Daredevil walks tightrope across the Grand Canyon

Nick Wallenda performs stunt with out safety harness

By Taylor Pineda

34-year-old Nick Wallenda is no rookie to death defying stunts; they run in the family. Crossing a tightrope anchored 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon just a year after he traversed Niagara Falls, Wallenda set another genius world record.

He took just over 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the rope swayed.

“Thank you Lord. Thank you for calming that cable, God,” he said about 13 minutes into the walk.

Wallenda is a seventh-generation high-wire artist and is part of the famous “Flying Wallendas” circus family. 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.

Wallenda, left, is welcomed by his wife Erendira who watched his walk with their two children

Nick Wallenda, who was born a year after his great-grandfather died, began wire walking at the age of 2, on a 2-foot high stretched rope. He grew up performing with his family and has dreamed of crossing the Grand Canyon since he was a teenager.

 Wallenda began his walk wearing little more than two cameras, one looking down the mostly dry Little Colorado River bed and one that faced straight ahead. He also wore custom leather shoes with an elk-skin sole made by his mother providing a stronger grip to the wire rope.

The stunt was advertised as a walk across the Grand Canyon, an area held sacred by many American Indian tribes, and the fulfillment of a dream. Some local residents believe Wallenda hasn’t accurately pinpointed the location and also say that the Navajo Nation shouldn’t be promoting the gambling of one man’s life for the benefit of tourism.

“Mr. Wallenda needs to buy a GPS or somebody give this guy a map,” said Milton Tso, president of the Cameron community on the Navajo Nation. “He’s not walking across the Grand Canyon. He’s walking across the Little Colorado River Gorge on the Navajo Nation. It’s misleading and false advertising.”

Despite disagreements from local tribes Wallenda’s performance will go down in the record books.