Life in the Fast Lane

There is a new breed of climbers — preferring glass and steel to rock and stone — using no rope or safety equipment. This new adrenaline fueled extreme sport is known as ‘urban-free solo,’ and one audacious man is leading the field. Legendary Alain Robert is the world’s most daring climber, risking his life as he scales some of the world’s tallest mega-structures on Earth.

This terrifying brand of “free climbing” extreme sport is not for acrophobics.

Also known as ‘the Human Spider’ and ‘Spiderman,’ renowned Alain Robert has scaled more than 80 the world’s most daunting buildings — most of them illegally — using nothing more than chalk and a pair of climbing shoes — or permission, for that matter.

Such a climb typically involves a very tall building and a mad dash past security guards, in a laborious scramble up walls using whatever flimsy support the building has to offer, such as drainpipes, window ledges and air-conditioning.

With no manager or entourage to accompany him as he travels the world to do his gravity-defying feats, he is often tossed in jail straight afterwards.

“What happens if I fall? I die.” says Alain. It doesn’t get much more extreme than that.

With each climb, Robert creates a spontaneous and powerful public drama centered on his own survival. As he puts it:, “You feel very much alive because somewhere you are very much dead.” Robert’s climbs are life-affirming in the sense of being death-defying.

When Robert talks of his motivation, he alludes to a childhood of oppressive rules and an abundance of fears and phobias, including vertigo, which his adult climbs are supposed to vanquish. But you sense that he no longer asks himself why he does it — he climbs because he climbs.

A married father of 3, Alain performs his dangerous achievements despite suffering from epilepsy.

“The question I’m always asked is, ‘Are you afraid when your husband climbs.’” says his worried wife Nicole, waiting at home wondering if he’ll be scraped off the pavement.

“Obviously!” she says. “If they had any respect for the person, they wouldn’t ask this question.” Alain calls his children immediately after he reaches the top of a building.

About Alain Robert
Born August 7, 1962 in Digoin, Saône-et-Loire – Bourgogne, France as Robert Alain Philippe, he began climbing as a young boy, shinning up rock cliffs in the area around his home. At the age of 12 he forgot his keys to his 8-floor apartment, and simply scaled the exterior wall to his home through a window.

He decided to become a top climber as he aspired to be like his heroes Bonatti and Rébuffat, but his parents were far from thrilled with the notion. He didn’t want them to find out that he began to learn the rudiments of climbing as a boy scout, as he became skilled in how to move and handle the ropes. His parents eventually gave up.

Alain trained on the cliffs around Valence in the south of France to become a top climber and began climbing solo with his bare hands, giving up the ropes for protection.

He polished his rock-climbing skills in the French Alps before turning to buildings.

A sponsor specialized in extreme sports and adventure offered to shoot him in a documentary, suggesting he should climb skyscrapers. In 1994, Alain Robert climbed his very first skyscraper in Chicago, and the ‘Urban Climber’ was born.

Alain realized that he enjoyed climbing what seemed impossible, so he traversed the world searching for the skyscraper of his dreams. Meeting presidents and prisoners, kings and shanty town folk were part of the trip’s highlights.

He came to be nicknamed after the Marvel Comics character “Spider-Man,” for scaling skyscrapers.

Robert’s physical conditioning and expert climbing technique allow him to climb using the small protrusions of building walls and windows — such as window ledges and frames. Many of his climbs provide him no opportunity to rest and last more than an hour. At 5′5″ (1.65 meters) tall, he’s short and light — attributes that enhance his dexterity while climbing.

He sometimes carries a bag of climbing chalk powder which is used to absorb sweat, fastened around his waist.

Career
Alain’s career of urban climbing has been characterized by an ever-expanding list of famous landmarks in pursuit of ever-greater thrills and risks, creating a piece of unexpected theater for the commuters and office workers who gaze up in wonder.

