French 'Spider-Man' climbs 59-story office building with bare hands

[Kadie]

French 'Spider-Man' climbs 59-story office building with bare hands

Wednesday, September 22, 2004


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(09-22) 08:43 PDT PARIS (AP) --

A French urban climber who calls himself "Spider-Man" scaled a 59-story Paris office building Wednesday with his bare hands and without using any ropes.

Alain Robert took less than 45 minutes to climb the nearly 700-foot-tall Montparnasse Tower building, gripping the metal girders on his way up. At the top, he waved to a small crowd that gathered on the ground, some shouting "Allez, Alain!", or "Go, Alain!"

"This is a bit long," Robert, 42, said of his climb. "There are some metallic rails which are a bit slippery. It's difficult to stick the feet inside so it's a bit uncomfortable. I mean, I have to climb quite quickly. I have to be able to keep the rhythm. And today it's windy, it's a bit cold."

snip...
In April 2003, Robert donned a shirt with the message, "No war," and scaled the 47-story headquarters of oil giant TotalFina Elf outside Paris to protest the war in Iraq.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/09/22/international1143EDT0563.DTL