I'm thrilled to death: Daredevil gets the green light to be first tightrope walker to cross Niagara Falls      

  • Nik Wallenda faces a 1,800ft-long walk on a two-inch thick rope
  • Stunt will take 40 minutes 220ft above the bottom of the gorge

By DANIEL MILLER
Updated:


Nik Wallenda will be the first to tightrope walk over the falls for a century

Nerves of steel: Nik Wallenda will be the first to tightrope walk over the falls for a century

It may not have been the most appropriate choice of phrase. But when Nik Wallenda was told he was to be allowed to attempt a tightrope walk across Niagara Falls, he said: ‘I’m thrilled to death.’

If the 33-year-old daredevil survives his 1,800ft-long walk on a two-inch thick rope over the famous site, he will become the first to ever achieve the feat.

After months of campaigning, Mr Wallenda was yesterday given permission by Canadian officials to attempt the death-defying stunt this summer. He had already secured support from the American side of the falls last year.

Mr Wallenda, who comes from a long line of circus performers, will walk across the most powerful waterfall in the world on a wire rope without a safety net.

The stunt will take up to 40 minutes through mist and spray, 220ft above the bottom of the gorge.

It is the first time anyone has attempted to walk on a tightrope over the actual waterfall – in 1859 the acrobat Charles Blondin crossed the gorge on a tightrope, but his stunt was downstream from the actual waterfall.

Stunts over the iconic attraction, which forms the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York, have been prohibited for more than 100 years.

After giving Mr Wallenda permission to perform his stunt, the Niagara Parks Commission insisted it could be attempted only once every 20 years.

Last night Mr Wallenda, from Florida, said: ‘It’s been a dream of mine since I was six years old. I haven’t had a chance for it to settle in yet. I’m thrilled to death.

'This was a dream many told me was impossible. I’m blessed, that’s all I can say.’

Don't look down: This will be the first time anyone has tried to walk over the falls themselves rather than downstream in the gorge

Don't look down: This will be the first time anyone has tried to walk over the falls themselves rather than downstream in the gorge

A Dizzying tradition

Mr Wallenda, who lives with his wife Erendira and their three children, has been tightrope-walking since he was two. In 2008 he walked and then cycled across a high-wire suspended from skyscrapers in Newark, New Jersey.

The feat won him a place in the Guinness Book Of Records for the longest and highest bicycle ride on a high-wire.

He currently holds six Guinness World Records.

His great-grandfather Karl founded the Flying Wallendas, the family’s daredevil circus act. However, he fell to his death aged 73 from a tightrope in high winds in Puerto Rico in 1978.

His great-grandson said: ‘My family has always been taught to never give up. We’ve gone through it all, triumph and tragedy. So at no point did I think I would throw in the towel.’

Delight: Daredevil Nik Wallenda has finally been granted permission to attempt to tightrope walk across the Niagara Falls

Delight: Daredevil Nik Wallenda has finally been granted permission to attempt to tightrope walk across the Niagara Falls

Mr Wallenda will wear suede shoes designed to grip the wire in the wet and will train on a full-scale high-wire rig on an airport runway in Pittsburgh, with simulated mist.

‘I’ll be walking through the mist thrown off by the falls,’ he added. ‘I’ve done walks further and higher. This will be the most iconic.’

Last September New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill giving him one year to perform the feat.

Feat: Maria Spelterini walks across a suspension bridge on a tightrope

Feat: Maria Spelterini walks across a suspension bridge on a tightrope

Very high wire: Wallenda tightropes 12 stories above a street in Newark with no safety net in 2008 before riding a bicycle on the way back

Very high wire: Wallenda tightropes 12 stories above a street in Newark with no safety net in 2008 before riding a bicycle on the way back

Yesterday Janice Thomson, chairman of the Niagara Parks Commission, said: ‘This decision was approved in part in recognition of the role that stunting has played in the history and promotion of Niagara Falls.

‘We have made it clear that this is a very unique one-time situation. It’s not an everyday activity and will not be allowed to become an everyday activity.’

The area around the falls has suffered from a decline in industry and struggles to attract visitors despite its world famous centrepiece featuring in films such as Superman II and 1953’s Niagara, starring Marilyn Monroe.        

1859: French acrobat and tightrope-walker Charles Blondin born Jean Francois Gravelet crosses a 335.3 metre long rope high above Niagara Falls with a man on his back
Blondin carrying his manager, Harry Colcord, on a tightrope

French acrobat and tightrope walker Charles Blondin was the first ever person to cross a section of Niagara Falls on a 1000 foot long tightrope in 1859



 


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