Earlier this month I was on my way to yoga headed west on 36th street. As I turned on 8th Ave to head north towards my studio I was stopped dead in my tracks by the complete chaos in front of me [middle pic]. I had an idea that something was up when I heard the helicopters above me and sirens getting closer. No cars moving, crowds of people in the streets and tons of people looking up. First thought was "oh shit" followed by: is a building on fire? is someone going to jump? I'm a few blocks away from this "happening" at the Times Building [top pic] and finally I had to ask a guy taking pictures "what the hell is going on?" And he looks at me like I'm the crazy one and says "there's a guy climbing that building!"Um, excuse me? Like Spidey? I got out my camera, which is a permanent item in my purse for moments like this, and tried to zoom in on this daredevil. Sure enough, I see a dude in orange pants [bottom pic] climbing up 52 stories with no safety rope. Of course I was worried for his life, but at the same time I was about to miss yoga because of this nut-job so I was hoping he would hurry up already and get to the top. After my wish was granted, everyone kind of shrugged, gave a "well, that was interesting look" and the 8th Ave crowd parted like the Red Sea - just another day.
Upon further investigation, the man I saw was a copy cat climber and Brooklyn resident Renaldo Clarke. The original climber earlier that day (yes, there were TWO) was a Frenchman named Alain Robert. He was climbing the building while dragging a sign that read "global warming kills more people than 9/11 ever week." Too bad the sign was illegable from the streets. Oh, and probably not the best thing to pull a stunt that reminisces Sept. 11th while insulting the people who lost their lives that day. Mother Earth: zero, Aspiring Spidermen: 1.
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