Nik Wallenda said recently that he will become the first person to walk a high wire directly over an active volcano.
Wallenda, who has been nicknamed “King of the Wire,” told Good Morning America he will walk over the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua on March 4. The 1,800-foot long walk described as his highest ever attempted will air live as part of a two-hour “Volcano Live! with Nik Wallenda” special at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Wallenda previously broke a Guinness World Record over the summer when he walked 1,808 feet across a tightrope in a Canadian city 30 feet over the ground in about 30 minutes.
He has also walked 25 stories above Time Square, faced what he described as the “intimidating roar of falls” and “blinding mist” as he made an 1,800-foot long trek 170 feet above Niagara Falls, and walked a wire 1,500 feet above an Arizona gorge near the Grand Canyon without a harness.
Wallenda, who first stepped onto a high wire at age 2, and is a seventh generation wire walker from the famed Flying Wallendas family of acrobats, said the upcoming stunt will be his most dangerous yet.
He described the walk over an active volcano in GMA interview as “everything that I’ve ever done times 10.”
Wallenda added that he will face sulfuric gases, which are so thick that he can’t breathe through them, so he is training with a gas mask, and he is also training with a blindfold in case he can’t see.
“It has been a dream of mine for a long time and, of course, I live my life about trying to inspire others, and in order to do that I have to push myself beyond my comfort zone, and that’s what I’m doing,” he said.
UPI
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