Video - Daredevil Nik Wallenda completes tightrope walk near Grand Canyon.

Video - Daredevil Nik Wallenda completes tightrope walk near Grand Canyon.(Fox).

LITTLE COLORADO RIVER GORGE, Ariz. –  Aerialist Nik Wallenda completed a tightrope walk that took him a quarter mile over the Little Colorado River Gorge in northeastern Arizona on Sunday.

Wallenda performed the stunt on a 2-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet above the river on the Navajo Nation near the Grand Canyon. He took just more than 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 didn't wear a harness and stepped slowly and steady throughout, murmuring prayers to Jesus almost constantly along the way. He jogged and hopped the last few steps.
The event was broadcast live on the Discovery Channel.
Winds blowing across the gorge had been expected to be around 30 mph. Wallenda told Discovery after the walk that the winds were at times "unpredictable" and that dust had accumulated on his contact lenses.
"It was way more windy, and it took every bit of me to stay focused the entire time," he said.
The 34-year-old Sarasota, Fla., resident is a seventh-generation high-wire artist and is part of the famous "Flying Wallendas" circus family -- a clan that is no stranger to death-defying feats.
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.
Nik Wallenda grew up performing with his family and has dreamed of crossing the Grand Canyon since he was a teenager. Sunday's stunt comes a year after he traversed Niagara Falls earning a seventh Guinness world record.
Wallenda wore a microphone and two cameras, one that looked down on the dry Little Colorado River bed and one that faced straight ahead. His leather shoes with an elk-skin sole helped him keep a grip on the steel cable as he moved across.
About 600 spectators watching on a large video screen on site cheered him on as he walked toward them. A Navajo Nation ranger, a paramedic and two members of a film crew were stationed on the canyon floor and watched from below.
The ranger, Elmer Phillips, said Wallenda appeared to be walking like any normal person would on a sidewalk. But he said he got a little nervous when Wallenda stopped the first time.
"Other than that, a pretty amazing feat. I know I wouldn't even attempt something like that," Phillips said. "Very nicely done."
Wallenda told reporters after the walk that he hoped his next stunt would be a tightrope rock between the Empire State building and the Chrysler building in New York. But he said he would give up tightrope walking altogether if his wife and children ever asked him.Read the full story here.

Video - Nik Wallenda Niagara Falls Post-Stunt Press Conference

Video - Niagara Falls tightrope walker Nik Wallenda practices for big day at Niagara Falls.

Video - Niagara Falls tightrope walker Nik Wallenda practices for big day at Niagara Falls.(TWNW).Fans looked on as the daredevil who plans to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope next month started practice sessions Saturday.Adoring fans cheered on as daredevil, Nik Wallenda, took his first steps on the 2-inch wide wire Saturday, high above the Seneca Niagara Casino. "Crazy...crazy nuts...even just looking here - there are no nets even for practising?" asked astonished fan, Nancy Pavlovic. "Where's the ambulance?!" Palvovic came from Toronto to see Wallenda walk. She's spending the weekend with her mom in Niagara Falls. "I just want to see him walk the wire," she said. "Something you don't see everyday? That's it and you'll probably never see again. So it's a once in a lifetime thing." Donna Pollow said she will be at at as many practices as possible, but gets her own thrill out of seeing Wallenda perform. "I think he's very cute," she laughingly said. "I feel like I'm so close to him that I'm a little nervous. Nerves never got the best of this seventh-generation performer. It's starting to help me relax to be honest. I didn't know what to expect of that 2-inch cable."
At two inches wide, this is the thickest and heaviest rope Wallenda has ever walked in his career. So on day one of practice, it's all about ebb and flow...trial and error for his crew. Wallenda says the wire felt like it was rolling from under his feet. On the first day of practice, crews learned they need to add more weight to the wire.Wallenda will attempt to cross Niagara Falls on June 15.Read and see (Video) the full story here.

Dare Devil Nik Wallenda will cross Niagara Falls on Tight Rope.

Nik Wallenda gets the green light to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. (NYT).It will be the first time in decades that someone attempts the dangerous stunt.By Thomas Kaplan.
ALBANY — For months, Canadian officials derided funambulism as no fun at all.
Vowing to preserve the natural splendor of Niagara Falls, they refused to allow Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation circus performer, permission to cross the gorge on a tightrope.
But on Wednesday, bowing to an intense lobbying push by Mr. Wallenda and funambulism enthusiasts across two countries, the Canadian parks agency that oversees Niagara Falls reversed course and agreed to let the show go on.
The agency, the Niagara Parks Commission, voted unanimously to allow Mr. Wallenda to attempt his tightrope crossing, removing the last major impediment to a performance that Mr. Wallenda, 33, has called his ultimate professional dream.“I can’t explain to you the amount of emotions,” Mr. Wallenda said in a euphoric telephone interview from Niagara Falls, Ontario, where he witnessed the vote.“I had a few tears, but it hasn’t sunk in,” he added. “We were told by not one, not two, but probably 50 people: ‘This is impossible, not going to happen.’ This is to prove that if you pursue your dream and never give up, you can achieve your dream.”Read the full story here.

Following is a chronology from the mid-1800s to 1951, of attempts to go over the Falls in a barrel or some other device, to go through the Class 6 rapids of the Great Gorge, or to walk across on a tightrope. Some of these stunters were successful, others died in their attempt:

ANNIE TAYLOR October 24, 1901 (Survived): Mrs. Annie Taylor, a 63-year-old schoolteacher, decided that a trip over Niagara Falls was her way to fame and fortune. On October 24, 1901, assistants strapped her into a special harness in a barrel.

BOBBY LEACH July 25, 1911 (Survived)
Bobby Leach, an Englishman, successfully made a trip in an all-steel barrel on July 25, 1911, and then spent 23 weeks in hospital recuperating from numerous fractures and other injuries. Fifteen years later on a lecture tour in New Zealand, he slipped on an orange peel, broke his leg and died of complications from the injury.

CHARLES STEPHENS July 11, 1920 (Died)
The next barrel stunter to try the Falls was also an Englishman, Charles Stephens. When his heavy oak barrel hit water after the drop over the Falls on July 11, 1920, Stephens went out the bottom. He was killed and only one arm was recovered.

JEAN LUSSIER July 4, 1928 (Survived)
Jean Lussier, a native of Quebec, designed a six-foot rubber ball composed of 32 inner tubes and a double-wall steel frame. One of the biggest crowds on record saw the stunt on July 4, 1928. The ball took some hard knocks in the rapids but the skip over the Falls was perfect. About one hour after entering his ball, Lussier stepped ashore none the worse for wear. For many years he displayed his ball at Niagara Falls and sold small pieces of the inner tubes for souvenirs at 50 cents a piece.

GEORGE STATHAKIS July 4, 1931 (Died)
On July 4th, 1931, George Stathakis, a Greek chef from Buffalo, went over the Falls in a 2,000-pound contraption of wood and steel. He survived the plunge over the Falls only to die after becoming trapped behind the curtain of water for 22 hours. He had enough oxygen for only three hours.

RED HILL JR. August 6, 1951 (Died)
In the summer of 1951, Red Hill Jr. planned to go over the Falls in a flimsy contrivance he called the “Thing” that consisted of 13 inner tubes held together with fish net and canvas straps. On August 6, Hill and the “Thing” headed into the rapids. It was tossed into the air, upended, thrown from side to side and bounced off rocks. It was starting to disintegrate even before it reached the Falls. When the drop came, the “Thing” disappeared into churning water at the base of the Falls. Seconds later what was left floated into view. The following day, Hill’s battered body was taken from the river.
Read the full history of Niagara Falls Stunts here.