Wednesday, March 21, 2007

MORE PICS –SPIDERMAN Alain Robert 2nd Attempt Foiled to Reach 451m Petronas Twin Tower; Arrested 340m on 60th Floor; INTERVIEW on his Exploits

ABOVE & BELOW; Alain Robert 45 years, has that endearing human spirit and the empowering message he has for life on earth - there is no limit for the self. Look within yourself, all will be available and provided for you. You are greater than who you think you are for there is a God dwelling within you.
Alain Robert, “a city is like a range of mountains, with one little difference: there will always be new skyscrapers under construction"We set ourselves limits, but we are all strong enough to aim higher, to achieve our goals. All we have to do is find such strength within ourselves. Know how to develop it. .. I do think that sometimes faith can move mountains…"
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What a wet blanket. Our authorities miss this golden opportunity to let him complete what he sought out to do - reach the top. And if he had done it, our country name would be flying high around the globe with the attending headlines in this 50th Anniversary of nationhood.

His climb up the Petronas Tower is a well orchestrated stunt to earn “his dangerous living”. He was wearing a special edition yellow T-shirt with Petronas Tower imprinted. And most probably the wire agencies are well informed to circulate the story around the globe for syndication and have his share of “fees”. Also a Datuk and a lawyer were at hand to assist him in the Dang Wangi Police station after his arrest. Incidentally as in a 2005 interview (see below) he has mention Malaysia as his “worst experience” when caught 10 years ago, he had to sleep on “a cement floor”. He had made tons of money - "people pay me to climb their buildings to get media attention for a new building, or a newly renovated building, or perhaps for an upcoming event"

Police have arrested the urban climber who calls himself the Spiderman as he attempted to scale the 88th Floor of the Petronas Twin Tower on Tuesday 20th Mar 07 for the second time in 10 years with his bare hands. A fire and rescue spokesman said Alan was detained as he made it to the 60th Floor of Tower 2 where he unfurled a Malaysian Flag to the cheering crowd of about 500 below before being led away by the police.

ABOVE: A 500 strong crowd cheered him on as he made his way up the Tower (BELOW). By the 40th Floor he was barely visible

A crowd of about 500 had gathered for the climb without any ropes or safety equipment up the 452m building. He was barely visible once he passed the 40th storey. Visiting French Senate president was amongst the onlookers. When the authorities asked him to stop, he said “OK”. But when he attempted to climb further the authorities said “NO”. A decade ago Robert was also stopped on the same floor where there is latch for officials to climb onto and was charged with trespassing. It was not immediately known whether he will be charged this time.

ABOVE & BELOW: Some closed-up views on his way up.

== = ==
'Spiderman' returns... and gets nabbed; 21 Mar 2007; NST

KUALA LUMPUR: Ten years after he caused a stir by attempting to scale the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, "Spiderman" Alain Robert was back at it again. And the Frenchman’s second attempt yesterday ended the way his first did in 1997 — with the authorities stopping him on the 60th floor. Wearing a yellow shirt emblazoned with the words "Petronas Twin Tower 1 - 20th March 1997, Ten Years, Petronas Twin Tower 2 - 20th March 2007", the daredevil, who climbed without any gear, started his ascent at Tower 2 at 3.05pm.

ABOVE: NST pic showing his worded T-Shirt and BELOW: 59th Floor -pausing to answer a call, Star Pic by Michael Lee

However, he was stopped by the authorities who persuaded him to end his stunt. Robert agreed, but not before unfurling a Jalur Gemilang to the cheers of 500 onlookers below. His stunt resulted in the police cordoning off the area below Tower 2, while a helicopter hovered nearby. Fire and Rescue Department operations commander Christopher Chong said the department had received a call at 3.20pm. "When we reached the scene about 3.45pm, he was already at the 55th floor. We decided to stop him on the 60th because there’s a ledge there. "When he was at the 59th floor, he saw us and tried to move away but we managed to convince him to give up," Chong said, adding that Robert was taken away by the police.

