WEBVTT - Inside the Mind of the French Spiderman, Alain Robert 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.400 We'd like to acknowledge that traditional custodians of the land 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.840 on which this podcast was produced, the Galligel people of 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.440 the Urination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:16.079 It's March twenty twenty four and we're in Manila. The 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:18.759 man best known as the French Spider Man has just 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:24.239 climbed forty seven stories of the GT International Tower. It's 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.400 one of the highest skyscrapers in the Philippines, and Alan 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.880 Robert has scaled the seven hundred and twelve foot building 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.320 without any safety equipment, just a bag of chalk and 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.720 a pair of climbing shoes. He's done it before and 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.199 he'll do it again. With more than one hundred and 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:45.800 fifty structures under his belt, including the Burj Khalifer, Eiffel 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:50.240 Tower and the Empire State Building. In the climbing world, 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.519 he's a rock star. More people watched his climb of 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.480 the National Bank of Abu Dhabi than the opening ceremony 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:02.200 of the Football World Cup Finals. He doesn't see this 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:08.200 as a sport, but instead a life path. He prepares 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:12.440 carefully before each ascent, calculating the risks and ensuring his 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:20.120 mind is totally focused. He must get it right. I'm 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:24.880 Att Middleton and this is Headgame today, the notorious French 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:29.120 spider Man undertaking some of the riskiest and most dangerous 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:33.640 challenges in the world and loving every second of it. 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:41.640 I am extremely excited right now to be speaking with 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:46.560 the famous French spider Man, Monsieur Alain Robert. 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:56.080 Mons only like the Bali who the peer you know. 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.320 I am live in Bali, which I've been leaving for 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:01.640 eleven years. 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.200 It's a pleasure to meet you, it really is. I'm 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.520 a huge, huge fan myself. I've been following your stuff 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.920 since they dot since you know you you brought the 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:16.680 world to attention hanging off of structures and buildings. But 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:21.320 let's get into it first and foremost, Allah, when did 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:24.520 you start climbing? Did you start climbing the moment you 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.480 know you left your mother's womb? Did you start? Were 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.960 you like a kid that climbed all the time? 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.519 Not exactly like that. Actually my story is more complicated. 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:38.160 I born as a kid that was afraid of everything, 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:43.040 that was shy. I was lacking of self confidence and 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:48.520 I had a dream. I wanted to become courageous. 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.320 So it took me. It took me quite some. 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.200 Time, you know, because at some point I was just thinking, 0:02:57.919 --> 0:02:59.840 what is the meaning of a dream? Is it a 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.080 thing that is just a dream and I forget about it? 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:08.320 Or shall I try to realize my dream? And then 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:12.200 I did choose to realize it. So later on I 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.959 got inspired. I saw a movie. It's it's a story 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:19.480 of the plane who crashed near the top of Mont Blanc. 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:21.079 Two brothers. 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.639 There are mountaineering climber climbers they are they are climbing 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:28.240 a steep mountain. And then I've been I've been amazed 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.080 by that, and I got really inspired by that. 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.000 Can you remember your first climb? That the first time 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.720 that you thought, do you know what, I'm actually quite 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:39.960 good at this and I enjoy it. 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:40.880 Well. 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.960 Actually that that was even purely by accident, you know. 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:47.680 I was at school. 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.240 There was a too meeching teacher in a row, and 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.840 then I went home. I realized that I didn't have 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.520 my key. Back in the days, I was living on 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.240 the seventh floor. And then, uh, looks the building was 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:06.440 going to be easy, which it was, but I climbed 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:08.000 the seventh story building. 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.080 Oh wow, So that's where it all started. Nothing to 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.760 do with climbing, just you didn't want to be left outside. 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:19.960 Yeah, more more like by obligation. I did it. Yeah, 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:22.039 but that was kind of simple. 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.799 It's like going from one hand rails to the next, 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.600 so nothing to do like climbing. 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:29.880 You know. 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:32.880 Did you climb that and think, oh I enjoyed that. 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:35.280 I wasn't really scared And did you get a bit 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:36.039 of a buz from it? 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:41.080 Well, definitely, But more like back in the days we 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:46.279 were talking about more than fifty years ago, I had 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.560 no real option. I was living in France, in the 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:50.600 middle of nowhere. 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.000 Climbing was not existing. 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.159 I couldn't join the Alpine Club because I was too 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:57.720 too young. 