Having successfully tightroped on a 2-inch-thick steel cable above the dry river bed near the Grand Canyon Nik Wallenda is now eyeing his next venue which maybe New York.
Wallenda hopes his next stunt will take him between the Chrysler and Empire State buildings and he is also open to suggestions and will ask his Facebook and Twitter followers what his next challenge should be?
Wallenda has confessed that he would give up tightrope walking altogether if his wife and children ever asked him. “That’s a serious talk that we’ll have. But absolutely, it weighs on heavy on me.”
Wallemda said Last night’s walk was a difficult challenge. “It was strenuous the whole way across. It was a battle. The winds were strong, they were gusty,” he told reporters. “But there was never a point where I thought, `oh my gosh, I’m going to fall.'” During last night’s walk Wallenda also stepped slowly and steady throughout, murmuring prayers to Jesus almost constantly along the way and he then jogged and hopped the last few steps. “Thank you Lord. Thank you for calming that cable, God,” he said about 13 minutes into the walk. The Discovery Channel broadcast the event live. He wore a microphone and two cameras, one that looked down on the river bed and one that faced straight ahead. The 34-year-old Sarasota, Fla., resident is a seventh-generation high-wire artist and is part of the famous “Flying Wallendas” circus family.
The clan is no stranger to death-defying feats. His great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, fell during a performance in Puerto Rico and died at the age of 73. Several other family members, including a cousin and an uncle, have perished while performing wire walking stunts. Nik Wallenda grew up performing with his family and has dreamed of crossing the Grand Canyon since he was a teenager. Sunday’s stunt comes a year after he traversed Niagara Falls earning a seventh Guinness world record. About 600 spectators watching on a large video screen on site cheered him on as he walked toward them. A Navajo Nation ranger, a paramedic and two members of a film crew were stationed on the canyon floor. The ranger, Elmer Phillips, he got a little nervous when Wallenda stopped the first time. “Other than that, a pretty amazing feat,” Phillips said. Discovery’s 2-hour broadcast showcased the Navajo landscape that includes Monument Valley, Four Corners, Canyon de Chelly and the tribal capital of Window Rock.
We @ Ask a New Yorker.com say if you have to do these terrifying things then New York will welcome you Nik but we are still trying to fathom how you have the stomach for it.
