The Wallenda Walk at Niagara Falls is live on TV this Friday at 9pm EST on ABC. Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the famed tightrope-walking Flying Wallendas family, attempts to walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls!!! I live nearby and they have been talking about this event for months. From the reports, ABC insisted he wear a safety harness, but who knows what he'll do on walk day. Some facts from the page above:
- The tightrope is 1,800-ft. in length and weighs seven tons.
- A helicopter will fly a lighter tension wire across the Niagara Gorge. Once secured on both sides, it will be attached to one end and pulled by machines across.
- Installers predict it will take 8-9 hours to get the rope across the Niagara Gorge, and take a total of 20 hours in prep time. It is estimated to take two-and-a-half to three days for the installation to be complete.
- The tightrope will be anchored by bolts sunk deep into bedrock, several hundred yards back from the brink of the falls on Goat Island.
Doesn't wear a harness or other safety measure: Awesome.Originally Posted by z22
Wears a harness or other safety measure: Pussy.
Rope walking is essentially a cheap magic trick if you're using a long-enough balance pole. Kudos for doing it above a deadly drop but it's not really a hard walk technically. If he pusses out on the deadly factor and goes with some sort of extra security measure then fuck him in the ear hole.
H.
Wow.
Anyway, from what I read, part of the agreement to open up the falls for this stunt was that Wallenda HAD to wear a safety harness. So guess who's getting f'd in the ear?
In the articles I've read, Wallenda has pretty much stated that the walk is not particularly challenging from a technical standpoint. It's a case of maintaining concentration for the duration of the walk. As for the harness, his intention was to do it without one, but ABC is requiring him to have one.
I've both performed and taught, and even back then I wouldn't have tried this particular cheap magic trick. That kind of distance in such a variable environment is pretty fucking hardcore.
Yeah, I would think that the 1/4 mile distance and the impact of the elements - including moisture on the cable - elevates this above a cheap magic trick.
Karl Wallenda's final cheap trick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk0b_kFz2rE
. . . but the harness erases it all back. I'm sure it's harder than the Kosair Circus wirewalker's job, but once you throw in a safety harness is just seems invalid to me.
Nik has already stated that he will remove the harness if it impedes him in any way. I'm pretty sure, knowing his family's history, he'll encounter an impediment shortly after he starts, otherwise the "stunt" is just a amusement ride. ;)
In today's extreme sport climate it seems kind of weak to do yesteryear's extreme stunt with 99.9% safety. No risk, no real accomplishment. Now, give him a fast deploy parachute and tricky winds and even the safety net has some extreme sport to it.
But speaking from a racing fan's perspective, I don't want people dying for my entertainment. Just as soon see them live.
I agree completely, but then you don't put them on TV with a big hype machine. As crass as it is, the danger is what makes such stunts worth watching, even though I don't watch them because I don't like seeing people in danger. He could do the same exact walk two feet off the ground without a harness and absolutely no one would glance his way. They need the danger to make it viewable, take away the danger and it is no longer that.
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