Polish free climber Marcin Banot went viral this week, but not exactly for the reason he’d hoped. Banot was about 28 stories up the side of a 30-story skyscraper in Buenos Aires, Argentina when firefighters pinned the urban climber to the building and arrested him for the unauthorized ascent.
The Globant Tower, which Banot was attempting to free climb, is 125 meters (410 feet) tall. Banot had made significant progress when two firefighters rappelled from the top of the tower. The first one shimmied around the corner to where Banot was and pinned him to the building with his body.
Watch an urban climber get arrested on the side of a skyscraper:
This particular attempt went sour, but Banot does some pretty impressive things and usually sees them through to the end. In one recent video series posted to Instagram, he climbed the Ponte Luis 1 in Portugal.
Watch part of Banot’s free ascent here:
Presumably, he does this with permission? Regardless, my hands are sweaty just watching this.
Here’s another view of his Ponte Luis 1, this one from a drone’s perspective:
Banot hasn’t posted about his Globant Tower climb yet, probably because of the legal tussle that cut the attempt short.
