French Spiderman Scales London’s Tallest Building without Support

Alain Robert, popularly known as French Spiderman has scaled one of London’s tallest buildings, without any support. The 56-year-old climber took less than an hour to climb the 230 meter (755 feet) Heron Tower.

Heron Tower is also known as Salesforce Tower and is located in the central business district of London’s Square Mile. Built in 2011, it is one of the tallest buildings of the London city. Robert reached the top of the tower using only chalk and muscle. Before climbing the Heron Tower he said, “I fully feel alive when my life is at stake. It may sound a bit scary and crazy but this is the way it is”.

He often climbs skyscrapers without permission and has been arrested on several occasions, for trespassing. This time also after he scaled Heron tower London Police arrested him.

London Police confirmed that he had been arrested for causing a public nuisance accusing him of taking some officers away from genuine emergencies. City of London Police officer Karen Baxter said, “The incident this afternoon has had a considerable impact on police, other emergency services and the local community. Road closures meant a significant disturbance to local transport and businesses and their staff located in the building were also considerably affected. While the incident has caused immense disruption to everyday business in the City of London it also posed a significant level of risk to the safety of people in and around Heron Tower at the time”.

The hobby that started at the age of 11 years has taken Robert to scale more than 150 skyscrapers across the world, which includes Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, Taiwan’s Taipei 101 and the Lloyds building also in The City of London.

The rock climber turned his attention to skyscrapers in the mid-1990s and has made a name for himself climbing high rises with his bare hands. Robert is 5 feet 5 inch and weighs about 7st 12lb (50kg), with a low-fat ratio of bones to muscle, which helps his extreme athleticism and skill. He is said to be in prime condition at the time of the stunt.

He is climbing the tower without safety equipment but has a bag of chalk to hand, which according to him improves the friction between his skin and the building. He also tapes his fingers and wears thin gloves in order to save them from being shredded by the difficult building.