In the 1990’s, as his exploits brought him worldwide media exposure, speculation began as to whether he would attempt the tallest building in the world at the time — the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While Malaysian authorities were expecting it, they were still astonished when he suddenly appeared several floors up on the side of the tower on his way to the top in 1997. He was eventually arrested while on the 60th floor, 28 short of the 88-story building.

On March 20, 2007, he climbed the Petronas Twin Towers again, marking his 10th anniversary since he last climbed the Twin Towers. He allowed himself to be apprehended upon reaching the 60th floor. He flew the Malaysian flag and drew applause from waiting police, fire crew, and media representatives before handing himself in. He was handcuffed and escorted off the premises before being driven to a police station

While scaling the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois in 1999, he encountered the most challenging climbing conditions in his career. Near the top of the 110-story building, a thick fog set in that covered the glass and metal wall of the last 20 floors with moisture making it dangerously slippery. Although the climb became agonizingly slow and very strenuous, Alain Robert overcame it and reached the top.

In 2000, Robert climbed the 75 ft. high Luxor Obelisque in Place de la Concorde, France.

In February 2003, he legally climbed the 656-foot (200 meter) National Bank of Abu Dhabi, UAE, watched by about 100,000 spectators. In April, he scaled the headquarters of oil giant Total S.A. in La Défense, outside Paris, to protest against the invasion of Iraq.

On October 19, 2004, he scaled the 614-foot (187 meter) headquarters of the French oil company Total while wearing a Spider-Man costume.

Robert scaled Taipei 101 on December 25, 2004, a few days before its grand opening as the tallest building in the world.

On September 1, 2006, he climbed the tallest building in Lithuania and the Baltic States – Europa Tower (148 meters) in Vilnius, reaching the observation deck of the building in 40 minutes. He finished the year climbing the Santa Fe World Plaza in Mexico City, on December 7th.

On 23 of February 2007, he legally climbed the headquarters Building of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority on the coast of Abu Dhabi city (United Arab Emirates).

On May 31, 2007, he scaled China’s tallest skyscraper, the 88-story Jin Mao Building in Shanghai — the 4th-tallest building in the world — while once again wearing a Spider-Man costume, and returned once again in November 2007.

On September 4, 2007, he climbed the 799-feet-high (244 meter) Federation Tower office building in Moscow — Europe’s tallest skyscraper — in 30 minutes using a ladder. Detained by police, he could face a fine for violating safety norms at a construction site.

On December 18, 2007, he climbed the 29-story Portland House office building in London — Westminster’s tallest building — in just over 40 minutes. Police taped off the area and later arrested him for criminal damage and wasting police time.

But the public is unaware that Robert is increasingly paid to scale buildings as part of publicity efforts, for which he often donates to charities. In 1997, he climbed the world’s tallest skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur without authorization.

The impact on the media was so great that Sabah Foundation asked him to climb its building in Borneo. With government authorization, the event grew extensively, and rose over $150,000.

In May 2003 he was paid approximately $18,000 to climb the 312-foot (95 meter) Lloyd’s of London to promote the premiere of the movie Spider-Man on the British TV channel Sky Movies.

In Paris, the association ADT Quart Monde requested his presence for a rappel, to promote the opening of the empty flats of the capital to the homeless, which Mrs. Bernadette Chirac and Mrs. Geneviève de Gaulle attended.

He achieved a world record for the most extreme solo performance in the gorge of the Verdon in the south of France.

An award-winning 52 minute documentary was filmed about him, titled The Wall Crawler by Director / Producer Julie Cohen.

Accidents
Alain Robert says that he has fallen 7 times in his life.

At the ages of 19 and 20 he suffered 2 accidents, where he fell 49 feet (15 meters) and suffered multiple fractures and permanent vertigo, and underwent 3 operations. The doctors considered him 60% handicapped and told him he would not be able to climb again.

But 6 months later he was back to climbing, taking on more and more challenging structures and improving his skills.

