Daredevil Nik Wallenda, steps out on the wire backwards, for a live television show before his tightrope walk uphill at a 15-degree angle, from the Marina City west tower across the Chicago River to the top of the Leo Burnett Building on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014, in Chicago.CHICAGO – Nik Wallenda has successfully completed the first of two skyscraper tightrope walks in Chicago in a stunt televised around the world.
The 35-year-old daredevil walked uphill Sunday at a 19-degree angle from the Marina City west tower to the top of a building on the other side of a river.
Next, he’ll walk blindfolded between the two Marina City towers.
The Discovery Channel is using a 10-second delay for the broadcast, allowing producers to cut away if Wallenda falls. He is performing the walks without a net or harness.
Wallenda’s previous feats include high-wire walks over the brink of Niagara Falls and across the Little Colorado River Gorge.
Wallenda is the great-grandson of Karl Wallenda, who fell to his death during a tightrope stunt in Puerto Rico at age 73.