Daredevil completes hair-raising tightrope walk over Grand Canyon
Source: Agencies |
June 25, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DAREDEVIL Nik Wallenda has completed a historic high-wire walk on a 5cm steel cable over the Grand Canyon.
Wallenda, the self-described "King of the High Wire," took 22 minutes and 54 seconds to walk 427 meters across the crimson-hued canyon with just a distant ribbon of the Little Colorado River beneath him. The event was broadcast live around the world on Sunday.
Wallenda, the first person to cross the canyon, made the walk without a tether or safety net.
Wallenda could be heard praying almost constantly during the walk, murmuring "Thank you, Jesus." He kissed the ground when he reached the other side.
"It took every bit of me to stay focused that entire time," Wallenda said. "My arms are aching like you wouldn't believe."
He said he stopped and crouched down twice, first because of the wind, the second because the cable had picked up an unsettling rhythm.
He spat on his hands and rubbed it on the sole of his shoe for grip as the cable had gathered dust.
He said the walk was stressful. But he also said the view, from 457 meters above the snaking river, was "breathtaking."
"It was a dream come true," Wallenda said of the crossing. "This is what my family has done for 200 years, so its part of my legacy."
A seventh-generation member of the "Flying Wallendas" family of acrobats, Wallenda also made history last year by becoming the only person to complete a high-wire walk over the brink of Niagara Falls. He used the same cable on Sunday.
The 34-year-old first dreamed of Sunday's challenge during a visit to the Grand Canyon with his parents as a teenager.
There was no word on the financial benefits of Wallenda's stunt. He was listed by the Discovery Channel as one of the executive producers of the live broadcast.
Viewers watching live in 217 countries were able to share Wallenda's point of view from the cable during the crossing, through cameras rigged to his body. Wallenda held a 20kg balancing pole.
His great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, slipped and fell to his death from a high wire in Puerto Rico in 1978.
In an interview after Sunday's walk, Nik Wallenda teared up describing how he thought of his great-grandfather.
"I knelt down and I thought of my great-grandfather and that everything I do is to honor him," Wallenda said. "It took my mind off all this movement underneath me ... and I was able to focus on him and regain composure."
Wallenda said before the crossing that his greatest concern was the unpredictable wind gusts that are prone to buffet the site in a remote section of the Grand Canyon's watershed on the Navajo Nation.
For a future stunt, Wallenda said he dreams of walking between New York's Chrysler Building and Empire State Building.
Wallenda, the self-described "King of the High Wire," took 22 minutes and 54 seconds to walk 427 meters across the crimson-hued canyon with just a distant ribbon of the Little Colorado River beneath him. The event was broadcast live around the world on Sunday.
Wallenda, the first person to cross the canyon, made the walk without a tether or safety net.
Wallenda could be heard praying almost constantly during the walk, murmuring "Thank you, Jesus." He kissed the ground when he reached the other side.
"It took every bit of me to stay focused that entire time," Wallenda said. "My arms are aching like you wouldn't believe."
He said he stopped and crouched down twice, first because of the wind, the second because the cable had picked up an unsettling rhythm.
He spat on his hands and rubbed it on the sole of his shoe for grip as the cable had gathered dust.
He said the walk was stressful. But he also said the view, from 457 meters above the snaking river, was "breathtaking."
"It was a dream come true," Wallenda said of the crossing. "This is what my family has done for 200 years, so its part of my legacy."
A seventh-generation member of the "Flying Wallendas" family of acrobats, Wallenda also made history last year by becoming the only person to complete a high-wire walk over the brink of Niagara Falls. He used the same cable on Sunday.
The 34-year-old first dreamed of Sunday's challenge during a visit to the Grand Canyon with his parents as a teenager.
There was no word on the financial benefits of Wallenda's stunt. He was listed by the Discovery Channel as one of the executive producers of the live broadcast.
Viewers watching live in 217 countries were able to share Wallenda's point of view from the cable during the crossing, through cameras rigged to his body. Wallenda held a 20kg balancing pole.
His great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, slipped and fell to his death from a high wire in Puerto Rico in 1978.
In an interview after Sunday's walk, Nik Wallenda teared up describing how he thought of his great-grandfather.
"I knelt down and I thought of my great-grandfather and that everything I do is to honor him," Wallenda said. "It took my mind off all this movement underneath me ... and I was able to focus on him and regain composure."
Wallenda said before the crossing that his greatest concern was the unpredictable wind gusts that are prone to buffet the site in a remote section of the Grand Canyon's watershed on the Navajo Nation.
For a future stunt, Wallenda said he dreams of walking between New York's Chrysler Building and Empire State Building.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
