'Spiderman' scales Hong Kong skyscraper
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-11 16:48

A French urban climber who calls himself "spiderman" scaled a 62-story Hong Kong skyscraper barehanded on Saturday. Wearing only a pair of red pants, Alain Robert, 42, from Valence, southeastern France, scrambled up the downtown Cheung Kong Center — the flagship building of Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing — in about an hour.

Alain Robert, 42, French urban climber who calls himself 'spiderman' scrambles up the 62-story, 283 meters (928 feet) tall Cheung Kong Center, the flagship building of Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing in about an hour in Hong Kong Saturday, June 11, 2005. [AP]

Robert said the building was 283 meters (928 feet) tall.

During his climb, the Frenchman rested several times and even answered a reporter's phone calls.

"I can't talk to you right now. I'm climbing," said Robert, renowned for scaling buildings without ropes or other equipment.

After reaching the top of the building, he waved to a small crowd of spectators on the ground below. He said he was greeted by police, firefighters and security guards at the top.

Police officers checked his passport but did not arrest him, even though he had not sought permission to climb the building.

"Everyone was very nice," Robert said, adding that the climb was not too difficult.

"I slipped only once," he said. "On a scale of one to 10 in terms of difficulty, this would be a five. I really enjoyed the ascent."

Robert said he did not choose Hong Kong's tallest building, the 420-meter (1,378-foot) Two International Finance Center, because the building is surrounded by a platform, and he could risk arrest halfway through the climb.

"I decided to climb the Cheung Kong as I was sure that I could climb all the way up to the top," he said.

In December, Robert scaled the world's tallest building, Taiwan's Taipei 101. It took him nearly four hours to reach the top of the 508-meter (1,679-foot) building — nearly twice as long as he had expected — because it was raining.

But Robert, who has scaled more than 70 skyscrapers around the world, said his most challenging climb so far was the Sears Tower in Chicago, the United States, in 1999.

His other feats include scaling Malaysia's Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Empire State Building in New York.

Robert said he is working with the United Arab Emirates government on a plan to climb five buildings on five continents to raise funds for UNESCO. The first climb — the sail-shaped Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai — is planned for November, he said.

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