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:00.200 So I did start. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:04.840 By joining becoming a boy scout, and there I met 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:10.080 someone that also wanted to climb. So otherwise maybe if 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:12.400 I had never met that guy. 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.520 I was never going to climb. Ever, I'm not sure. 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:20.040 You know, sometimes life is taking some you know direction, 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.799 which at the beginning it looks a bit funny. 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:27.880 Yes, so that yeah, that's that sliding door moment, isn't it. 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:32.120 So talk me through your first time that you sort 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:35.120 of realized that this is what you wanted to do. 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.359 You wanted to climb. You that's you know, you were 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.800 passionate about it, you had a message behind it. When 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:42.560 was the first time that you thought, do you know what, 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.000 I'm really going to make this career? 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:49.640 I pretty much knew it right away, Like maybe when 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:55.440 I was twelve or thirteen, I didn't know that one 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.800 day I would be able to make a living from sponsors. 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:04.719 So I was just thinking more like becoming mountaineering guide. 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.120 You know that kind of people who are making a living, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.760 they get clients to climb Mont Blanc or that kind 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:12.279 of stuff. 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.000 So more more more like that. 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:19.760 And uh and of course when I started to become famous, 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.480 then I've also realized that I could make a very 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:28.800 good living by just climbing. So instead of teaching, that 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.520 was really climbing for myself. 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:36.279 That's quite quite a segue. So when did you first 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:38.640 do your first solo climb? 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.839 Oh? You know, when I was this boy scout. 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.720 I was with a friend, Pierre actually his name, and 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.640 sometimes we were climbing. We were free flowing, you know, 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:56.200 easy stuff, but you know, uh, one next to each 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.479 other and you know, just doing understand like that. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.600 Yes, from a young young age, you're always always climbing. 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:04.760 I was quite similar. You know, when I was young, 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.919 I was climbing around everywhere, climbing buildings, and you know 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.760 I was I went on to do mountaineering, so it's 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:13.960 a bit different than the military. So it's a bit 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.280 different to your direction. But take me back to that 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.840 first moment you caught the eyes of the world. 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.840 The attention of the world was in ninety four and 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:31.600 I climbing in Chicago the Accentia Tower. But actually before it, 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.280 my real legacy is on rocks. What I did on 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.360 rocks is far more impressive than what I did in Berlin. 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.000 Took me through that. Alan took me through that. 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:48.720 People are not really aware because it was before the internet. 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.760 Back in the days that was like only a few 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:56.160 TV stations, so not much access to the medias. 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:57.880 Even Climbing Magazine. 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.800 They wanted not to publish me because they just thought 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.960 that what this guy is doing is too dangerous. We 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:08.680 don't want to show a bad example to our readers, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:13.800 so we're only going to post like a small pictures, 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:20.480 like really something very short. Things has completely shifted when 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:26.040 Alex o'nald climbed the r Capitan. Yes, suddenly people have 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.800 started to realize that it was possible to do a 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:34.840 very hard stuff on rocks, which Alexi said it. He 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:38.559 gave an interview for one of my documentary film in 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.199 twenty twenty and he explained that actually. 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.560 I am the dude, I am the og. 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.880 I am the guy who was free following five firt 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:51.439 India when he was still a baby. You know, it 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.640 was in nineteen ninety one. But the problem is that, 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.680 of course he knew about this part of my life 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:05.040 because we met in a film festival in Poland, so 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.599 we knew all about it. I got, I got a 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.120 bigger water back in the days and everything. But the 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:15.320 thing is most people they didn't really know. Only a 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:20.520 very small small niche of people were fully aware about it. 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:22.880 And this is not the way you are making a living. 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:25.520 This is also not a way that people are ready 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:26.400 knowing you. 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:29.120 So it is more. 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.640 Actually, when I shifted onto buildings, and that was the 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.600 right time because what I was doing on rocks was 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.560 so on the edge, so on the cutting edge that 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.560 I couldn't go any further. I was climbing some days. 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.480 I was at fifty to fifty. I was actually the 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:51.319 first person in the world free following five Indee even Alex. 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:56.440 He said, he still didn't climb a third Indee free solo. 