French climber Alain Robert, also known as Frances Spiderman, climbed with his bare hands on to the top of a 36-floor building on Tuesday (3 November), despite low temperatures and rain. In a stunt that has become familiar the world over, the 53-year old was greeted at the top of the building by local police and applauded on the ground by passers-by.
Robert, who has climbed over 100 buildings including the New York Times building and the worlds tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, had already climbed the Ariane building in 2014 but this time the weather conditions were not favourable.
I was thinking, well OK, for the moment there is no rain, but what will it be like in 10m, 15m, 20m, he said. He added that his goal was to spread some joy in a society he sees as growing increasingly morose. He reached the top of the 152m-high tower in less than 30 minutes, using nothing but his bare hands and some talcum powder.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
