page_title: Tightrope walking
section_title: Famous tightrope artists
hierarchical_section_title: Tightrope walking / Famous tightrope artists
caption_attribution_description: English: Maria Spelterini is walking across a tightrope across the Niagara Gorge, from the United States side to Canada, with her feet in peach baskets. In the background is the Niagara Suspension Bridge, which is full of spectators. In the distant background is the Niagara Falls.
context_page_description: Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope walking and slacklining.
context_section_description: Charles Blondin, a.k.a. Jean-François Gravelet, crossed the Niagara Falls many times
  Robert Cadman, early 18th-century British highwire walker and ropeslider
  Jay Cochrane, Canadian, set multiple records for skywalking, including The Great China Skywalk in Qutang Gorge, China, 639-metre-long (2,098 ft), 410-metre-high (1,340 ft) from one cliff wall to the opposite side above the Yangtze River; the longest blindfolded skywalk, 800-foot-long (240 m), 300-foot-high (91 m) in 1998, between the towers of the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada, and broadcast on FOX Network's "Guinness World Records: Primetime" on Tuesday, February 23, 1999; In 2001, he became the first person to perform a skywalk in Niagara Falls, Canada, in more than a hundred years. His final performances took place during Skywalk 2012 with a world record submission of 11.81 miles (19.01 km) in cumulative distance skywalking from the Skylon Tower at a height of 520 feet (160 m) traversing the 1,300 feet (400 m) highwire to the pinnacle of the Hilton Fallsview Hotel at 581 feet (177 m).
  Con Colleano, Australian, "the Wizard of the Wire"
  David Dimitri, Swiss highwire walker
  Pablo Fanque, 19th-century British tightrope walker and "rope dancer", among other talents, although best known as the first black circus owner in Britain, and for his mention in the Beatles song, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
  The Great Farini, a.k.a. Willie Hunt, crossed the Niagara Falls many times
  Farrell Hettig, American highwire walker, started as a Wallenda team member, once held record for steepest incline for a wire walk he completed in 1981
  Denis Josselin, a French tightrope walker, completed on 6 April 2014 a walk over the river Seine in Paris. It took him 30 minutes to walk over 150 m (490 feet) of rope, 25 m (82 feet) meters above the river. He covered his eyes halfway through without harness or safety net but police boats were on hand in case he fell.
  Jade Kindar-Martin and Didier Pasquette, an American-French highwire duo, most notable for their world-record setting skywalk over the River Thames in London
  Henri L'Estrange, 19th-century Australian; first person to tightrope walk across Sydney harbour and early balloonist
  Elvira Madigan, Danish 19th-century tightwire walker
  Bird Millman, American star of Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus
  Fyodor Molodtsov (1855–1919), a Russian rope walker. Was known to perform numerous tricks such as rope walking while shooting, carrying another person, wearing stilts, dancing, and even being unbalanced by pyrotechnical explosions. Known to have defeated Blondin during a tightrope crossing of the Neva river, by braving it at a wider place.
  Jorge Ojeda-Guzman, Ecuadorian highwire walker, set The Guinness Book of World Records, Tightrope Endurance Record, for living 205 days on the wire, from January 1 to July 25, 1993 in Orlando, Florida.
  Rudy Omankowski Jr., French-Czech highwire walker, holds record for skywalk distance
  Stephen Peer, after several previous successful crossings, fell to his death at the Niagara Falls in 1887
  Philippe Petit, French highwire-walker, famous for his walk between the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City in 1974
  Eskil Rønningsbakken, Norwegian balancing artist whose feats include tightrope walking between hot air balloons in flight
  Maria Spelterini, Italian highwire walker, first woman to cross the Niagara Falls
  Falko Traber, German tightwire walker, walked to the Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro
  Vertelli, British-Australian tightrope walker, nicknamed "the Australian Blondin"
  The Flying Wallendas, famous for their seven- and eight-person pyramid wire-walks
  Karl Wallenda, founder of the Flying Wallendas, died after falling from a wire on March 22, 1978, at age 73, while attempting to cross between the two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
  Nik Wallenda, great-grandson of Karl, second person to walk from the United States to Canada over the Horseshoe Falls at the Niagara Falls on June 15, 2012; with his mother Delilah (Karl's granddaughter), completed his great
caption: Maria Spelterini crossing Niagara Falls on July 4, 1876
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