Nik Wallenda, the man they call “The King of the Highwire” is about to attempt his most audacious tightrope walk yet; traversing the Chicago skyline. He will also be walking a portion of the rope wearing a blindfold, leaving his extraordinary sense of balance as the only thing keeping him from certain death. Wallenda, who comes from a family of tightrope walkers known as the “Flying Wallenda's,” will be filmed attempting this one-of-a-kind stunt live on TV, with the broadcast set to transmit to over 220 countries on Monday, November 3rd at 5:30am, with a special telecast following at 9pm on the Discovery Channel. The event will be hosted by Willie Geist and Natalie Morales from NBC News, and is expected to dwarf the telecast from June last year when he became the first person to ever successfully traverse the Grand Canyon via tightrope. That broadcast drew in over 30 million viewers in 186 countries, and was recently honoured with an Interactive Emmy for Multi-platform Storytelling for its companion website.
Wallenda will also be walking a portion of the rope wearing a blindfold, leaving his extraordinary sense of balance as the only thing keeping him from certain death
The 35-year-old Wallenda said he is “Always pushing myself both physically and emotionally,” and wishes to use his talents to “Inspire people around the world and show that the impossible is not so impossible if you set your mind to it.” He says this particular walk has been a dream of his for a while, and that he'll be facing challenges he's never experienced before. He'll not only need “Incredible physical strength to complete this walk, but laser-focused concentration.” Wallenda made his first professional tightrope walk when he was just 13, so he's certainly racked up a decent amount of experience. However the spectre of his great-grandfather Karl Wallenda, who died after falling from a tightrope in Puerto Rico in 1978, no doubt lingers with him on each walk. He will be bolstered, however, by the support of his wife and three children, his close friends and a team of engineers led by his father Terry Troffer.
Nik Wallenda Raises the Bar – Skyscraper Live
The first part of the walk will see him walking further than two complete city blocks on a 15-degree uphill path from the Marina City west tower to the Leo Burnett Building, which sits more than 50 stories above the Chicago River! This will be not only the highest tightrope walk in Nik's family history, but the steepest angle he will have ever attempted. The second section will see him blindfolded as he walks between the Marina City's west and east towers; one of the windiest sections of the city known colloquially as “The Windy City.”
Fans can watch the stunt live via a LIVE streaming multi-platform companion experience, with the ability to select multiple camera angles of the walk
Dozens of cameras will be positioned across the city and suspended from helicopters, making sure ever step and every breath is captured for fans and viewers across the globe. Fans can watch the stunt live via a LIVE streaming multi-platform companion experience, with the ability to select multiple camera angles of the walk, including a POV from Wallenda himself. A 360-degree panoramic simulation of the walk can also be experiences on the global Skyscraper LIVE website.
Nik Wallenda walks the Grand Canyon
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He isn't particularly scared of heights, but he almost had a heart attack watching “Man On Wire,” so he might sit this one out!
