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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 23, 2013 - 12:10pm PT
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AP/ June 23, 2013, 8:43 AM
Daredevil Nik Wallenda to try crossing gorge near Grand Canyon
LITTLE COLORADO RIVER GORGE, ARIZ. Daredevil Nik Wallenda is using the Navajo Nation as a backdrop to one of his most ambitious feats yet — crossing a tightrope 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon.
The 34-year-old Sarasota, Fla., resident will set out Sunday on a quarter-mile cable stretched over the gorge that was eyed by another high-wire performer decades ago. The stunt comes a year after he traversed Niagara Falls earning a seventh Guinness world record. He'll be using the same 2-inch-thick cable he used to cross the falls, only this time he won't be wearing a safety harness.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57590613/daredevil-nik-wallenda-to-cross-gorge-near-grand-canyon/
Sounds like the Navajo aren't real crazy about this stunt.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jun 23, 2013 - 12:37pm PT
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And he won't even be close to the actual Grand Canyon, will he?
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Jun 23, 2013 - 12:42pm PT
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Funny how it's being billed as the GC.
Kind of like that guy who BASE jumped 'Everest'.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 23, 2013 - 01:44pm PT
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Makes for great 'branding', though.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Jun 23, 2013 - 03:37pm PT
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It's pretty much the Grand Canyon. The Little Colorado is a major drainage to the main canyon.
I once worked as a rigger on the Robbie Knievel jump "over the Grand Canyon". Now that was a joke--the actual jump was on a side canyon off a side canyon on a side canyon, and the actual jump was only at the very end of the canyon, with cameras pointing out into the void (but on the other side, solid land on the end of the canyon).
Years before, I also once consulted with Philippe Petitt when he came to Flagstaff to investigate this same tightrope walk. I bid $250 per day for 5 people, plus expenses, to set up his cable. As an engineer, I had calculated the loads and worked out how to rig it--with winches and trucks and cables and stuff. Unbeknownst to my team, Mr. Petitt was also consulting with another group of local climbers, who offered to do it for much less and had the harebrained idea that they could pull a cable across with a climbing rope. They got the bid, and I wasn't surprised a week or so later that their attempt failed, and the rope broke when they were trying to pull it across. I lost a bit of respect for ol' mr. petitt, who went home without his prize, after that one...
I reckon this will actually be pretty significant tightrope event for the Wallenda team.
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Jun 23, 2013 - 03:45pm PT
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F*#k yeah Nik!
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RJNelson
climber
A few different places
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Jun 23, 2013 - 04:22pm PT
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Pretty badass, but to compare him to the guy in the movie Man on Wire is nowhere close. Nick is cool, but this other guy did it without publicity for the simple fact that he could.
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Reeotch
Trad climber
4 Corners Area
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Jun 23, 2013 - 04:35pm PT
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Yeah, lets hope he doesn't carry on the family tradition of buying it in front of an audience . . .
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jabbas
Trad climber
New River, AZ
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Jun 23, 2013 - 04:59pm PT
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No airtime for the general public. It will be on a ten second delay in broadcast.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Dingleberry Gulch, Ideeho
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Jun 23, 2013 - 05:48pm PT
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About the rigging, the wire design was done by a consulting engineer who works at my company whose specialty is high-voltage transmission lines in remote locations. He dig the Niagara Falls design as well.
So this is definitely no low-ball local climber boondoggle.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Jun 23, 2013 - 07:22pm PT
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Deuce, I dunno what happened in Az. there with Philippe, sounds like quite a screw up. But his setup at the World Trade Center was incredible. Entirely undetected, he and his small crew were able to move all of the wire and equipment up to the roofs of the building, shoot a very thin line across with a bow, then work up from there to finally rig the wire and walk it. There was a lot that went into that which did not get into the movie because it did not get filmed.
Obviously this was before the days of "homeland insecurity," but it was an amazing feat. The place was an active construction site, as the structures were finished but interiors were still being built out.
All of the rigging was practiced in a field on an upstate NY farm. Fwiw Philippe has done a lot of his own rigging, and is a master at it.
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mountainlion
Trad climber
California
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Jun 23, 2013 - 08:03pm PT
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F---science and engineering... I bet the chief could rig it with fishing line...
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John M
climber
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Jun 23, 2013 - 09:12pm PT
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Has it happened yet? I got an email saying that Sketchy Andy showed up in his outfit that he wore for the Superbowl halftime show with Madonna. And he snaked the high wire before Wallenda could get on it. Can anyone verify this?
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Chinchen
climber
Way out there....
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Jun 23, 2013 - 09:16pm PT
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God, sooo much fluff! Is he dead yet?
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Chinchen
climber
Way out there....
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Jun 23, 2013 - 09:56pm PT
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Well, I didn't know I would be attending a pentacostal praise service.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Jun 23, 2013 - 10:05pm PT
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^ Sometimes it ain't obvious, until yer in the thick of it.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Jun 23, 2013 - 11:24pm PT
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jun 23, 2013 - 11:41pm PT
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hey there say, all... (forgot who started this thread, will add the name )... (edit, apogee... there are two guys, with threads, but i GOT it right now) :))
say, all this info, on the wire, etc, and rigging, is very interesting...
i still think, but that is me, that they should wear a harness... :(
just 'cause the human body is so wonderfully made, i had to see it get broken and die, and to lose the loved ones, to those families envolved, :(
IF such should happen that something goes wrong...
well, thanks for sharing... i did not know this was going on...
since we were little kids, we had heard of the wallenda family...
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2013 - 12:45am PT
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"...but to compare him to the guy in the movie Man on Wire is nowhere close."
Indeed. Petit's mindset & zen is waaaaay more compelling than the media fluff surrounding Wallenda's achievement.
Not that it wasn't stunning...it certainly was...but all of the hype made it feel more like Geraldo Rivera & Capone's vault.
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