Watch A Secret Climb to the Top of China’s Tallest Tower

02/28/2014 15:32

 Few tasks are more harrowing, or offer better views, than being a construction worker over a Chinese skyscraper. On account of a couple of adrenaline-seeking Russian photographers, we have now a vivid picture of exactly what it��s like.

In a post on his blog, Mr. Raskalov said the pair made the hop on Lunar New Year��s day, or Jan. 31, a national holiday in China when security was lighter and quite a few workers were in your own home. He said it took them roughly couple of hours to boost towards 120th floor on foot, after which they climbed a crane mounted on top of the tower.

On Wednesday, ��urban ninjas�� Vadim Makhorov and Vitaliy Raskalov posted video of themselves climbing to the top level with the unfinished 2,100-foot Shanghai Tower, the earth��s second-tallest building.

The playback quality, which can be truly dizzying, shows the 20-somethings sneaking in to the construction site during the night time and scaling the structure �C above the cloud line �� seemingly minus the aid of safety equipment:

China Realtime visited the very best of the tower during a media tour organized with the developers on the clear and windy day in August, though we didn��t venture up the crane. It took a 10-minute ride on two construction elevators to get at the very best, which contained a walkable area roughly the dimensions of two basketball courts. We were able to snap an image in the view with this smartphone despite hands shaking with fear at the idea of the drop.

Asked whether developers knew in regards to the stunt, Grace Zhu, the Shanghai Tower��s marketing director, said the building team ended up informed of the usb ports and was ��researching some countermeasures.��

The view from your the top Shanghai Tower in August, shot by the nervous CRT reporter. Esther Fung/The Wall Street Journal
Messrs. Raskalov and Makhorov became famous (or infamous, depending on your view) after scaling the truly great Pyramid of Giza roughly recently. Criticized by preservationists, Mr. Makhorov later apologized, saying the duo didn��t intend to insult anyone and were ��just adopting the dream.��

The Shanghai Tower climb isn��t apt to be as controversial as Giza, even with the extra component danger. All things considered, armies of Chinese workers routinely climb to similar heights, often with only slightly more with respect to security precautions.

In a email, the photographers offered a fairly easy basis for choosing Shanghai because of their latest project. ��Shanghai Tower could be the tallest [under-]construction building in the world. For individuals it��s enough,�� the tutor said.

What the workers don��t typically do is publish photos of their work sites, which, based on the images below, is often a situation screaming in the market to be rectified.