https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jcZWXF1nUo
Fears and The Sears
From With Bare Hands: The Story of the Human Spider by Alain Robert
In 1999, French climber Alain Robert attempted to climb Chicago’s Sears Tower without any
ropes.
With a positional check I realise I have exceeded 311 South
Wacker Drive and must be a shade above 300 metres. Less
than 150 metres remain between me and the top. With two
thirds of the escalation behind me, my confidence rallies. I
know the home straight will be arduous but I still feel in
decent shape and know that, despite my mounting fatigue, I
have a very decent chance of making it to the top.
I climb another two floors, taking care with my feet at this
irregular juncture. I am now entering the more dangerous
section of the climb. After a while, a climber can’t help but
tire physically and mentally, and this is when he starts to
make mistakes. I have toiled long and hard but still I am
nowhere near the summit. Only now do I appreciate the
enormity of this climb. As each floor passes my strength is
sapped a little more, but I remain positive and determined.
I am now entering new waters. I have now climbed higher than I ever have on a building.
Maybe another 20 or so storeys remain? As I grab the structure, suddenly one of my feet
betrays me and slips a little. For a chilling split second I have the heart-stopping sensation
that I am falling, but at the crucial moment I am able to react. In a flash I tighten all my
muscles simultaneously, arresting the slip before my foot leaves the pane and the rest of me
with it. In the blink of an eye I somehow avoid utter catastrophe. Shock sweeps through me.
What was that?
I check out my airborne surroundings and notice mists. No, not mists, clouds! Around me
float the gentle swirls of stratus fractus clouds, which are subtly encircling the peak of the
building. As I watch, a grey layer of stratus nebulosis seems to drop, to leave ghostly mists
smothering the summit.
This is a very, very serious development. The clouds pose a considerable dilemma. A wet
building is difficult if not impossible to climb. Glass is one of the worst surfaces imaginable
when in contact with even the slightest moisture. Unlike rock, water just sits on top of it,
lubricating the surface like oil – and I am hanging onto a 442-metre wall of glass.
Robert, Alain With Bare Hands: The Story of the Human Spider (Maverick House
Books, Dunboyne, 2008); pp. 255-257
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jcZWXF1nUo
The grey sky exhales its damp breath like a curse all over the upper floors of the Sears
Tower. Climbing further would be unwise in he extreme. I should reverse out of this deadly
zone, but it is far too late to climb down; there’s no way I would make it. Cold fears wells up
inside me. There is no escape. I rack my brains to think of another strategy, but can find none.
It’s a long way up ... and an even longer way down. Clouds above, tarmac below. That’s my
choice. I peer up once more and see that the clouds now obscure the summit of the Sears
Tower. The building must be drenched; my chalk will be useless; my feet will be skating
around on a vertical ice rink.
I am petrified and at a loss for what to do. If I move, I could slip and fall. But I can’t stay
here. If I let it, fear will consume me and I shall probably be dead within the hour. I hang
onto the building for an eternity, paralysed with fear. I am hoping for a miracle, a blaze of
sunlight and a drying wind, but I know it will not come.
Slowly, painstakingly slowly, my focus is absolute. With utmost delicacy
I see if I can make the next floor. Right now that is all I can realistically
aim for, all I can hope to achieve, but I’ll settle for that. I barely dare to
push against the building and try to ascend a little. The effort is
momentous but I finally make it up one slippery storey. If I can do this 20
more times, I will make it.
Time move very slowly when you teeter between life and death. Seconds, minutes or hour,
they are all the same. Half an hour later, I have completed a handful of floors only. Every
now and then I am blanketed by clouds and lose myself in eerie mists. I begin to wonder if
this is what heaven will be like. Climbing an eternal skyscraper through the clouds? Sounds
like my idea of a nice afterlife. In one way or another I will be in heaven today: wither the
spiritual one due to my demise, or a very earthly elation due to my improbable success.
Independent Learning
&
Ways To Improve Your Understanding
Sears Tower
Climber Grips Steel,
Crowd
Where Can I Get It From?
What’s The Basic Idea?
The Chicago Tribune website
This article, written two days after Alain Robert
ascended the Sears Tower, outlines some basic
background about Robert, some eye-witness
comments and what happened to him when he
reached the top.
http://articles.chicagotribune.co
m/1999-0821/news/9908210013_1_alainrobert-110-story-sears-towerclimbing
And finally... you can find loads of articles about free climbing and Alain Robert online.
Robert, Alain With Bare Hands: The Story of the Human Spider (Maverick House
Books, Dunboyne, 2008); pp. 255-257