Nik Wallenda

Wallenda was born in Sarasota, Florida on January 24, 1979 to Delilah Wallenda and Terry Troffer. His parents bought him a swing set when he was two. Before Troffer had even finished assembling it, Wallenda climbed up to the crossbar and did a somersault. Around the same time, he began performing with his family in their circus act. His first public performance was at SeaWorld San Diego in 1981. He began to play on the wire at age two, walking back and forth while holding his mother's hand. At age four, he started walking the wire on his own, learning primarily from his father. He would play on his parents' practice wire with his older sister Lijana, two feet off the ground. His parents would throw objects at him as he practiced, and even shot him with a BB gun to train him to deal with distractions. At age six, he first visited Niagara Falls and immediately decided that one day he wanted to walk a tightrope across it. He spent most of his youth on the road, living in a mobile home as his parents performed across America.

Wallenda briefly considered becoming a doctor, and was accepted into college. However, his plans changed in 1998 when he participated in a re-creation of Karl Wallenda's seven-person pyramid on the high-wire in Detroit, alongside his father, mother, and other family members.

In 1999, Wallenda proposed to his future wife Erendira (née Vasquez, from famous Mexican circus family) on a wire 30 feet (9.1 m) high during a performance in Montreal, Quebec. Having just performed a seven-man pyramid act with his family, he stayed on the platform while the family descended. He walked to the middle of the wire and got down on one knee, proposing to Erendira in front of 25,000 people. A week later, they were married. "I don't know if either of us could be married to someone who didn't perform", says Erendira. "I can't see either of us ever being happy sitting behind a desk."

In 2001, Wallenda appeared with seven other family members at Japan's Kurashiki Tivoli Park in an attempt at the world's first ever eight-person high-wire pyramid. After five months of four hours per day, six days a week preparation, the family successfully walked across a 30-foot-high (9.1 m) tightrope in six minutes, setting a Guinness World Record. Nik Wallenda cited Karl Wallenda as the primary inspiration for the feat, and stated that "it was a landmark experience for our profession, as well as our family and me personally".

From 2002 to 2005, Wallenda performed alongside his wife, children, and other family members at Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe in Greensboro, North Carolina. They also toured the United States as part of various circuses. One early act featured Wallenda riding a motorcycle across the high-wire 30 feet (9.1 m) in the air. In 2005 Wallenda and his wife, Erendira, took their act to Raging Waters in San Dimas, California, while his mother and sister stayed at Wet 'n Wild. Throughout this time period, Wallenda continued to participate in the family's signature seven-person pyramid.

The double Wheel of Steel was invented by Wallenda and Nock. The two had grown up together in Sarasota and had talked about teaming up for years before coming up with the double Wheel concept, drawing up the initial plans on a tablecloth during dinner in 2005. They then spent nine months building the device in Nock's backyard workshop, and a further four months testing it and designing a performance. The greatest challenge was to find a way to split the wheels while they were still spinning. "There were a lot of back-to-the-drawing-board moments", Wallenda later recalled. Ultimately, the problem was solved via a system of piston-like pneumatic cylinders. Wallenda's uncle, Timothy Stephenson, who is an engineer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), suggested that an axle be built of custom-blended, hardened steel alloy to keep it from breaking. In the end, the device cost more than $100,000 to produce.

In 2006, McDonald's sponsored a show in Detroit. To promote the restaurant's new coffee, Nik Wallenda and his older sister Lijana did an act where they met in the middle of a high-wire and sat down to have some coffee, after starting on opposite ends. After exchanging several toasts, Nik stood up and stepped over his sister. As the siblings headed back to their platforms, a crane winch malfunctioned, preventing Lijana from exiting the wire. After Nik descended to the ground, a crane was moved to reduce the tension on the wire and he rode a hook up to rescue his sister.

