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Alain Climbs the Petronas Towers
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I plug Alain a lot on this site, but hosting a buildering site without talking about Mr. Robert is like talking about hockey without mentioning Gretzky, or music without The Beatles.
Anyway, Alain finally polished off the Petronas Twin Towers yesterday morning. His last two attempts were stymied by authorities waiting on the 60th floor observation deck. This time Alain started in the middle of the night, passing the observation deck unobserved.
Telegraph.co.uk posted a nice photo essay of some of Alain's other exploits. Being that Alain is the most photographed climber in the universe, I doubt we'll ever run out of new photos and angles. Look close in a couple of the shots and you'll see some of Alain's secrets revealed (yes, he's a vampire).
Comments
I emailed Alain to
I emailed Alain to congratulate him on the climb, the apparent difficulty of the final spire, and that he isn't showing any signs of slowing down. His response:
"Abt getting retired??? Maybe in 5 years. I smile because there is more than ten years that i keep on telling to the media in 5 years. I feel ok physically and mentally and i love climbing so why should i stop??? If my destiny is to finish at the bottom of a building then i accept it. Better than a bad cancer. Abt the spire it was great and espacially overcoming the 2 balls. The 1st one quite big and overhang with only 2 finger pocket behind the pipe and the 2nd one wich i nearly gave up after 3 trials"
Right on.
Wow! Another feather on the
Wow! Another feather on the hat, or however that phrase goes -- congrats Alain! Also, thanks for posting the e-mail reply, it's quite interesting. Haha, arrested once again.
But luckily not stopped mid-climb!
snow chaos
There's a great little
There's a great little interview in the latest issue of 'Summit' magazine (BMC's own mag). It reminds readers that back in 1993, Alain did a world first by soloing F8b. Shortly after was contacted by a film director asking him to climb a 48 storey building. Here's couple of quotes:
"I thought that even if it wasn't possible to climb such flat surfaces it was a chance for me to travel for free. I treated it as a new experience, but when I got there I realised it was something I could actually do.
"At first I wasn't good at all because of all the glass and metal. I used to make a lot of mistakes because I didn't know how to use my feet. I was very nervous and afraid because there was a chance I could die. I took maybe two years for me to understand how to climb buildings. I found the first climb challenging and I was nervous, but it lit something inside me. At first it felt unnatural, but now it's the other way around. I feel bad when I'm rocks and I'm more comfortable with buildings.
"If we don't have targets and dreams, we're not living - we're just surviving. People say I'm irresponsible but my family knows this is who I am and that it's what I want to do with my life. I'm in charge of my own destiny and I'm happy about what I've achieved, and what I will continue to achieve in the future. I know if I make a mistake I'm dead, but whenever you're dealing with a life and death situation, you dig deep to find a way. I think I've become good at pushing myself to find a way in extreme situations. Life is precious.
"I once saw something absolutely horrible through one of the windows. It was a bunch of people sitting in front of their computers having a boring life."
Right on. I think Alain is
Right on. I think Alain is often misconstrued through bad representation and bad translations. It's nice to see some quality material regarding him.
Last night, I got home from
Last night, I got home from work and was watching random TV. I flicked over to Russell Howard's Good News - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00njx6v - and almost fell off my chair when his mystery guest appeared.
I can't wait for it to appear on YouTube. If you find it, please post it. Thanks!