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‘Spiderman’ climbs France’s tallest building

Clea Caulcutt
Clea Caulcutt - [email protected]
Published: 11 May, 2012 CET. Updated: Fri 11 May 2012 11:02 CET
‘Spiderman’ climbs France’s tallest building
Absynthe Productions

Video: A climber dubbed the French Spiderman has successfully scaled the tallest skyscrapper in France. 

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"The last ten meters were difficult, but I had to keep some reserves of energy for that last part," says 49-year-old Alain Robert, after scaling the 231-meter First building in Paris without safety ropes. 

"I’m happy to be alive," he told newswire AFP.

Famed for climbing buildings without permession, Robert scaled the First building to raise awareness about hair loss. He scaled the building in Paris’s business district La Defense in less than an hour, despite occasional gusts of wind. 

The French Spiderman isn’t always quite so successful. He was in a coma for five days after one 15-meter fall in 1982, and has fractured and broken several bones.

Robert has also damaged his internal ear, which means he now suffers from vertigo. French health authorities have assessed him as 66% disabled.

Asked how he overcomes his handicap, Robert says he uses the 34 percent that’s left to climb buildings. 

Watch Alain Robert climb La Défense: 

 

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