Climbing in London and History of Buildering

A new video just dropped that features accomplished comp climber Louis Parkinson trying some urban problems in central London.

“Today Louis tries his hand at the emerging sport of Buildering,” the video description reads. “We recruited the strong boys who are spearheading this scene – Alex and Bobby to give us a tour of some of the finest urban climbs that the city has to offer.” Watch below.

Buildering is climbing on the outside of buildings and other artificial structures and it’s been something that climbers have done for well over 100 yeras. In 1895, the alpinist Geoffrey Winthrop Young started to climb the roofs of Cambridge University in England. He wrote and published a guidebook to climbing at Trinity College. In 1905, Harry H. Gardiner climbed over 700 buildings in Europe and North America, usually wearing ordinary street clothes and using no special equipment.

In 1910, George Polley started his climbing career when the owner of a clothing store promised him a suit if he would climb to the roof of the building. He succeeded, and went on to climb over 2,000 buildings. During the years from 1915 to 1920, buildering in New York City reached its peak. In 1920, the city made it illegal to climb buildings.

In 1930, John Hurst wrote the second edition of Winthrop Young’s guide. The Roof-Climber’s Guide to Trinity goes into great detail about the routes. The description for I Court Climb is: “This starts in the right hand corner as we face this wall. The ‘tallest of the party’ is used as a staircase; and from his head the leader is able to get a hold for his right hand in the little window of the Turret. By this he can hold himself while his supporter substitutes his hands for his head and thrusts him another two feet up the corner. The visible top of the wall can now be reached; but a sloping coping refuses all hold to the groping left hand, until it tries the exact point where the wall joins the Turret.”

The route description continues with, “Here the coping is cut away to allow for a pipe-trap and gives a first-class hold. The right hand joins the left and a kick down against the rough wall yields a much needed relief to the supporter. Those who prefer to do their climbs on their own hands and feet can back-and-foot up Tank Chimney, at the left hand end of the wall; and walk back to the Turret along it either on the top of the wall of behind it. From the roof now reached, an excursion can be made which culminates in a gable commanding an uninterrupted view of Trinity Street. But the roofs traversed on the way are private, and climbers can well afford to renounce its mild pleasure.”

In 1937, a comprehensive and lighthearted account of Cambridge night climbing (undergraduate buildering) appeared in print written by Noël Howard Symington under the pseudonym Whipplesnaith. In 1960, Richard Williams wrote the third edition of the Trinity buildering guide. Night climbing remained popular in Cambridge during these post-war years. In 1970, a book entitled Night Climbing in Cambridge was published under the pseudonym Hederatus. Buildering also featured prominently in a book by F A Reeve, published in 1977.

In 1977, George Willig climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center. In 1980, Gripped’s co-founder David Smart aid climbed the exterior of the CN Tower using aid techniques with Gerry Banning. In the 1980s, Dan Goodwin climbed many of the world’s tallest buildings, and since the 1990s, Alain Robert has climbed dozens of the world’s tallest buildings inspiring a new generation of urban climbers.