In 2007 and 2008, Wallenda was a featured performer in the Ringling Brothers production Bellobration, performing with Bello Nock on a newly contrived, double version of the Wheel of Steel. At the beginning of the act, Wallenda and Nock stood balanced atop twin circles 39 feet in the air. To the audience, the circles appeared to be connected until the act started with a burst of fireworks. The wheels then split, sending the performers in opposite directions without safety nets or harnesses. To stay on the device, the duo had to move in unison, running at up to 20 miles an hour. Vibrations were transferred from one wheel to the other, meaning each performer was affected by what the other was doing. At the top of each arc the performers were rendered weightless, while being subjected to several times the force of gravity at the bottom.

On October 15, 2008, Wallenda performed on a live broadcast of Today. The plan was to walk and then bicycle off the roof of the Prudential Center in Downtown Newark, New Jersey, across a suspended high-wire 13 and 1/2 stories (135 feet) above the ground. Starting at 8:30am, he first walked across the 250-foot-long (76 m) cable with a 45-foot (14 m) balancing pole. Halfway through, he sat down on the wire and called the Today show hosts. "Where are you?" he asked, joking that he was expecting to carry one of the show's hosts across the wire on his shoulder. Sitting down on the wire is easy, he said, it is getting back up that is tricky. A few steps before completing the walk, Wallenda stopped and waved to the crowd. When he resumed, he wobbled and had to bend his knees to regain balance. "I actually slipped", he said later. "I lost focus there for a moment" because of some unexpected tape on the wire. He completed the walk in about five minutes.

Wallenda originally obtained permits to walk across the canyon in 2008, and planned to make the trip as early as 2009. However, the walk was delayed due to substantial logistical hurdles. When the opportunity to cross Niagara Falls arose, the Grand Canyon walk was put on hold. Shortly after crossing Niagara Falls, Wallenda said he would try to make the Grand Canyon crossing "within a year". In August 2012, he said that he was "98 percent" certain that the walk would take place in May or June 2013 and said he would get "something in writing" that no safety harness would be required for the walk. On March 18, 2013, Wallenda announced that he had come to terms with The Discovery Channel for television rights.

In 2009, Wallenda took his high-wire act to ten Cedar Fair amusement parks in what was dubbed as the "Walk Across America Tour". The tour began with a 350 feet (110 m) walk at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City and ended at Carowinds, where Wallenda twice walked across the North Carolina-South Carolina state line on the high-wire. As part of the tour, he walked at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio from the front gate to the Eiffel Tower on August 15. Traveling 800 feet (240 m) at 262 feet (80 m) above the ground, it was the highest walk of his career at the time. He completed the walk in about 25 minutes as several thousand people watched.

In total, Wallenda completed 15 high-wire performances at 100 or more feet in the air during 2009. In 2010, he performed in his home town of Sarasota for the first time. On February 4, he walked 600 feet (180 m) from the roof of One Watergate Condominium to the roof of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The performance lasted 12 minutes and was aired on national television. From February 12–28, he anchored a version of The Flying Wallenda seven-person pyramid at Circus Sarasota.

On August 30, 2010, Wallenda performed at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas. For the first part of his act, he rode a bicycle along a high-wire 260 feet (79 m) above the ocean. The 100-foot-long (30 m) ride set a new Guinness World Record for highest bike ride on a high-wire, nearly doubling Wallenda's own record from 2008. Following the bike ride, Wallenda tightrope walked 2,000 feet (610 m) over the resort's marine habitat filled with barracuda, piranha, and sharks. It was the longest walk of his career.

The approval came after nearly two years of lobbying governments in both the United States and Canada. In October 2010, Wallenda was approached by Roger Trevino, the executive vice president of Niagara Falls Redevelopment, at an amusement trade show. Trevino later recalled: "I went up to Wallenda and said 'Have you ever thought about walking across the falls?' and he said 'ever since I was a little kid', and then he asked about the steps involved." Wallenda later remarked "I believe people are brought into my life for a reason... I take everyone seriously because you just never know [who you are talking to]". Trevino next contacted New York State Senator George Maziarz. After Maziarz met Wallenda, he went to work at drafting a bill granting Wallenda a one-time exemption to the state's anti-stunting laws. Dennis H. Gabryszak co-sponsored the bill, and it passed the State Senate and Assembly nearly unanimously. The bill was signed into law by governor Andrew Cuomo on September 23, 2011.

