… 🙂
Were you going to say POLE? [innocent look]
That COULD BE what I was talking about.