Feb
26
Countercurrent: Alain Robert, the lord of the skyscrapers
Alain Robert has no limits. The dreams of French grandeur of this result in reaching the summit of the world”s tallest buildings climbing the walls and windows without any other help that her hands, feet and some talc against sweat, the same as used to meet their next challenge. And this climber is 47 years now aims to climb the newly opened Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, with 164 floors and 828 meters high, which rises in Dubai. A task that has us accustomed to having already conquered the ancestors of this building.
The last time was in September 2009 when Petronas towers crowned Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia ). The daredevil athlete, also known as “French Spiderman”, only took 45 minutes to climb the 88 floors (452 meters), a feat that could not complete on two previous occasions because he was detained. In this third attempt also failed to escape the law, was arrested after stepping off the building. The daring cost him a fine of 400 euros.
Five years earlier, in December 2004, Robert also managed to dominate the Taipei 101 in Taiwan, the building that took to the Petronas first place as the world”s tallest tower. Although on this occasion, Robert climbed in nearly four hours the 101-storey building (508 meters) with the aid of ropes, much of the rise, and only with hands and feet in other sections. “Everyone knows me by climbing without safety gear, but this was different,” he said, because the building owners had asked him to wear ropes, which also was necessary because the rain meant that the windows are slippery . The climber said he risked will climb the building without using ropes.
The arrest he suffered in Malaysia was not the first. His peculiar way of making a living as an audacious publicity stunt, has led to police stations in several cities in the world on various charges like attempt on his life and that of others, violation of private property or exhibit inappropriate behavior. In June last year, was arrested for climbing the headquarters of Royal Bank of Scotland, a 41-story building located in Sydney, Australia.
This recurring problem with the law does not shy away. He takes it with a little humor. In 1999, at the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago (which also became the highest in the world) told the police he was about to arrest him he was bored with the traditional tourist attractions and was just trying to get a more interesting city.
In April 1998, tried to climb a 46-story building in Philadelphia. However, when he was two floors of its goal, the long arm of the law emerged from a balcony and took him to the police station. “I do it because I like things high and difficult. It is a pleasure for me,” he said later.
Alain was born to the hobby since childhood. Despite the refusal of his parents, learned all about climbing. When I was 12, forgot the keys to the apartment where he lived, located on the eighth floor of a building in France. As one might expect, Robert entered the place climbing. He was so learned that he was for more challenges. Since then it has soared more than 100 buildings, including some of the most emblematic of the world including the Empire State Building in New York.
On the dangerous hobby of Robert, a psychologist Pedro Morales Paiva, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Center in Lima, says that often, when you face danger, basically there is no taste for it. “Like what threatens it, what you fear, and he feared dying for something (like rock climbing without safety) that can overcome a dangerous situation,” he said.
And Robert was very near death. In 1982, when he was known for climbing buildings, fell from a height of 15 meters due to a wrong knot of the rope that held him. He served five days in a coma with multiple fractures. He managed to heal their wounds but was left with sequelae: chronic vertigo due to inner ear dysfunction.
However, Robert continued with his own. He now plans to scale the tallest tower in the world. “I know people in Dubai and interested to do so, perhaps between January and April 2011,” he said. Robert says he feels the happiest man in the world with their lifestyle. It is not considered even a little crazy about what he does. On the contrary, he is the sanest person in the universe.