Nik Wallenda

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 8:08 am

Tell me you watched this last night. I was literally on the edge of my seat watching Nic cross the grand canyon. Those first steps are what got me, 1500 feet down and no way to turn back. That camera angle looking down took my breath away, it had to be impossible to focus on walking with that drop below you. When he kneeled down the first time on the wire, all I could think of was his grandfather falling. You could see the slow vibration in the wire. That was one hellofa feat and took some major balls of steal to pull that off with no safety equipment. The sprint to end was amazing.

clinehall · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:56 am

I can't stand to watch that, I know he was thanking Jesus but I think Jesus was saying "Dude, I made that place figuring nobody would be stupid enough to try to walk across it!" On a side note, my wife's cousin married his sister and now works with them.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Jun 25, 2013 4:11 pm

I considered watching it, but didn't.

I have mixed feelings about stuff like that. From a skill perspective he could have been ten feet off the ground with a wind machine blowing on him and someone shaking the wire. What really bothers me is that in general the real attraction is the potential for him to fall. And (didn't know this in advance), they had him on a ten second delay anyhow, so if the worst happened, people were going to be disappointed.

I am of the opinion he should have had a safety harness. And I know that if he wore one, then someone else was going to be the first to do it without a harness, so it might as well be him. But drivers wear harnesses in race cars, I don't know why he didn't. I think I read that his family doesn't operate with a net or harness because someone in the past did, fell, bounced out of the net and died. I am sorry, that is the same excuse used for not wearing a seat belt ("My aunt so and so was in a crash, and couldn't get out due to her belt and died!") I do think there is some validity to the point of having safety equipment can lead to over confidence, but I am sorry, if you can't realize that walking across a 2 inch cable 1500ft in the air is not dangerous with or without a harness, then I don't know what to say!

There was a recent Mythbusters episode in which they had a Wallenda tie in. They ended up rappelling down a canyon wall with nothing but duct tape. As far as I can tell they didn't use any safety ropes in case the duct tape rope broke. They are always pretty open about whatever safety equipment they use, so they had no reason to hide the use of a safety rope. Assuming I saw that correctly, it was impressive, but also bonehead stupid as well.

Sorry for raining on your parade Rodney. The Wallenda walk was an incredible feat even if I didn't watch it.

Richard

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Tue Jun 25, 2013 4:49 pm

Richard Casto wrote:

There was a recent Mythbusters episode in which they had a Wallenda tie in. They ended up rappelling down a canyon wall with nothing but duct tape. As far as I can tell they didn't use any safety ropes in case the duct tape rope broke. They are always pretty open about whatever safety equipment they use, so they had no reason to hide the use of a safety rope. Assuming I saw that correctly, it was impressive, but also bonehead stupid as well.

I saw that, and they have tested the tensile strength of braided duct tape in past episodes. I'm guessing the safety factor of their weight vs. what the tape would actually hold was 3X-4X. As you know, they have stopped short of some tests because of what their insurance carrier would allow, so I'd be shocked if they just went in "hoping it would hold".

As far as walking a 2" wire 1500' in the air, I'd be more impressed if he did it without a balance pole. A stunt with a safety cable, well that's not really a stunt IMO.

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