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:57.520 Wow. 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.160 So that's why we're having this conversation and. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.800 We are talking about thirty three years back. 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:08.880 Yeah, exactly, nineteen ninety one, nineteen ninety that ever you 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:13.120 were free climbing, and like you said, you know, free climbing. 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.000 There was no internet back then. There was no exposure. 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:19.000 You know, it is a very very tiny small community 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.000 that went out what climbing, and you know, there wasn't 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:25.880 really a known sport, so there was there was no 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.480 way of no one even realizing what you were capable 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.199 of or you know, the outstanding climbs that you were 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.440 doing and how dangerous they were, because there was no 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.319 exposure to it exactly. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:42.720 And what was frustrating for me is when finally I 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:47.600 got access to the mainstream medias when I started climbing buildings, 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.040 I was explaining to the journalist that what I did 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:53.880 on rocks was insane, and they said, no, on rocks, 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.760 you know, there is a there is a bucket, there 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:00.320 is other guys who did it, but on buildings only 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:01.440 one and it's smooth, And. 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:03.800 So I said it. 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:05.559 I don't know how many times for like maybe a 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.200 year or two, and then one day I even forgot 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.920 myself that that was my background and that was my legacy. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:17.920 It it resurve faces in twenty seventeen when Alex climbed 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:18.760 the El Capitan. 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.199 Otherwise I have I have simply forgotten. 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.640 It's been submerged by the structures that you've climbed. But 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:30.400 free climbing, free soloing on rocks is extremely difficult if 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.199 you get that wrong. You know, on buildings you can 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.800 get quite I suppose quite a good handhold, quite a 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.440 good hold. But on rocks sometimes people that realize the 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.320 difficulties of being on your fingers, you know. 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:47.000 Being oh exactly, this is what people don't realize. 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.400 You know, Climbing on rocks is far more random. 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.800 There is a there is there may be good pockets, 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.760 and there may be you know, like only a single 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:03.000 finger hole even on one cm pocket. Then suddenly you're 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:07.040 having a Dino. So you know, by comparison, it's insane. 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.800 As on buildings you can easily understand right away. You know, 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.959 it takes like sometimes one minute and you know, okay, 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:15.600 I can easily climb that building. 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:21.320 So why did you transition from free climbing to buildings. 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.400 Where did that come about? How did you make that decision? 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:30.640 Because I knew that I was going too far away 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:34.360 on rocks, I nearly fell. I don't know how many 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.680 times I was climbing, you know, some of the routes 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.280 that I climbed back in the days, I was at 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:45.880 fifty to fifty, So it means that I was never 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.439 sure that I would be finishing the day. And then, 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.040 you know, when I got this proposal to climb and buildings, 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:58.760 I at first I was perplexed because nobody has ever 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:02.960 done that before. For these guys are not at least 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.280 they were paying me an ice trip in the US, 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.040 going to New York, Chicago, Dallas and Houston. 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:11.960 So just thought, well, at the very worst. 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.640 At least I am having ten days a holiday, and 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.520 at the very best, maybe maybe maybe there is still 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.680 something that I could do. And then once I was 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:26.320 in town, then I realized that wow, there is stuff, 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:31.479 There is actually a real potential, and I was made. 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:37.040 I was overly excited. But you know the problem is 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:41.240 these people they wanted to make it officially, you know, approved, 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.520 but it took them two months before they came back 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.160 to me and they said we tried very hard, you know, 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.080 and all of the buildings that you have spotted, and 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.240 you told us that you could climb it, we cannot 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:58.280 get a new approval. Then we said, we spoke with 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.360 some lawyers. It seems that it's not a big crime. 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.200 And at the very worst you could learn in jail, 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:08.359 maybe like up to two weeks, but nothing really serious. 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:09.640 And then and then I. 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:11.440 Decided, okay, let's go for it. 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.080 Wow, so you took the opportunity. You thought, do you 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.280 know what, I can travel around the US, I can 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.520 do some cool stuff. Were you excited when they told 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:25.080 you that you could climb? And maybe maybe you know 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.200 you have got no permits to climb, but climb anyway, 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.720 because if you do, the worst that can happen is 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.360 that you spend a couple of days in prison. Did 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:33.480 that Did that excite you? 