NIK WALLENDA

UPDATE: Wallenda successfully wirewalks Grand Canyon

 

Sarasota daredevil Nik Wallenda walks on a wire across the Grand Canyon in Arizona on Sunday. (Discovery Channel photo)
from: heraldtribune.com
By Billy Cox
Sunday, June 23, 2013
HELLHOLE BEND, Ariz. - Braving strong winds and a jarring “optical illusion,” Nik Wallenda drew deeply from his 30 years of high wire experience and deep religious faith Sunday to successfully traverse a wire stretched 1,500 feet above a deep canyon gorge.
Crossing a quarter mile of empty space above the bone-dry Little Colorado River atop a 2-inch steel cable, cat-stalking forward in the size 10.5 high-top moccasins made by his mother, Sarasota's 34-year-old native son completed his nearly 23-minute journey into history before Discovery Channel's global audience to become the world's undisputed premier aerialist.
But it did not come easy.
Dressed in faded blue jeans and a blue Discovery T-shirt with a camera strapped to his chest and wired for sound, Wallenda was calm and confident as he began the walk at 9:38 p.m.
But the winds and height of the walk rattled him.
”Joe Cool ain't so cool right now,” Wallenda said only a few minutes into the walk.
Wallenda spoke to his father, Terry Troffer — himself a former wire walker — as he made his way across the chasm.
“Wow, my arms are tired. This is a long way,” Wallenda said. “Maybe it's true and you shouldn't look down when you do what I do.”
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http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130623/BREAKING/130629852/2416/NEWS?Title=UPDATE-Wallenda-successfully-wirewalks-Grand-Canyon