Robert has climbed over 65 buildings around the world, including the Eiffel Tower, London’s Canary Wharf building, New York’s Empire State Building and Chicago’s Sears Tower. Speaking to the New Straits Times, Robert said he initially wanted to climb at 8am to avoid people noticing, but the morning rain disrupted his plan. "I don’t want to wait for the next day as the anniversary of my previous climb is today, so I decided to wait for an appropriate time," he said. Robert, who was brought to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters, was well prepared for his arrest this time around. In less than an hour, a group of his friends, including a Datuk and a lawyer, arrived at the police station to help him. It was clear the 44-year-old was enjoying the attention and he was jubilant over his achievement — he even asked for champagne from one of his friends. One of his close friends said Robert was a persistent person. "He will not stop until he reaches the top of the Petronas Twin Towers and he will keep on trying," he said, adding that Robert had tried to get permission from the tower anagement. Dang Wangi district police chief ACP Mohd Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said Robert was detained for trespassing.

= = ==the following Six Pics (resized and enhanced) are exclusive from senior member jelly fish @lensa Malaysia ; These Pics taken by his friends INSIDE the building using mobiles.

ABOVE & BELOW: Pics taken inside building showing Alain taking a breather before proceeding

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ABOVE & BELOW: On the way up, but was thwarted by the Security people

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ABOVE: at the 60th Floor he pulled out the Malaysian flag and unflurled it (BELOW) to cheers from the crowd below

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‘Spiderman’ has another go at Twin Towers

STAR;
KUALA LUMPUR: To commemorate the 10th anniversary of his climb up the Petronas Twin Towers, French “Spiderman” Alain Robert did it again yesterday.
Using only his bare hands and feet, he scaled Tower 2 at around 3pm, holding on to the external steel protrusions. He climbed up Tower 2 so quickly that within 20 minutes, he had reached the 18th floor before taking a rest at the 20th floor. Police arrived 15 minutes later and cordoned off the area as a crowd started to gather to watch the stunt. In a show of appreciation, he unfurled a Malaysian flag that he had kept in a waist pouch. High calling:

His attempt to reach the top of the tower was stopped when the authorities on the 60th floor managed to coax him to abandon his effort. He was also arrested at the same level in 1997, just 28 floors from the top. Jalan Hang Tuah Fire and Rescue Department Asst Supt Christopher Chong said, “In an attempt to escape the authorities, he tried to climb around the tower (on the 59th floor going to the 60th floor) but he gave up his intention after he saw that firemen and police officers had the area covered.
“We advised him to give up and he said 'okay' but he later waved the Malaysian flag again. Then he climbed to the 60th floor at around 4pm and took out a packet drink. “We received information from the tower’s security officers that he was at the Twin Towers around three months ago to survey the place and took photos of the tower,” said Chong. The only audible statement that Robert made when he reached the 60th floor was: “20 March 1997.” This was in reference to the first time he had scaled up Tower 1.

Robert entered the cable news channel Al-Jazeera’s office, which had started its English language broadcast centre operations here recently, at about 4pm. He was handcuffed and escorted by police and Fire and Rescue Department personnel downstairs. Applause was heard throughout the office while pressmen scrambled to get quick interviews and photographs of him. Among the buildings that he has scaled are the Chicago’s Sear Towers, the Empire State Building in New York, the Eiffel Tower and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Mohamad Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said Robert was detained for climbing the tower without a permit.

He said the Frenchman was being investigated under Section 448 of the Criminal Procedure Code for trespassing and would be charged. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a jail term of up to one year, or a fine of up to RM2,000, or both.

= = = =a wide ranging interview

ALAIN ROBERT (Spiderman) Interview (2005) , By ArdArvin - is a long time builderer, and founder of buildering.net.

A 451-meter-high tower, 88 floors. The highest building on earth. Alain Robert has been dreaming about it for years, but he fails. The police opened a window and caught him, 340 meters from the ground. Somewhere in a downtown Vancouver television studio, I sit relaxed on an expensive leather couch. Sitting beside me is unarguably the greatest builderer the world has ever seen. Meet Alain Robert, a 43 year old Frenchman that the world has come to know as the real life Spiderman.
Across from us sit six beautiful girls dressed in bikinis, a stand-up comedian, and an African dancer dressed in whatever African dancers dress in. Alain is wondering what the deal is with the girls, and I tell him that they are modeling some swimwear for the same show that he is slated to appear on. “Models?” he asks, scrutinizing them closely. “Those aren’t models. In
France we reserve that word for the really beautiful girls like Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford”. Alain is talking rather loud, and I’m hoping to God that the girls didn’t hear us, or that they can’t decipher Alain’s thick French accent. In either case, they seem to treat us rather coolly from that point on.