On April 28, 2011, Wallenda visited the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey for a pair of performances. In the first, he walked a tightrope inside the casino's shopping center. Performing with a 22-foot (6.7 m) balancing pole, 45 feet (14 m) in the air, he dropped to one knee and then onto his back during the performance. He walked both forwards and backwards before completing the 100-foot-long (30 m) journey. Afterwards, Wallenda said he had previously noted the casino's raised ceiling painted with a sky scene and said to himself "I've gotta walk there!"

On June 4, 2011, Wallenda completed a 100-foot-long (30 m) high-wire crossing between the two towers of the ten-story Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The 121-foot-high (37 m) performance was a recreation of the act that had killed his great grandfather Karl Wallenda in 1978. For the performance, Wallenda's mother, Delilah (Karl's granddaughter), joined him. The mother and son team started at opposite ends of the wire. When Delilah reached the middle of the wire, roughly the spot Karl had fallen, she sat down on the wire and Nik stepped over her before the two continued to opposite ends of the wire. At one point during the performance, Nik knelt down on the wire and blew a kiss in honor of his great-grandfather's memory.

On June 10, 2011, Wallenda performed while hanging from a helicopter 250 feet (76 m) above Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. First he hung from a trapeze with two arms, then one arm, then his legs, and finally by his teeth. In so doing, Wallenda set his sixth world record. He called it his most difficult feat to date, and remarked that training "was very difficult. It was very painful. I had neck problems for months afterwards".

On the Canadian side, things went less smoothly. In June 2011, public statements by NPC board members made it clear that they were opposed to Wallenda's plan. After an October meeting with Wallenda, the twelve-person board voted on December 7 to maintain their anti-stunting rules. NPC officials, led by chair Janice Thomson, feared Wallenda's plan could bring back the days when amateur daredevils routinely got themselves injured or killed at the Falls, and also believed it would cheapen the area's natural beauty. "It's sensationalism, and that's not what the falls is supposed to be about", said Thomson. In response, Wallenda funded an economic impact survey conducted by Enigma Research. The results suggested direct revenue potential of $20.5 million for the city, with up to $122 million of "legacy effects" over the next five years. The survey also predicted worldwide viewership of 460 million people. Wallenda further promised to fund all the necessary safety-contingencies and to leave no footprint on the environment. Seeing the economic benefits, Ontario Minister of Tourism Michael Chan convinced the NPC to take a second look. On February 15, 2012, the commission voted unanimously to give Wallenda's plan the go ahead, provided that he paid rigging and commission costs of C$105,000. Wallenda described the legal battle as the biggest challenge of his career and "probably more remarkable" than the walk itself. He attributed the eventual success to divine intervention. "God's hand is involved in every step of my life", he explained. "I believe doors were opened for me that weren't opened for others". Six previous high-profile wire walkers had failed in their attempts to gain approval to walk the Falls since 1971.

On February 15, 2012, Nik Wallenda received official approval from Ontario's Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) to walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls, a dream he had had since he was a child. The plan called for crossing the Niagara River and its 200-foot (61 m) deep gorge from the American side at Goat Island or at the smaller Luna Island, and making his way across the river to land at the Canadian side near the site of Table Rock. The American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls would be behind him and to his right, while the Canadian Falls would be on his immediate left and behind.

The Discovery Channel had Wallenda under contract and negotiated with several of the major television networks for broadcast rights. On May 11, 2012, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Lincoln Square Productions announced they had secured worldwide broadcasting rights for the event. Josh Elliott and Hannah Storm were chosen to host the coverage. In Canada, CTV's coverage of the event, although a direct feed from ABC, invoked simultaneous substitution over ABC network broadcasts in some parts of Canada.

