Nik Wallenda to tightrope walk over Chicago River

CHICAGO - Daredevil Nik Wallenda said Tuesday that his next tightrope walk will be more than 50 stories high from one high-rise building to another over the Chicago River.

Wallenda, 35, will attempt the feat without a net or harness. It will be broadcast live on the Discovery Channel at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, the network said. Wallenda will start the walk at one of the two Marina Towers buildings, then travel more than two city blocks across the river on an uphill 15-degree angle to the Leo Burnett Building.

Wallenda will then make a second tightrope walk from one Marina Tower building to the other.

"There's nothing like doing this during winter in Chicago," said Wallenda, who is part of the famous acrobat family "The Flying Wallendas." "That's a challenge for me and I love to push myself to do things that most people think are impossible."

It will be the highest skyscraper walk in Wallenda family history and the first time Wallenda has attempted such a steep-angled tightrope walk, Discovery said. Wallenda's grandfather Karl Wallenda died after falling from a tightrope in Puerto Rico in 1978.

Discovery said dozens of cameras positioned across the city and on helicopters will capture the spectacle.

Wallenda has walked across the Niagara Falls and the Little Colorado River Gorge in Arizona, near the Grand Canyon, in the past two years.