Celebrated urban climber Alain Robert to scale Kyivstar office building
World famous urban climber Alain Robert, a.k.a. Spiderman came to Ukraine upon the invitation of Kyivstar, to scale its main office building.
Alain Robert, a French national, was nicknamed “Spiderman” by the media for climbing skyscrapers around the world. Among others, he has climbed IBM tower in Africa, the pyramid at Luxor casino in Las Vegas, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and the world’s tallest skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur. Sometimes, Robert even dons a red-and-blue Spiderman costume while climbing – but only at promo events for the Spiderman films held by Columbia Pictures. While promoting the first “Spiderman” film, he climbed Lloyd’s tower in London.
Robert has been climbing since 1975. As a child, he always wanted to become a rock climber, and even managed to climb into his apartment on the eighth floor when he left his keys at home. In 1982 Robert was seriously injured after falling 15 meters head first. The fall caused him multiple fractures and he lay comatose for five days. Doctors said that he would never be able to climb again, but Robert proved them wrong, and now, at over 40 years old, he feels as strong and healthy as ever. In addition to indulging in his favorite occupation, he makes documentaries for Channel 4, BBC and National Geographic, and even plans to launch his own reality project.
Because he would often climb buildings without authorization, Robert was arrested multiple times, but was always released shortly after, as the laws he broke were always minor. Just before his arrival in Kyiv, Robert had been imprisoned in China for climbing the Jin Mao Building in Shanghai.
As for his visit to Ukraine, Robert confessed he knew very little about the country – he had never even heard of its president Viktor Yushchenko, or even world famous Ukrainian celebrities like the Klitchko brothers or Andriy Shevchenko. Those who want to witness the great Spiderman climb the 70-meter-tall, 16-storey Kyivstar building should come with photo and video cameras in hand to 53 Dehtyarivska, June 25 at 10 a.m.
