Tightrope master Nik Wallenda crosses the Grand Canyon without safety harness
Daredevil Nik Wallenda has completed a death defying tightrope walk over the Grand Canyon without a safety harness or net.
In a stunt that took him a quarter mile over the Little Colorado River Gorge in northeastern Arizona, Wallenda performed the stunt late on Sunday on a 2-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet in the air, above the river on the Navajo Nation near the Grand Canyon.
Taking just over 22 minutes to walk the 1,400 feet, Wallenda paused and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the rope swayed.
“Thank you Lord. Thank you for calming that cable, God,” he said about 13 minutes into the walk.
Wallenda didn’t wear a harness and stepped slowly and steady throughout, murmuring prayers to Jesus along the way, however he jogged and hopped the last few steps.
Winds blowing across the gorge had been expected to be around 30 mph, however they were said to be much higher, forcing dust into his contact lenses.
“It was way more windy, and it took every bit of me to stay focused the entire time,” he said
The 34-year-old has tight roping in is blood, being a seventh-generation high-wire artist and is part of the famous ‘Flying Wallendas’ circus family.
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 looking down on the dry Little Colorado River bed and one facing straight ahead.
His leather shoes with an elk-skin sole helped him keep a grip on the steel cable as he moved across.
The event was broadcast live on the Discovery Channel with a ten-second delay, watched by 1.5million people.
