Sort of like
bouldering but done on
buildings (that is to say you climb on the building. The objective may be to get to the top of the building or to just climb over an arch or around a corner, or to get established on a pillar. The most famous builderer of them all is a french man by the name of
Alain Robert who has climbed
one of the
Twin Towers, the
Eiffel Tower,
Sears Tower and many other buildings besides. He does this without ropes, I prefer short problems, not too far from the ground (read I don't have chhunos the size of watermelons)).
In some countrys this is not even
illegal as it
requires a complaint from the building owner
to prevent you from doing it.
Some basic ethics exist, don't break the building,
don't use drainage bits, try not to scare people too much.
Many fine buildering problems can be found in every city,
they should be elegant lines which are not too easy and yet
give themselves up to the persistant and far sighted.
I like to builder without my climbing boots, just in street shoes, without chalk, it seems more appropriate, however this does inform my choice of street shoes.
Yesterday I sent (a term which means to have succeeded upon)
a builder that I had been working on for a few months.
Here is a list of some of my favourite buildering problems:
Edinburgh
- The meadows church
has a stone ring running around the base of the tower,
problem: get standing on the ring by mantleshelving it,
can also use the prominant bastion, grade - 5b (english)
-
New York
- Sandstone arch by teachers college, 120th between
Broadway and Amsterdam
problem: traverse the arch. grad - 5c+ (english)
- Seat on Columbia campus
problem: traverse around the seat, easy but fun
grade - 5a (english)
-
will add more as i remember them