On Sunday night, daredevil Nik Wallenda tightroped across two Chicago skyscrapers, without a safety net or a harness. Then, he walked toward another skyscraper, again without a safety net or harness—and while blindfolded.
The event was streamed live with a 10-second delay (in case anything went awry) on Discovery and their website. Wallenda set two world records during the event. He set the record for steepest incline for a tightrope walk between two buildings, at 19-degrees, during the first crossing. The second walk broke the record for the highest blindfolded walk at more than 500 feet above ground. “It’s mentally draining,” Wallenda said of doing the walk while blindfolded.
Last year, Wallenda tightroped across the Little Colorado River Gorge outside Grand Canyon National Park, and more than 13 million people tuned in to watch it live on Discovery. Before that, he walked across Niagara Falls, but strapped to a safety harness since it was live on national television.
Tightroping is in Wallenda's blood: he comes from a long line of daredevils known as the Flying Wallendas. His great-grandfather Karl Wallenda fell to his death while tightroping in Puerto Rico in 1978 (Wallenda completed his great-grandfather's walk in 2011), and two other family members were killed while performing a seven-person pyramid on a wire in 1962.
Though he wanted to take a selfie during his first walk but couldn't because of strong winds—he had a smartphone attached to a elastic rope just in case—he was able to take one with NBC's Natalie Morales before going on his second walk:
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Here is a clip of him blindfolded:
Congratulations @NikWallenda! https://t.co/dneMJ8usOT
— Discovery (@Discovery) November 3, 2014We don't have full video of the walks yet (Discovery hasn't released them), but we'll post if they become available.
