Daredevil Nik Wallenda, 41, walks 1,800ft on a tightrope across an ACTIVE VOLCANO, surrounded by noxious gases, in his most dangerous stunt yet
- Daredevil Nik Wallenda, 41, walked 1800 feet along a steel highwire over the active Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua on live television Wednesday night
- Wallenda made the death-defying feat walking across the volcano’s active lava lake, going as far as one-third of a mile
- He made the crossing in foggy conditions that required tracking his movements with special heat-seeking cameras
- In addition, he performed while wearing a gas mask to spare him the stomach-turning egg-like smell of toxic sulfur dioxide emanating from the lava
- His performance followed an aerial ballet performance by his wife Erendira over the volcano
Nik Wallenda walked 1800 feet along a steel highwire over the active Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua on live television Wednesday night.
The 41-year-old member of the famed Flying Wallendas made the death-defying feat walking across the volcano’s active lava lake, going a distance of about one-third of a mile.
Masaya is one of only eight volcanoes in the world that has an active lava lake.
The daredevil made the crossing while attached to a safety harness in foggy conditions that required tracking his movements with special heat-seeking cameras.
Nik Wallenda walked 1800 feet along a steel highwire over the active Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua on live television Wednesday night
The 41-year-old member of the famed Flying Wallendas made the death-defying feat walking across the volcano’s active lava lake. Masaya is one of only eight volcanoes in the world that has an active lava lake
The daredevil made the crossing while attached to a safety harness
The harness was cabled on to a wire to catch Wallenda in the event he lost his balance and fell
His walk began with a 60-foot drop about 9:25 p.m., eastern standard time
In addition, he performed while having to stomach the egg-like smell toxic sulfur dioxide emanating from the lava, which can burn eyes and lungs and cause dizziness.
‘My eyes did start to burn,’ he admitted, even though he was wearing goggles for protection.
‘Thank God they didn’t start to fog up,’ he said.
He also ran the risk of being burned by corrosive acid created when water vapor mixes with the sulfur dioxide.
‘It’s kind of ridiculous what you have to do to get a good view of a volcano these days,’ said Walenda nearly five minutes into the walk going down a 60-foot drop before bottoming out half way through the stunt.
During the tightrope performance, Walenda kept saying how much the view was ‘amazing,’ and praised his maker for carrying him through the experience.
‘I don’t know how you can’t glorify God,’ he said. ‘It’s unbelievable.’
At one point, he had to untangle the harness cable holding him from falling to his doom which had wrapped around his neck.
He reached the half-way point about 16 minutes into the walk, and was talking to his viewers about how he replaced negative mindsets with positive ones to prepare for the stunt.
‘Let me tell you, you can’t be successful, without some failures,’ he told his audience, urging viewers to use their fears to gain strength.
His performance followed a successful aerial ballet performed by his wife Erendira over the same lava.
Members of the Flying Wallendas, watched as Nik made his latest history-making walk. He remained in contact with his father Terry by radio through out the stunt.
It was eight times higher than his previous walk over Times Square in New York last year.
Walenda revealed that he had ‘freaked’ when his balancing pole slipped during the June 24 walk his sister Lijana.
The brother and sister duo defied gravity in what was then a never-before-attempted stunt where they successfully crossed a 1,300ft-long highwire set 25 stories high across two skyscrapers.