Research released by Niagara University's Hospitality Training and Research Center on July 1, suggested that Wallenda's walk had brought in $3.3 million of revenue for the city of Niagara Falls, New York. The research indicated that 38,000 people gathered on the American side of the falls to watch the act, 41% of which were from out of town. Among the out-of-town visitors, 52% came specifically to see Wallenda. Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation reported that hotel bookings and related business was up 30% in the two weeks after the walk. Website traffic and sales of multiple attraction passes experienced similar increases. Hotel occupancy in Niagara Falls, New York rose to 81.6% in June 2012, from 76.5% in June 2011.

A reality show, originally titled Danger By Design, following Wallenda and his family premiered on The Science Channel on June 18, 2012. The show's pilot had previously aired in 2010 under the title Life on a Wire, before Discovery decided to hold the show until after the Niagara Falls walk. The pilot episode, which tracked Wallenda's high-wire walk and bicycle ride in The Bahamas, was described as "a sometimes painfully candid look at the creative tensions — and the strong familial bond — between Wallenda and his dad, Terry Troffer, who got so stressed out during preparations for that stunt he wound up in the hospital" by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Later episodes showcased Wallenda hanging from a helicopter by his teeth, preparing for the Wheel of Death in Atlantic City, blowing himself up in a box, and retracing the steps of Karl Wallenda's fatal last act in Puerto Rico. The show focused on the science and engineering that go into Wallenda's acts.

On June 20, 2012, Wallenda rejoined his family in Branson. He was greeted by a parade in his honor at the Silver Dollar theme park. For Wallenda, it was back to business as usual. "I never want to get complacent", he said in a press release. "I could get hurt just as easily on a wire here as walking over Niagara Falls."

As of 2013 Wallenda has a contract with the Discovery Channel for near-exclusive broadcast of his acts. He carries a US$20-million insurance policy. He has called his career "extremely lucrative, more lucrative than I would have ever dreamed of". He plans to retire at age 50.

On June 4, 2013, Wallenda's memoir, Balance: A Story of Faith, Family, and Life on the Line, was published by FaithWorks. Ghost written by David Ritz, the book details his family history, Christian faith, and his circus career. Ritz got in touch with Wallenda after his Niagara walk to pitch the idea. He then spent several months following Wallenda around and asking questions. Erendira, who has an excellent memory, supplied much of the dialogue.

On June 23, 2013, Wallenda highwire walked across the Little Colorado River Gorge in Navajo territory outside Grand Canyon National Park's borders about 40 miles east of the main tourist facilities. The event, billed as a "Grand Canyon crossing" and titled Skywire Live with Nik Wallenda, aired live worldwide on the Discovery Channel with a 10-second delay. Opinions varied on whether the event was truly a walk across the Grand Canyon. The Reuters news agency described the location as simply "the Grand Canyon", while the Associated Press described it as a "gorge near the Grand Canyon." According to the United States Geological Survey, the Grand Canyon geological area includes the Little Colorado River Gorge.

Wallenda was unable to get permission to do the walk in New York City, but, in April 2014, announced he was scouting skyscrapers in Chicago, Illinois for a televised tight walk event for the Discovery Channel. Wallenda said he was very interested in tight walking between the Willis Tower with another nearby skyscraper. On November 2, 2014, Discovery aired the special, entitled Skyscraper Live, and an official mobile game, SkyBalance by Nik Wallenda, was developed by Tapinator, Inc. to coincide with the event. In the special, Wallenda completed two tightrope walks, setting two new Guinness World Records: one for walking the steepest tightrope incline between two buildings (19 degrees) and the other for the highest tightrope walk while blindfolded.

On March 4, 2020, Wallenda successfully walked across the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua, his longest stunt in terms of time on the wire.