Daredevil Plans Grand Canyon Tightrope Walk

In a stunt daring even by the standards of the Flying Wallendas, seventh-generation daredevil Nik Wallenda is planning to cross the Grand Canyon on a tightrope—without using a safety harness or net. Wallenda—who made it across Niagara Falls on a tightrope last year—says the death-defying walk 1,500 feet above the Colorado River is another one on his "bucket list" of places he wants to cross on a tightrope, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"The stakes don’t get much higher than this," says Wallenda, whose stunt will be aired live on the Discovery Channel on June 23. "The only thing that stands between me and the bottom of the canyon is a two-inch thick wire. I’m looking forward to showing the audience a view of the canyon they’ve never seen before." The 34-year-old says the walk will be in honor of his great-grandfather, Kurt Wallenda, who fell to his death during a tightrope walk in Puerto Rico in 1978. (More Nik Wallenda stories.)