Without Ropes, Harnesses or Safety Gear
For most reading about and viewing images of the world’s tallest buildings is quite enough, but for 19 year old Russia, photographer and Moscow State University IT student Alexander Remnev, climbing them and taking selfies is what does the trick. Daredevil, extreme climber, show off, crazy, skywalker, “roofers”: call him what you want, but this kid and his buddy, Vitaly Raskalov, have balls.
Remnev has traveled to Hong Kong, Paris, Barcelona and Dubai searching for skyscrapers to climb and has “cut his teeth” scaling every tall Russian structure he could find, including Moscow Bridge in Kiev, Ukrane.. Remnev and his buddies bring along a GoPro and cameras with telephoto lenses.
Skyscrapers, Construction Cranes, Monuments, Towers, Bridges
Remnev has scaled the Princess Tower, Dubai, 1,350 feet (414 m), Torch Tower, Dubai, 1,131 feet (345 m) and Peter the Great statue, Moscow as well as several Hong Kong skyscrapers.
Escaping From “Real World” Problems
According to Remnev and friends scaling tall structures is an escape from ordinary life and the boredom of preparing for a profession in a country that is currently in serious political gridlock. Remnev and friends began their adventures when a fellow student found a door open to the roof of an 11 story building in downtown Moscow.
According to Remnev “You use stairs or the elevator as far as you can go, like an ordinary citizen, and then up there you need to look up for ways to get on the roof, by breaking locks, bypassing obstacles and finding a way to outsmart alarm systems,” he said. “Sometimes we just break in—or rather out—ignoring the alarm that goes off in some office down below.”
As the images and video below show Remnev likes to get high, really high. Following are some of his feats:
