Record-Breaking Daredevil Nik Wallenda Blindfolded Tightrope Walk Between Chicago Skyscrapers

CHICAGO – Daredevil Nik Wallenda wowed Chicago and the world Sunday with two hair-raising skyscraper crossings on the high wire without a safety net or a harness. Thousands of cheering fans packed the streets around the city's Marina City towers to watch the 35-year-old heir to the Flying Wallendas' family business complete the back-to-back walks including one wearing a blindfold.As he stepped from the wire after completing the second leg, he tore off his blindfold and waved to the crowd of thousands below who erupted in cheers. The spectacle was telecast almost-live on the Discovery Channel so producers could cut away if Wallenda fell. Wearing a bright red jacket, Wallenda tested the tension of the wire around 6 p.m. It took him about six and a half minutes to walk the wire at a 19-degree incline from the Marina City west tower to the top of a building on the other side of a river.Crowds teemed through Downtown, with thousands corralled on Wacker Drive, and others watching from the warmth of office buildings and, of course, condos in Marina City. While crowds waited - Wallenda's first step took place 90 minutes after the Discovery Channel broadcast began - helicopters zipped overhead. An enterprising man tried to sell passersby a seat he'd commandeered near a bus stop. When finally Wallenda took his first steps on the wire, cheers erupted from the streets and flashbulbs popped.He swiftly made his way across the 454-foot gap, pausing briefly twice. The 15-degree incline - some 80 feet or so - appeared to slow him. The daredevil then put on a blindfold and walked — at a height of 543 feet — a wire between the two Marina City towers, the corn cob-looking high rises built by the famed Chicago architect Bertrand Goldberg. Wallenda — who has tightroped over the Little Colorado River Gorge and Niagara Falls — said his blindfolded walk is the most dangerous stunt he's ever attempted. "There were some strong winds that hit me in the face," Wallenda told reporters after completing the stunts. "It stood me up straight."