Nik Wallenda's Tightrope Walk Across Niagara Falls

Nik Wallenda.  Photo Credit:  Fixedgear/flickr

Being from Ontario, Canada, I am very excited about Nik Wallenda's tight rope walk across the Horseshoe Falls this evening at 10:20 p.m. E.T.  Nik will be the first person to ever cross the Horseshoe Falls.  ABC (CTV has the broadcast rights in Canada) is covering this event on television.  In order to get financial support for this walk from ABC, Nik had to agree to wear a tether on this evening's walk across the Falls.  Nik was not very happy about having to wear the tether as he says that it makes his walk more difficult.

"It is definitely a challenge; it's very unique, something I am not used to, and I am very uncomfortable with it," Wallenda said.

There are those that speculate that Nik will "lose" his tether in mid-walk to add excitement--we shall have to wait and see what this born performer does.

Nik comes from, the well-known Wallenda family of daredevil performers who have had previous tragedies in their family:  In 1962 two Wallendas died at the Detroit State Fair and another was paralyzed when a human pyramid collapsed. A sister-in-law and son in-law also died in later accidents.  Nik's great-grandfather died in 1978 during a performance in Puerto Rico.

According to my source The Globe and Mail Nik will be walking across a two-inch thick cable that stretches 540 metres (about the length of five football fields).  This walk is expected to take Nik Wallenda 40 minutes to complete.

For more than 100 years stunts across or in the Falls have been banned.  Previously, people crossed the Niagara River and rolled down the falls in barrells and other capsules and contraptions.



Here's an image just hours before the Nik Wallenda tight rope walk across the Niagara Falls

Photo Credit:  Canadiantourism/flickr

Niagara Falls Canada and U.S. is an extremely popular world-reknowned tourist area.  Nik's walk should attract even more people to the area by kicking off the summer season with his tight-rope walk across the Horseshoe Falls.

Nik Wallenda had to convince the Niagara Parks Commission and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism that this stunt would attract tourists and be economically lucrative for the area.

I am sure that there will be a lot of tourists in the area tonight and peek even more interest in Niagara Falls Canada.