Daredevil Nik Wallenda Conquers his Most Challenging Chicago Skyline
Tauheed Ahmad Nawaz
Nikolas Nik Wallenda is an American acrobat, aerialist, daredevil, high wire artist, and author. He can be easily described as “The King of the Wire”. Wow, what a record-breaking daredevil Nik Wallenda 35 years old finally completed his most challenging feat to date: a tightrope walk between two skyscrapers 600 feet above downtown Chicago, moderately blindfolded.
Huge crowds below cheered on the seventh-generation aerialist, who wore a microphone during his untethered walk. The “Skyscraper Live” walk was broadcast on Discovery. I love Chicago, and Chicago definitely loves me. What an astonishing roar, when he crossed above the Chicago River.
The daring walk comprised two parts, starting from Marina City’s West Tower, about 588 feet high. And then he has to cross above the Chicago River to the Leo Burnett Building in just under the short time of 7 minutes, finishing 671 feet above the street. When he returned to the West Tower, Nik crossed to the East Tower blindfolded in one minute and 20 seconds.
As a member of the famed Flying Wallendas, founded by his grandfather Karl Wallenda in the 1920s, Wallenda is no stranger to death-defying stunts. He dared the walked across a wire 1,500 feet above a river in Arizona in June 2013, becoming the first individual to traverse the gorge near Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Before that, he made a record journey across Niagara Falls in 2012.
Jeopardy also runs in the Wallenda family. His Great-grandfather Karl Wallenda was killed at 73 during he was attempting to walk between two buildings in Puerto Rico in 1978. But on Nov 02, 2014, Wallenda made it look so easy. He said I am so blessed for these opportunities, and you guys watching think I’m crazy, but this is what I was made for.
