Andre98
11-21-2004, 11:41 AM
Remembering April 7, 1974
Talk about balls of steel!
There has been a man, George Willig, that climbed all the way up the side of the World Trade Center in 1977, and a few that sky dived off the top, the last one as late as 1999, but nothing beat this little French lunatic that planned out and executed a tightrope walk between the two towers in 1974. A mere 130 feet, and a quarter mile high! Courage just doesn't quite seem to cover his feat. It must take a healthy dose of insanity.
Philippe Petit first thought the idea up 6 years before, and practiced vigorously with that goal in mind. He flew to New York and studied the towers first hand for months, even posing as a journalist to gain access in the areas of the still under construction upper floors. The night before, part of his crew sneaked up to the roof of the North Tower, while Petit and the others made their way up to the top of the South Tower roof, concealing his dissassembled balancing pole and 250 feet of one inch braided steel cable and a cross bow to fire the cable across to the North tower. It was to their advantage that the upper floors were not completed. They need the seclusion because it took them all night to rig up the cable. A little after 7am, the 24 year old Petit stepped out onto the cable to begin his walk across.
The Documentary, "The American Experience" described it this way:
"On the street below, people stopped in their tracks -- first by the tens, then by the hundreds and thousands -- staring up in wonder and disbelief at the tiny figure walking on air between the towers. Sgt. Charles Daniels of the Port Authority Police Department, dispatched to the roof to bring Petit down, looked on in helpless amazement. "I observed the tightrope 'dancer' -- because you couldn't call him a 'walker' -- approximately halfway between the two towers," he later reported. "And upon seeing us he started to smile and laugh and he started going into a dancing routine on the high wire... And when he got to the building we asked him to get off the high wire but instead he turned around and ran back out into the middle... He was bouncing up and down. His feet were actually leaving the wire and then he would resettle back on the wire again... Unbelievable really.... everybody was spellbound in the watching of it."
All total, he made EIGHT crossings in the span of an hour!
When he did come in, and was arrested, the outpouring of public support was such a public relations coup, it could be credited with helping to save the financially troubled WTC venture, which was only half rented out at the time. The charges were eventually dropped.
I came across that and wanted to share it. Damn, in early April that must have been some bone chilling wind blowing at daybreak in NY harbor. Some people are just made different than others I guess. If you know someone that tops this dude, feel free to speak on it, but remember, this was over 1,350 feet in the air, barefoot on a one inch cable.
Petit said God guided his feet. I believe that.
Talk about balls of steel!
There has been a man, George Willig, that climbed all the way up the side of the World Trade Center in 1977, and a few that sky dived off the top, the last one as late as 1999, but nothing beat this little French lunatic that planned out and executed a tightrope walk between the two towers in 1974. A mere 130 feet, and a quarter mile high! Courage just doesn't quite seem to cover his feat. It must take a healthy dose of insanity.
Philippe Petit first thought the idea up 6 years before, and practiced vigorously with that goal in mind. He flew to New York and studied the towers first hand for months, even posing as a journalist to gain access in the areas of the still under construction upper floors. The night before, part of his crew sneaked up to the roof of the North Tower, while Petit and the others made their way up to the top of the South Tower roof, concealing his dissassembled balancing pole and 250 feet of one inch braided steel cable and a cross bow to fire the cable across to the North tower. It was to their advantage that the upper floors were not completed. They need the seclusion because it took them all night to rig up the cable. A little after 7am, the 24 year old Petit stepped out onto the cable to begin his walk across.
The Documentary, "The American Experience" described it this way:
"On the street below, people stopped in their tracks -- first by the tens, then by the hundreds and thousands -- staring up in wonder and disbelief at the tiny figure walking on air between the towers. Sgt. Charles Daniels of the Port Authority Police Department, dispatched to the roof to bring Petit down, looked on in helpless amazement. "I observed the tightrope 'dancer' -- because you couldn't call him a 'walker' -- approximately halfway between the two towers," he later reported. "And upon seeing us he started to smile and laugh and he started going into a dancing routine on the high wire... And when he got to the building we asked him to get off the high wire but instead he turned around and ran back out into the middle... He was bouncing up and down. His feet were actually leaving the wire and then he would resettle back on the wire again... Unbelievable really.... everybody was spellbound in the watching of it."
All total, he made EIGHT crossings in the span of an hour!
When he did come in, and was arrested, the outpouring of public support was such a public relations coup, it could be credited with helping to save the financially troubled WTC venture, which was only half rented out at the time. The charges were eventually dropped.
I came across that and wanted to share it. Damn, in early April that must have been some bone chilling wind blowing at daybreak in NY harbor. Some people are just made different than others I guess. If you know someone that tops this dude, feel free to speak on it, but remember, this was over 1,350 feet in the air, barefoot on a one inch cable.
Petit said God guided his feet. I believe that.