The worst was his second fall in 1982 when he fell 15 meters when his rope came undone. He was in a coma for 5 days and fractured both forearms, his elbow, pelvis, and nose. His elbow was also dislocated and a nerve was damaged leaving him partially paralyzed. He also suffered cerebral edema and vertigo. He underwent 6 operations on his hands and elbow.

In 1993, he fell 26 feet (8 meters) while ironically showing students how to rely on their legs when climbing. He kept his hands behind his back on an easy route but lost his balance and fell headfirst shattering both wrists. He went into another coma and spent 2 months in the hospital.

In 2004, he fell 6.5 feet (2 meters) when climbing the building of a Korean television station after an interview. He landed on his elbow and needed forty stitches, but a month later he climbed the world’s tallest skyscraper, Taipei 101, as part of its official opening week.

Arrests
Robert says he has been arrested more than 100 times for climbing buildings.

Because authorities would not give him permission for such dangerous exploits, Robert would suddenly appear, usually at dawn, on the side of a giant skyscraper in cities around the world where thousands of onlookers would stop in awe of what was happening. As a result, he has been arrested in various countries many times by police waiting at the building’s top. The arrests and trials are little more than quick formalities and he has always been discharged.

Robert’s climbs are almost always illegal but there are no victims and no malice is intended.

He was led off gently by polite policeman in Germany and quickly released with a slap on the wrist. In Lisbon, he played a few hands of poker at the police station before being let out with a small fine. Alain was arrested in Russia but later recovered by the film crew from a Moscow police station after enjoying a few shots of vodka with the arresting officers.

But in China, he was jailed for 5 days after his ascent of the Jing Mao tower from which he emerged disheveled and in some distress. He was marched to the airport and banned from the country for 5 years for his death-defying exploits.

Robert had been invited by a local government — who weren’t aware he had been banned — to climb the 1518-metre Tianmen mountain in Zhangjiajie, as a stint to boost the profile of the region and bring in tourists. It took 2 months to convince people in 7 different Chinese government departments of the advantages of letting him back in to climb the 1,518-metre Tianmen Mountain.

On November 22, 2005, he was arrested as he began to climb the One Houston Center building in Houston, Texas and charged with criminal trespassing and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance. The controlled substance charge was over 2 pills that the police found in his possession which he claimed were the prescription drug Urbanyl, a medication used to prevent epileptic seizures. He spent 2 days in jail and appeared in court on November 29th, providing proof of a doctor’s prescription.

On December 20th he climbed the Cristal Tower in Paris in protest of the arrest. His next court appearance was scheduled for January 4, 2006, but Robert said that he would be climbing in Mexico at that time.

On March 15, 2006 he climbed one of the 122 meter Mercurial Towers in Bagnolet in protest of the presumed 7-day sentence, prior to returning to Texas to serve the sentence. On March 31st he appeared before a Houston court. Drug charges were dropped and the jail sentence was reduced to 1 day and a $2000 fine for trespassing.

On February 27, 2008 he climbed the Edificio Italia, one of the tallest buildings in Brazil and detained by the police after his successful attempt.

A British state came down on him after an escapade at Canary Wharf, where he had his DNA extracted, fined £50,000 and banned from setting foot in London’s financial district ever again.

The Human Spider
A new documentary is following Robert’s Portland House attempt, as well as showing archive footage of his previous achievements. Some of the shots are spectacular, if not stomach churning.

Robert signs off by saying that he’s often contemplated his death in a fall and concluded that it would be a pretty good way to go. We hope he retires before he gets to find out.

Cutting Edge: The Human Spider, James Marsh’s film Man on Wire will be released this summer.

“We set ourselves limits, but we are all strong enough to aim higher, to achieve our goals.” says Alain. “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.”

UPDATE:

April 15 2008 — French climber Alain Roubert scales a gleaming Hong Kong tower overlooking Victoria Harbour stating he was climbing to promote awareness about global warming.