For Alain, it’s just another day at the office - another interview, another climb, another spectacle. Alain’s climbs garner him worldwide media attention, having climbed over 70 skyscrapers, including the Sears Tower, the Golden Gate bridge, the Petronas Twin Towers, and the Taipei 101 Tower (the world’s tallest structure). Alain’s recent visit to Vancouver, as a speaker for the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, earned him a whirlwind of local media attention. Headlines stated “Spiderman comes to town”, while the local radio and television stations jostled to interview the man, curious of whether he intended to climb anything while he was in town.
The following interview takes place intermittently over the duration of his stay, as I had the pleasure of showing Alain around the city, taking to various media events, and scoping out the occasional building with him.


So first off, the question on everyone’s mind: are you going to climb anything in Vancouver?
No, if I climb anything in
Vancouver, I’m sure I am going to have some trouble. Years ago I climbed something in Montreal and I had some trouble. Because I have a lot of upcoming stories, I cannot afford to be stuck in Vancouver.
Plus no one has offered to step forward and pay my bail and lawyer fees, which can cost around $15 000US. People they think that I climb a building and that is all, but really that is just the start of the process. I suppose I could contact goldenpalace.com, but it’s too cold to climb anyway.

I’m surprised that you even made it to Vancouver, being that your flight had a stop-over in the US, and you skipped out on your court appearance in Houston.
No, I deferred the court-case for the second time, but the next time I have to go.

Houston was your most recent climb, tell us what happened there.
I didn’t even get to climb. I was sure that I didn’t even start, but they took my fingerprint on the building, and in fact it seems that I really did climb one meter.

Everything happened so fast because one of the media, most likely Fox News, called the police on the eve of the ascent. In the morning there were over 50 cops waiting for me from 6:00am. My meeting with the media was at 9:30am, but still I try you know. I dash outside of the cab and I run like a mad, and finally I get caught. I was quite stupid, because I was so focused on the story, that I completely forgot that I could postpone the event. I thought I could trick the police.

The thing is, when the cab stopped, I thought the building was right on the side of the street, but I was having to run about 9 or 10 meters, so already I lost about 2 or 3 seconds. Also the cab, he stopped the car in front of another car, and I had to run around the car, losing another couple seconds. You know it’s a matter of seconds. If I had another two seconds, I would’ve done the climb – that is what the cops told me. But I was stupid. Each time I do an ascent I work with Reuters, AP, and AFP, because I know these people are not the type to call the cops. They are big press and TV agency, and they are selling the story in other countries. But this time I contacted Fox News, which was a mistake.


What were you charged with in Houston?
Trespassing, mischief, and drugs. The drugs charge is silly, since they are only prescription drugs. They were for my epileptic seizures which I suffer from since my fall in 1982. I carry them in my pocket just in case. Trespassing and mischief are misdemeanor charges, however the prosecutor is trying to make it criminal trespass. You know the prosecutor was a real bitch. She wanted me to go to jail for a long time. But the good thing is, I nearly have no chance of having the same prosecutor for my second court-case. It is a bit of a lottery who your prosecutor is each time.

Do you have the same lawyer each time?
No it is not possible to have the same lawyer. Even in the
US, state by state you must have a different lawyer. Right now I am making a deal with a lawyer who may be willing to defend my case for free, in exchange for some publicity. I know David Letterman wants to do a story on me, so if I can mention the name of the lawyer this would be good. You know he is not trying to defend the criminal of the century, just Mr. Spiderman.

You don’t always climb buildings illegally, often you climb with permission from the property owners.

Yes, people pay me to climb their buildings to get media attention for a new building, or a newly renovated building, or perhaps for an upcoming event.
Compared to professional rock climbers, which make very little money, you must do very well financially. I think it’s safe to say that you are the highest paid climber on the planet.

Yes well famous rock climbers are only in the climbing magazines. Me I don’t get photos in climbing magazines. I get photos in Times, on CNN, BBC, Reuters, AP, all the major publications, but not climbing magazines.
Many of these climbing publications are too narrow-minded - they look at me climbing a building and say “that’s not climbing”. What is it then?
But I don’t mind. Because I’m known all over the world, and not just the climbing community, I can make more money. These large publications pay much more than climbing magazines. Climbing magazines are small and pay peanuts.

Do you make the majority of your money through selling your stories to news publications?
No, I don’t really make much money from selling interviews and pictures anymore. Things have changed a lot in the last 10 years. Now everything is digital and instant. Anyone can take a good picture. Now when I climb a building, there are 100 good photos of the climb, so it’s hard to sell anything.

