First Legal Climb on Empire State Building
A famous actor/musician recently top-roped a section of the New York landmark
We like to celebrate things being climbed, which is why having access to rock climbing areas is so important. It’s also cool when buildings are climbed, so much so that a magazine called Urban Climber was founded in 2004.
This week, Oscar winner Jared Leto top-roped some of the 380-metre Empire State Building, a New York landmark that opened in 1931. He became the first person to legally climb some of the structure, specifically the upper section made of a glass dihedral. “It was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Leto said, who had accomplished climbing photographer Renan Ozturk with him.
There are several people who’ve made names for themselves by climbing buildings, with Alain Robert likely being the most famous. He’s free-soloed dozens of famous buildings around the world, including the Burj Khalifa in 2011.
Leto, who’s climbed with Alex Honnold, performed the stunt to promote an upcoming album with his band. Back in 1994, Robert free-soloed the entire Empire State Building from bottom to top, illegally.
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