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:33.760 Yeah? 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:37.320 Yeah? Well, at the same times, it scires me a 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.440 lot because I was afraid that maybe you know, some 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.400 I don't know, some secuity guys or cups, they may 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.280 try to shoot me. So, you know, I had kind 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.240 of a funny thought on my mind, you know, like 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:56.160 not being sure that somehow I was very frailed. I 0:14:56.240 --> 0:15:00.800 really wanted to do it. It looks like completely insane. 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:01.360 You know. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.000 You get to understand that I had been as far 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.480 as I could go on rocks, So for me, it 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:14.400 was the perfect transition. It was perfect. Suddenly, you know, 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:19.520 I was discovering something new. I was discovering, Uh, traveling 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:24.520 the whole world, meeting people, becoming famous, which is not bad, 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.920 uh going to prison. You know, it was just like 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.720 it was suddenly offering me, you know, a full spectrum 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:38.880 of everything. And and to be honest with you, I 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:43.080 really loved it. Now now I started, you know, to 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:46.280 get you know, I came back on rocks. I am 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:52.600 no longer performance climber, so I am more like outsider. 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.560 Before I was at my I was at my top, 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.200 so I wanted to push the envelope a bit further 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.120 all the time. But now I have no more ambition, 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.680 only climbing back on rock free solo. And for me, 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:16.960 it's already insane. 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.200 You had a big accident back in nineteen eighty two, 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:20.480 was it? 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:24.480 I fell from twenty meters head first and at the 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:29.480 bottom of the cliff. It was a limestone slab, so 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:35.680 meaning both hands they exploded. You can see the shape 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:40.560 on my hand Wow, that was from the accident. I 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:48.200 have inherited of a sixty six percent disability mainly located 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:53.680 on my fingers, on my wrist, on my forearms, on 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:54.600 my elbows. 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:57.880 You achieved everything after with those injuries. 0:16:58.000 --> 0:16:59.680 Oh yeah, yeah, meaning what is insane? 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.400 It's nine years later I was the first person in 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.040 the world free following a five thirty in year. 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.920 That is phenomenal, that is, and that's all in free 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.720 solo climbing. See that's what I mean. You had such 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:18.879 a credible and such an honorable and such a successful 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:24.000 free climbing career which then has completely disappeared really because 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:26.560 of your building climate. 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:32.800 Completely overshadowed all I have done that was insane. And 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:38.080 of course when I started to move back onto social media, 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.440 then I have understood that I was going to use 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:45.600 it because I had still plenty of all the footages, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.719 and then I have started, you know, step by step, 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.640 and now pretty much everyone knows that what I did 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:57.240 on rocks, especially because Alex Honold he gave a like 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.840 ten minutes interview and he's explaining a lot of things. 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:07.760 He's explaining, uh that I was in advance uh from 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:12.120 my time, like what what I was doing so he's 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.240 explaining all of that, and that has helped me a lot. 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.200 You know, now, a lot of people that are like, wow, 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.720 you are you are the you are the the the 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.720 eu og you are you know, you are the number one. 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:24.320 You are this are that? 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:26.800 So I don't care because there is no competition in 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.160 between me a lex or Or. There was like only 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:33.639 a couple of guys who climb very difficult routes in 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:36.520 the whole world. It's like, yeah, we are, we are, 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:37.800 we are like five or six. 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.960 That's amazing, That's absolutely amazing. So climbing there's always been 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:44.440 part of your in your DNA has always been part 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.760 of you. And when you went over to climb structures, 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.000 it was more the opportunity, the excitement. Now talk me 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:54.560 through the first building that you climbed. 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:57.359 That that wasn't that was insane. 