18-Sep-14 – After walking across the Chicago River and Wacker Drive by tightrope, professional daredevil Nik Wallenda will take an elevator at Leo Burnett Building back down to the street, cross the Dearborn Street Bridge back to Marina City’s west tower, take another elevator up to the observation deck, and walk another wire to the east tower.

It will be all in a day’s work for the 35-year-old great-grandson of legendary high-wire artist Karl Wallenda. More details of the November 2 stunt were revealed on Wednesday, one day after The Discovery Channel announced that Wallenda would start and end his journey at Marina City in River North.

Sunset on November 2 in Chicago will be at 5:44 p.m. At about 7 p.m., Wallenda will walk from the 61st floor observation deck of Marina City’s west tower directly south to the top of the 46-story (above ground) Leo Burnett Building.

The stunt will be broadcast live over two hours to a worldwide audience.

Marina City’s residential floors are shorter than Leo Burnett’s commercial floors. Wallenda will start at 543 feet above ground and finish 635 feet above ground at a distance of about 341 feet and an angle of 15 degrees. (Right) Overhead Google Map view of the area, with Marina City at top and Leo Burnett Building at lower left.

Safely on the roof of Leo Burnett Building on Wednesday, Wallenda said he is practicing at a steeper angle in simulated 90 mile per hour wind at his training camp in Sarasota, Florida. Three engineering teams are designing the rigging he will use for the Chicago stunt. And whatever it costs the city to support the event, Wallenda will pay us back. If something goes wrong, a $20 million liability insurance policy will have to cover it.

City officials have been working with Wallenda and The Discovery Channel, which broadcasts his stunts, since April and Mayor Rahm Emanuel says Chicago is “thrilled” to be chosen for the walk.

Uphill in the dark with no net and against the law

The stunt will not be attempted if winds are more than 50 miles per hour but otherwise there is no margin for error, as Wallenda will not be using a safety harness or net.

“We all take risks every day,” says Wallenda (left), “it’s just that we don’t see them as risks because they’re the norm. It’s the norm to cross the street, it’s the norm to get in a car. Well, for my family, it’s the norm to get on the wire. We make it as safe as possible but it is fascinating and mind-blowing to people because they can’t relate to a guy 600 feet above a city on a cable the size of a quarter.”

(Above) What the east tower of Marina City will look like from the start of Wallenda’s walk toward it from the west tower.

Also possibly standing in the way is the Aerial Exhibitors Safety Act, a state law enacted in 1963 that prohibits aerial performances higher than 20 feet without a safety net. Violation of the law is a Class A Misdemeanor, punishable by a prison sentence of less than one year and/or a fine not to exceed $2,500.

This will be Wallenda’s second highest walk. On June 23, 2013, he crossed 1,500 feet over the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon in Arizona.