Daredevil Nik Wallenda walks a tightrope without harness or net

Nik Wallenda, an extreme sportsman, walked between three skyscrapers on a high-wire hundreds of feet off the ground in downtown Chicago on Sunday night. In two separate legs, Wallenda crossed between the buildings without a harness or net.

The first tightrope walk was on a 19 degrees incline and took six minutes and 50 seconds. The wire dangled 588 storey Marina Tower West to the top of the 671 storey Leo Burnet building, crossing over the Chicago river and spanning two blocks. The second was between Marina City towers and Wallenda, I kid you not, was blindfolded.

Wallenda is no amateur at tightrope walking. He is a member of the “Flying Wallendas,” a family circus troupe and has been walking tightrope professionally since he was 13 years old. It has not been all successful tightrope stunts from the Flying Wallendas. In 1978, Nik’s great-grandfather Karl Wallenda died in Puerto Rico while attempting a stunt. In 2011, Wallenda and his mother completed that walk together in honour of his great-grandfather. In June last year, the daredevil walked a tightrope 1 500 feet above the Grand Canyon. It was the first time in history and 13-million people tuned in to watch.

In 1974, Philippe Petit walked a wire between New York City’s World Trade Center twin towers. He did not just walk, he danced and teased the police by approaching the end and then going back a few steps. His walk was illegal. And has come to be considered as “the artistic crime of the century.” Even with the added aspect of legality, Wallenda’s walk is daring.

The walk was watched by fans, his wife and his children and it was screened live around the world by the Discovery Channel. The walk was not completely live to the second. It had a 10 second delay in case Wallenda did not make the journey.

In the video the tightrope walker is quite chatty and has conversation with his crew and a TV crew as if he is taking a stroll in the park on Sunday morning.

At one point whilst crossing between the building, he says, “You guys watching think I am crazy, but this is what I was made for.”