Daredevil Nik Wallenda, who last year completed a high-wire walk over the Grand Canyon, announced on Tuesday plans for an untethered tightrope walk between Chicago skyscrapers on a night in November.
"This is going to be the most incredible tightrope walk of my career," Wallenda said in a statement, noting that he has fond memories of performing with his family in Chicago. "Besides, it's the 'Windy City' and there's nothing like doing this during winter in Chicago."
Wallenda will perform the Nov. 2 walk, without net or harness, in two parts. First, he will walk from Marina City's west tower more than two city blocks to the Leo Burnett Building at more than 50 stories above the Chicago River, going uphill rising to a 15-degree angle. The second part of the walk will span Marina City's west tower to its east tower.
The first part of the walk will be the highest skyscraper walk in the history of the "Flying Wallenda" family, and the first time Wallenda has attempted it at such a steep angle.
The statement said the walk will take place at night in one of the windiest sections of the nation's third-largest city. The Discovery Channel will air the event.
Wallenda, 35, is a seventh-generation member of the "Flying Wallendas" family of acrobats. He also has completed a high-wire walk over the brink of Niagara Falls.
Viewers watched the Grand Canyon walk live in 217 countries.
Wallenda's great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, slipped and fell to his death from a high wire in Puerto Rico in 1978.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.