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:01.439 Because uh I you know, I remember because on that 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:05.520 day the film director, he knew that I was going 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.760 to do something illegal, so they put me in a 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:13.800 nice five star hotel, maybe thinking that it could be 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:18.160 his last night something like that kind of last yeah, 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:23.600 he's last dinner. Yeah then, and and I remember because 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.920 I kept on thinking, you know about the potential consequences, 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.320 but also whether I would be capable to climb that 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:37.679 building or not, because I had zero idea. You know, 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.520 back in the days, this guy, the film director said, 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.480 you cannot go to the building, you cannot touch it, 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.440 you cannot try it, so meaning it's just like, Okay, 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.639 I saw it, that's all I know. So and also 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.760 telling me, oh, in Chicago, you need to be very 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:59.119 fast on the first sixty meters because they are using 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:04.840 this a very tall ladder the firefighter. So it's just 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.840 like so on my mind, I was thinking, I have 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:11.960 never climbed the fucking building in my life. I didn't 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.680 even check that building, and I need to get sure 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.840 that within a three or four minutes, I have already 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.000 climbed the sixteen meters. And then I was thinking, on 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:25.600 the top of it, there will be cops, they may 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.840 try to shoot me. Or then the next day that 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.359 we plan, Okay, you go to the building at eight 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.320 am and everything. But he called me in the morning 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.159 and he said, we're having a bad news. There is 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:43.040 a marathon all around the building and this area it's 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:48.200 completely locked, is full of cops and everything. So I 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:53.400 had to wait until two pm. So then the more 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:59.080 I was waiting, the more I was getting anxious and nervous. Finally, 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:02.600 at clock he called me. He said, it's fine, a line, 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:05.960 be ready, you know, cops now they are gone and everything. 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:12.600 Thirty minutes later, what's happened? It started to rain again again. Again. 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.240 He called me and he said, alah, you know, we 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:16.600 are really sorry. 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:21.640 You need you need to postpone this sand because now 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:22.399 it's rains. 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:27.159 So I waited again like one hour, and then you 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.159 called me back and he said, well, now it's sunny again. 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:31.240 We went to the building. 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:35.240 It's completely dry and line, you know, be ready, prepare, 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:39.520 you're climbing shoes, take a taxi and ask your friend 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:43.640 Alexis with the photographer to drop you. And then uh, 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.679 finally I was. I was at it and uh, and 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:52.280 right away I found it insane, except that I was 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:57.000 really really tired because the way I managed to climb 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:02.200 the first six meters was was really was completely wrong. Actually, 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.600 now if I climb a building, I just need to 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.920 be fast for the first two meters and not even 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:13.200 if there is nobody here, I don't even need to rush. 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:13.560 Wow. 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:17.520 But I had so much on my mind that I 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:21.440 nearly had to run on the building for sixty meters. 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:26.640 That finally, by the time I have climbed the sixty meters, 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:28.920 I was completely exhausted. 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:31.800 I was diidrated because. 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:36.320 Those were windows, mirror and with the sun and reflection 0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:39.200 that I was really really, really dead. 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:44.240 Wow, So you had the This must have been absolutely crazy, 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:48.800 because I can imagine once you get going, it's you've 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:52.560 got no preparation, just visuals. You can't look at the building, 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:55.200 you can't figure it out. You literally have to get 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:59.119 on there and go sixty meters. So you hit sixty 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:02.760 meters and and what you what's going through your heads? 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:04.479 What do you think at this stage? You think, well, 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:07.159 I can slow down a bit now or did you 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.840 just go just keep going, just keep going no more more? 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:14.639 Like I was into the I was into into that 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:18.280 race with the time and I don't even know. It's 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:22.280 like you are no longer thinking on your own you 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:25.919 you are you are thinking, uh, based on what this 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:27.640 film director. 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:28.480 You know. 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:32.879 The The problem is, once you have taken a certain pace, 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:38.160 it's difficult to change it. It's not so simple suddenly, 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:43.719 you know, like slowing down, reducing your speed. It doesn't 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:47.480 happen like that. It is happening for sure, because actually 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:54.000 your your your your physical stamina is decreasing. Then at 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:59.880 the same time your speed is also decreasing. But otherwise 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:04.440 it's like you are too much. It's like a little 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:07.240 bit like if before it I have been kind of 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:13.440 brainwashed and I had been computerized to climb this building 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:14.760 that fast. 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:18.560 Do you have any distractions was you're climbing. Did you 0:24:18.640 --> 0:24:22.760 know were the police around? Could you hear sirens? Could 0:24:22.800 --> 0:24:25.800 you was there any distractions where you thought to yourself, Oh, no, 0:24:26.119 --> 0:24:28.679 just I've got to I've got to ignore these and 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:30.920 just concentrate on the climb and get to the top. 0:24:31.080 --> 0:24:32.440 You know, that might that might. 0:24:32.400 --> 0:24:35.560 Cause me to fool No, because I actually that that 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:40.240