These days I sell the event, the actual climb. People pay me to climb their buildings - it’s an advertising opportunity for them. When I climb a building, the story is known throughout the world. That sort of advertising is priceless.

Have you ever been in any movies or commercials?
No not really. I get offers, but mainly for stunt work, which pays peanuts. The hours are long, plus they want you to use cables and safety gear. When I climb a building, I get paid up to $50 000US - that’s for one hour of work. Sony sometimes pays me to climb for the opening of the new Spiderman movies, but I’m not in the movie.

That’s when you climb in a Spiderman costume?
Yes, but I would like to get away from the Spiderman image. I would to have my own identity. I am thinking of a different costume, maybe yellow and black.

Do you have any sponsors in the rock climbing community?
I am sponsored by Boreal, but they no longer give me money, just shoes. They made a rule that they would only give money for people who get pictures in climbing magazines.

But you climbed rock before you started buildering.

Yes, I have been rock climbing for thirty years. But when I rock climb, I don’t really like to follow the routes - I like to go wherever I want. Most people, they have a guidebook, and they stick only to those routes. Rock climbers can be very narrow-minded. For me, I just enjoy climbing.
Also, rock climbing back then is not like it is now. Back then it was something not completely safe. Now they are making climbing much safer. You know these companies like North Face, they want to be able to sell to as many people as possible, so they are going to make climbing as safe as they can. If they say “climbing is fucking dangerous”, who is going to climb? So they say “we are living in a safe world, and we are doing safe things”. With buildering, I get to keep that element of danger. Plus, I very much like the feeling of height, and buildings have even more of a feeling of height than rock faces.

So just to state for the record…you never use ropes or protection when buildering?
No never. Although sometimes if I am climbing a building legally, the client will make it a condition of the climb that I do it roped. That is the only time I use ropes.

Now you’ve fallen numerous times while climbing, but are still here to tell us about it.
Well my first major injury was in the spring of 1982, a rappelling accident on the cliffs of Valence. I was young and lacked experience. I lowered off of a rope which was fed through a webbing anchor. The webbing heated up and cut, I fell fifteen meters. I broke my ankle, I broke my right knee, and my nose as well. I also broke my wrist in five places. It got infected and I almost needed to have it amputated. My third fall was just over a year ago. I was giving an interview for Korean television and afterwards they asked me to climb their building. I went out and looked, and the building seemed easy, so I started to climb it, but it had just rained and it was wet. After two meters I fell and landed on my elbow. When I got up I couldn’t feel my left forearm. I ended up with forty stitches in my elbow. This was a major problem since I was scheduled to climb the world’s tallest building, Taipei 101, in a month. It wasn’t until four days before the big climb in Taipei that I was well enough to climb it. After this accident, I started climbing again, even though I had a cast on my right leg and on my right arm. After four months I was climbing at the same level as before, and started to climb even harder routes.

Then I fell again, this time much worse. I was teaching some students to climb, showing them to push on their legs, not pull on their arms. I was climbing an easy route with my hands behind my back to emphasize the point, when I lost balance and fell headfirst from eight meters. I fell onto both wrists, which were completely shattered. After 15 minutes I fell into a coma, I was bleeding badly and lost nearly one liter of my blood. So I was really in a bad, bad state. I spent about 2 months in the hospital. The very good surgeon told me that my climbing was completely finished. But I did relearn how to climb, with much difficulty, and after one year I was climbing some routes which were harder than what I was climbing before my accident.

How was the climb?
Quite dirty and difficult, but still I did it. This was two days before the Tsunami.So have you completely recovered from your injuries, or do some things still bother you today?
My knee still bothers me a bit. I had surgery on it and they put a metal plate in it. I was supposed to have it taken out 3 months after, but I didn’t bother going back. Now it’s too late to take it out. Sometimes my knee hurts a bit when I try and ski, but it’s fine for climbing.

I understand you still have a disability card.
Yes, I have a card that I use for parking. But usually, because I am having a nice car [Alain drives an Audi TT] people are tripping. But then I take out the card and show them, and they say “oh sorry I didn’t realize”.But you know, I could have been getting money from the government for twenty years, but because making some money in climbing it is a bit difficult. You know I can’t play on both sides. The government they look at me and say “ok we are paying this guy, and we see him on TV climbing, what’s the deal”. So now I just use it to park my car.

Do you have any plans to retire soon?
I hope to be able to climb for another three to five years before I retire. I am not completely sure but at least I am going to try. I’m trying to make as much money as possible right now for retirement. I’m used to this lifestyle of traveling all over the world, so when I retire, I don’t want it to be a modest retirement.

