Watch David Blaine Float Over Arizona With the Help of 52 Balloons
Written by SOURCE on September 2, 2020
Surely, we’ve all wondered—in some way or another—if it might be possible to just strap oneself to a bunch of balloons and float around with nary an existential worry in sight. On Wednesday, noted illusionist and doer of preposterous things David Blaine actually fucking did it.
“It’s gonna be right here in Page, Arizona, which is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life,” Blaine told fans earlier this week when announcing the new launch date for this Up-esque feat of a project, dubbed Ascension. “The weather’s great so—based on wind—we’re probably gonna be able to push this further than anything that I’ve ever done.”
Upon liftoff, Blaine was wearing a harness and holding 52 helium-filled balloons, per ABC 7. Adding to the obvious wow factor of it all was the fact that Blaine also managed to surpass his projected altitude of 18,000 feet. Once a level of 23,000 feet was hit, Blaine pulled a cord and started a parachute-assisted path back to the ground. As you may or may not have heard, depending on your level of knowledge regarding matters of Blaine, the Ascension project was initially set for New York City but was later shifted to the Arizona area for a number of reasons.
“I want it to look like a kid just holding on to balloons,” Blaine told podcast personality Joe Rogan last month when detailing his plans, which also originally included his stated aim of trying to achieve the same height as Mt. Everest whilst dangling from the balloons. “Like, that visual is the important part. So the parachute is up in the balloons but once I get above, like, 1000 feet or so I’m going to put the parachute on in the air and then I wanna see how high I can go.”
Everest levels or not, this shit is incredible to watch.
