Wind defeats record-breaking tightrope walker
Strong winds have forced Swiss high-wire artist Freddy Nock to break off a record attempt to cross Lake Thun on a 3.3-kilometre long, two-centimetre wide rope.
Nock, who never uses safety harnesses, had already tried once on Saturday, making it 400 metres across the lake in canton Bern before deciding the wind speeds were too high. He considered it again on Sunday but the weather conditions hadn’t improved.
He had been trying to break seven world records in seven days. Lake Thun would have been his sixth record.
Starting in Zugspitze cable car station in Germany last Saturday Nock walked a 995-metre-long cable car line unaided, climbing 348 metres to a height of 2,950 metres above sea level.
Four other high-altitude records followed, although one – cycling 150 metres along a cable at a height of 50 metres – was also postponed owing to strong winds.
Nock, 46, is hoping to raise money for children’s charity Unicef.
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