What was the hardest climb you’ve ever done?
The Sears Tower. When I first saw it I thought it was completely impossible, but as I climbed other buildings around the world, I came back and saw that it was possible. I went back to Chicago seven times to check the building before I climbed it. The day I climbed it, there was no wind, which is rare in Chicago, but this caused there to be some condensation at the top, which made things very difficult. I thought I might fall, but you know, when you are facing a problem where your life is in danger, there is only one option and that is fighting. Fight until you either fall or reach the top. If you fall it is over, if you reach the top, it’s like getting another chance at life.

Did you kiss the ground when you reached the top?
Well you know it is fine because I am still alive. It’s a little bit like starting a new life. It’s something very nice - a very great feeling. And the more difficult the climb, the more I appreciate that I am still alive.

Have you ever gotten stuck?
Yes on the Arche de la Defense in France. I have tried two times to climb it, but the cracks are very shallow and irregular. You know most people think that buildings are the same all the way up, but this is not true. Sometimes they change a little bit, making them more difficult to climb. This is what happened on the Arche. I got to a spot that was too difficult to climb, so I hung there for about 30 minutes while someone came to rescue me. I was rescued by the same people I had trained two years before for climbing rescue.

If I remember correctly, you also got stuck about halfway up the Canary Wharf building.
Yes it started raining. I did not want to climb on this day, but this was the fault of my sponsors. I was there for six days before, and they were paying for me to stay in downtown London which is very expensive, so they wanted me to climb soon. So I said OK, I’ll climb today. I have a funny story about this climb…the day before I climbed, I went to the business district, and the security recognized me. They told me that I was not welcome there. When I drove near the building, there were police and everything. So the next day when I went to climb, I was hidden in the trunk of the car.

So after your attempt, you were arrested and charged?
Yes, the people from Canary Wharf decided to make this a civil court case, because they knew they could get money. These people, they are thinking “this guy doesn’t give a shit if he goes to jail, he will stay for a couple of hours, and then the next day he will climb again”. So they sue me for 50 000 GBP. They took out one of the biggest lawyers in London. Finally they decided on a permanent injunction, that I am not to climb any buildings in the district of London. For any buildings presently or any they build in the future. It was this, or pay 50 000 GBP.

Are there any other buildings you would have liked to climb in London?
Yes there is a couple. Big Ben would be nice, but would cause problems. The Obelisk looks nice, but is not possible. I looked at it when it was being constructed, and it is not possible. The response of the authorities seems to vary greatly, depending on which country you are in.

I understand that you have it pretty easy in France.
In Paris, when I am caught, I go to the police station for about two minutes. They take my statement and then the police ask me for my autograph. It is the complete opposite of the US. But now things are a bit different in Paris. Before, the commissionaire was my friend, so if I ever wanted to climb anything in the business district it was OK. But now he is retired, and the new guy is a son of a bitch.

Where was the worst jail you’ve ever stayed in?

Probably Malaysia. I was not treated very nicely there and had to sleep on the floor.

How about the nicest?
Probably Sausalito, but the jail was brand new and quite nice. I spent five days there. The inmates thought I was a hero. This is a typical reaction of the prisoners, once they watch my story on the TV. I had pushup competitions with the guys in the gym. I could do around 100, and they called me “Little Schwarzy”.
That was for your Golden Gate Bridge climb?

Yes. The bad part was I climbed the part of the bridge that was owned by Sausalito. There are two pillars, one is owned by San Francisco and the other by Sausalito. But the camera crew thought it would look nicer if climbed on the Sausalito side, so that is what I did. But in Sausalito, it is smaller and the cops don’t have as much to do, so I think they were tougher. In San Francisco, they have much more important things to do. At first I was charged with a felony, but at that time I didn’t know what I felony was. I thought I would just spend a couple of days in jail, and it would be no big deal. But I was lucky and they lessened the charges to misdemeanor charges.

Have you ever used suction cups for buildings with no holds on them?
I used them once in Doha, Qatar. They are a little scary, I don’t like them very much. I use two suction cup units - one for the hands and one for the feet. You know the ones I bought are not very good. There are 3 pads per suction cup, and each pad holds about 30 kilo. There was a better model, which held 60 kilo each. I should’ve bought this one - this way, if there is a little bit of dust, and one or two pads don’t stick, nearly each pad would hold my body weight. I’ve used suction cups on two different buildings, and each time…they slip down a little bit.

