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Nik Wallenda Grand Canyon Stunt: Famed Tightrope Walker's Next Feat Planned For June 2013

Tightrope Walker Nik Wallenda's Next Challenge Announced
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Nik Wallenda, the tightrope walker who in 2012 made it safely across a 1,500-foot high wire over Niagara Falls, has selected his next big challenge. In June 2013, the daredevil plans to walk a tightrope across a section of the Grand Canyon.

Currently, the plan is for Wallenda to walk 1,500 feet across a wire, positioned approximately 1,500 feet above the Colorado river. NBC's Today News also notes that the stuntman will complete the feat without a harness. He has even been preparing in a facility where the Grand Canyon's wind conditions are being mimicked.

During his highly publicized Niagara Falls stunt, Wallenda was required by ABC (the network broadcasting the event) to wear a safety harness. As USA Today noted at the time, Wallenda only agreed to the harness in order to secure financial support from the network; otherwise he wouldn't have worn the safety gear.

In August of last year, Wallenda walked 1,300 feet (barefoot, sans harness) on a tightrope in Atlantic City, as 150,000 people looked on.

Wallenda's personal website says he comes from a long line of tightrope walkers and claims he's been part of such performances since before he was born. According to the site, his mother was still braving high-wire acts while she was six months pregnant with him.

Wallenda's great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, died in 1978 after falling from a tightrope walk between two hotel towers in Puerto Rico.

Wallenda's upcoming Grand Canyon stunt will air on the Discovery Channel on June 23.

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Before You Go

The American Circus
Sverre O. Braathen. Lou Jacobs, August 12, 1941(01 of12)
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Photograph, Kodachrome. Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library, BSP0022.
(02 of12)
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Frederick Whitman Glasier. Equestrienne on horseback, ca. 1903. Photograph. Collection of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Archives, Glasier Glass Plate Negative Collection, 0063.
Edward J. Kelty. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey (Combined) Circus. April, 1924(03 of12)
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Photograph. Collection of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Tibbals Collection, ht0004827.
Two circus elephants wearing giant clown costumes, 1941(04 of12)
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Photograph. Harold M. Lambert/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
Edward J. Kelty. Congress of Freaks at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Circus, 1924(05 of12)
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Photograph. Collection of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Tibbals Collection, ht0004824.
“Ballet of the Elephants” at Madison Square Garden, 1942(06 of12)
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Photograph. Circus World Museum, CWi-2300.
Frederick Whitman Glasier. Clown with 3 equestrians, ca. 1903(07 of12)
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Photograph. Collection of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Glasier Glass Plate Negative Collection, 1194.
Clown band, ca. 1920(08 of12)
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Photograph. Circus World Museum, CWi-2293.
“James Robinson the Champion Bareback Rider of the World,” 1882(09 of12)
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Poster, printed by the Courier Company, Buffalo. Circus World Museum, CWi-2334.
Louis Roth(10 of12)
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Photograph from Dave Robeson, Louis Roth, Forty Years with Jungle Killers (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1941). Illinois State University’s Special Collections, Milner Library.
Captain Jack Bonavita with his lions, ca. 1900(11 of12)
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Photograph. Circus World Museum, CWi-2303.
The Olympian Freaks, London.(12 of12)
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The Barnum & Bailey Circus, ca. 1897–98. Photograph. McCaddon Collection of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, box 27; Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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