'Spiderman' to make record bid at Dubai's Cayan Tower
What’s On has news of a Dubai world record bid by ‘Spiderman’ Alain Robert, who climbs world’s best skyscrapers. Cayan Tower Dubai is next.
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‘Spiderman’ will perform a death-defying stunt in Dubai on April 12 when he attempts to scale the iconic ‘twisty tower’ in the Marina.
Alain Robert, a 52-year-old free climber, has made headlines around the world having scrambled up some of the planet’s tallest buildings without the help of safety ropes.
And now he has revealed plans to haul himself from ground level to the very top of the 75-storey Cayan Tower here in Dubai, without support. Standing at over 300 metres tall, the recently opened residential block is ranked as the tallest twisted tower ever built and is among the most eye-catching in the world.
*All images below are from facebook.com/frenchspiderman
Video published on Robert’s official Facebook page last month show him in rehearsal for the feat. Wearing jeans, a shirt and a waistcoat, he is shown taking on small phases of the building to ascertain exactly what will be required when he makes his latest bid for glory.
The Frenchman last wowed crowds in the region in 2011 when he reached the summit of the Burj Khalifa. However on this occasion safety regulations meant he was supported by ropes and harnesses throughout this 828-metre, six-hour, ascent.
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Among his other conquests are the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, New York’s Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, Chicago’s Willis Tower, and, in 2004, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, then the world’s tallest building. In 1997, his record bid in the Malaysian capital was cut short when police intercepted him on the 60th floor, 28 floors from the top. London’s Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe, won’t be among his list of conquests, though, with building management having taken out an injunction against him visiting the premises.
In 2010 he was awarded recognition by the Guinness World Records for having ‘climbed more than 100 towers, monuments and skyscrapers without ropes, suction devices or safety equipment’. The certificate goes on to state how Robert has been ‘arrested and imprisoned at locations all over the world for his unannounced and illegal ascents, but has also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity with his climbs’.
Speaking to BBC Radio in 2013, he said: “The feeling when I get to the top is like I am reborn… but with the additional feeling of handcuffs and things like that!”
What’s On will have footage and images of the climb when it happens.
The stunt comes at a time when extreme and other action sports in the UAE is in something of a boom. As What’s On revealed in January, the large X-shaped yellow sculptures popping up all over town are part of a guerrilla campaign by a new action group hoping to put the UAE at the centre of an adrenaline-fuelled world. XDubai say they are a new hub for action sports in the region, promoting both the development of action sports as well as its athletes, and also bringing global events to the emirate.
The group have already partnered with the iconic Skydive Dubai, home to arguably the most awesome dropzone on the planet, over The Palm, Inflight Dubai and Jetman Dubai. The latter was catapulted into view in December when footage emerged of former Swiss fighter pilot Yves Rossy using jet-propelled wings in tandem with a light aeroplane. They were also behind the infamous Burj Khalifa basejump video. In April 2013, the world’s tallest building – which stands at 828m – saw Soul Flyers World Champions Vince Reffet and Fred Fugen break the Guinness World Record for the ‘highest base jump from the tallest building in the world’ when they took flight from a three-metre platform protruding from the very top.