But the pads are better if you are able to push in while you move. It’s better to move with little steps. If you try to make a big step, then you are having some difficulty to push the suction cup. But you know, more and more people are asking me to climb buildings which are completely impossible. Like in Saudi Arabia I have a very lucrative contract to climb a building for 100,000 Euro. But the building is not possible, unless I use suction cups. But for that money, you cannot say no. By that time, hopefully you’ll have enough money to upgrade to the 60 kilo ones. Yes for sure I won’t use the ones I have again.

Does dust pose a problem when free climbing?
Yes it can make it slippery. Sometimes, if I am climbing a building legally, I will ask them to clean the building. Or at least clean the section that I will be climbing. Heat can also make things slippery. I was climbing in Dubai, and it was 40 degrees, at nine o’clock at night. This made things very slippery. I was treated very well, but in the end I knew it was worth every penny, because this was a little on the edge.

How about the cold, have you ever lost feeling in your fingers?
For me the cold is not much of a problem. Cold with wind is a problem, because I cannot warm up my hands. For me -20 degree with wind is worse than -40 degrees. I had this problem once when I was in New York to check the Twin Towers, this was in 2000. It was very cold and I couldn’t feel my fingers. I spent 10 days checking everything, and then returned home as it was too cold to climb. I rescheduled to climb the towers a year later, but I got fucked by the Taliban.

Those bastards. I planned on making a “Climb Buildings – Before They’re all Gone” sticker, but decided to go with the simpler version of “Climb Buildings”. [I give Alain a handful of the stickers]. You know this is a great idea, I like it. For sure I am going to use them. On my next ascent in Paris, I am going to put one on the building, and I will tell the police, “look at it, I am climbing because there is a sticker that says ‘Climb Buildings’”, and make a joke out of it.



What do you do for training?
I have a climbing wall in my house that I practice on. It goes up one wall, across the ceiling, and down the other. I used to be able to do three one finger pull ups! But for something like that you need to train all the time. My son has bigger muscles than me, and he teases me, but I can still climb harder than him, so it doesn’t matter.

Your family climbs as well?
My sons climb a little, but they aren’t very motivated. Once they realized that what I was doing was dangerous, they decided to take another path. I try not to force anything on anybody.

Do you climb with anybody else?
No not really anymore. I used to climb with friends, but most of them died in mountaineering accidents. These days I don’t really keep in touch with climbers.

Have you ever had anything break off a building?

No not really. I check the building. I knock on the surface. You can tell if it’s good or not.

How about Dynoing, has the need ever arisen where you needed to jump to the next hold?
You know the building in Montreal, I had a big surprise. The building is 150m, and the last three panels were a little bit wider, which I didn’t see when I was studying the building from the ground. So I had to jump, which was a little bit hard. Of course I have done this move on more difficult cliffs, but only once on a building.

In general, how long does it take you to climb a building?
Anywhere from 20 minutes to 4 hours. I spent four hours on 101 building in Taipei, which is just over 500m.

I know that many people in the rock climbing community challenge the validity of your buildering achievements, have you ever considered going on a rock-climbing soloing spree, just to silence the doubters?
I don’t care what they think; many of these climbers are very close minded people. But you know I asked Lynn Hill if it would be possible to solo The Nose of El Capitan. I was worried that the great roof would be too hard. She said that it was a pitch after the Great Roof that was the hardest [the Changing Corners pitch, 5.13+], and would be very hard to solo. I think that perhaps this would be something for the next millennium.

What buildering projects do you have planned for the future?
I plan on climbing a building in Barcelona. I am planning to climb something in New York in June, but I have to choose whether to try the climb again in Houston, or whether I am doing the one in New York. I know I cannot do both, unless I want to go to jail for a very long time. I would like to climb the CN tower, but I am sure this is not possible. I think I would get stuck below the platform. Although on some buildings there is a beam, which is perfect because it is spectacular, and even though it may be easy, if it is overhanging people think it is difficult. I would like to go to check it out while I’m in Canada, but right now it is too cold.

= == = = =
His greatest success so far: the National Bank of Abu Dhabi with over 100,000 spectators (shown BELOW), which he climbed on 23th February 2007, for charity. He reached the top of the building in just 20 minutes

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Really long and details about alain robert. He is really good in "climbing" o..spiderman

9:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lots of great pics too!

3:28 PM  

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