In a historic first, Nik Wallenda successfully completed a high-wire walk across the Grand Canyon on Sunday. The feat was telecast live on the Discovery Channel around the world. The steel cable he walked on was all of two inches wide, and there was neither a tether nor a safety net to protect him from the 1500-feet drop. Wallenda maintained his balance with the help of a 43-pound balancing pole.
Wallenda, who calls himself the "King of the High Wire", took 22 minutes and 54 seconds to complete the stretch of 1400 feet over the Grand Canyon. His biggest concern before getting on the cable was the gusts of wind in the region, which he admitted were a lot stronger than he had expected once he started off. He uttered prayers to God through that time, and kissed the ground when he managed to make his way across.
Wallenda comes from a family of acrobats called the "Flying Wallendas". His great-grandfather fell to his death after attempting a high wire walk in Puerto Rico in 1978. Reuters reports that the younger Wallenda's thoughts were on his ancestor during his feat. "I knelt down and I thought of my great-grandfather and that everything I do is to honor him. It took my mind off all this movement underneath me ... and I was able to focus on him and regain composure," said the 34-year-old, who completed a high-wire walk across the brink of the Niagara Falls last year.
Wallenda has said that he doesn't feel afraid before attempting such daredevil feats. "I think you have a choice. You can decide whether you want to get scared by something or not. You can go into a haunted house with the mindset of, 'This is going to freak me out,' or go into the haunted house with the mindset of, 'Who cares; this is all set up; it's all gimmicks and it's not going to scare me at all,'" he told Hollywood Reporter. His next ambition is to walk between two skyscrapers in New York City.
