“I recently climbed to the top of the statue of Peter the Great in the center of the city one night -- 100 meters (330 feet) up and onto his head. We climbed up while the guards were sleeping. A weather vane was spinning in the wind on the very top. Below, the sun was slowly rising over Moscow. The city was asleep, and it was like life was frozen. I was the happiest person on Earth. I only need to look down to forget all my problems.”
The massive adrenaline dump creates a thin sheen of cold sweat across their shaking bodies, and the racing heart beat hammering away at their eardrums is almost too much to bear. The climb is never the cause for this primal reaction. It’s evading building security and potential arrest in the endless quest of urban exploration.
There is a quiet calm which overtakes the surge of adrenaline during the climb. The persistent cold buffet of wind muffles the sound of the world in a blanket of white noise. It becomes an act of cathartic freedom and a climbing meditation as the world disappears beneath the clouds below.
Standing atop the latest conquest, caught somewhere in the ether amidst the space between the clouds, the edges of reality seem hazy and blurred like a painting from Leonardo Da Vinci. It’s the perfect time to upload the video to his 875,000 subscribers on YouTube.
The merch sales and endorsements this week should break a record.
Welcome to the Subculture of the Skywalker.
History of Rooftopping and Urban Exploration
The history of Urban Exploration dates back to November 1793 when Philibert Aspairt, the first cataphile, became lost while exploring the Parisian catacombs. More than 100 years later, substantially more densely packed urbanization, and improved building techniques created taller buildings which spawned the subculture of Skywalking (Rooftopping).
Harry “The Human Fly” Gardiner
It was during the golden years of Vaudeville, “the heart of American show business,” and the public had an insatiable hunger for physical spectacle. Typical Vaudeville acts of the day included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies. Into this age, one Harry H. Gardiner was born, and by 1905, he already had climbed over 700 buildings in North America and Europe in nothing but his street clothes – he never used any special climbing equipment.
The history of Rooftopping in the United States truly began in force one afternoon on October 7, 1916, with Harry H. Gardiner, as more than 30,000 lunchtime spectators watched him scale the Omaha World-Herald building in Omaha, Nebraska in a paid, promotional feat.
Corporations flocked to him. They bankrolled publicity stunts performed by Harry Gardiner and enlisted him to perform ever more audacious publicity stunts for the grand openings of their expensive, grandiose new structures. He mastered the art of show and spectacle, and never hesitated to include them in his climbs. During his climb at the Bank of Hamilton building in 1918, he took a break to pop his head in the window to take out a life insurance policy. President Grover Cleveland even nicknamed Harry Gardiner, “The Human Fly.”
It could be argued he was the marquee social influencer of his time and was the founder of the modern Rooftopping revenue model.
The Suicide Club
One stormy evening in 1977, San Francisco was hit by a ferocious storm. Gale force winds generated twenty-foot swells which relentlessly hammered coastal zones of the city. Sometime around midnight, four friends found themselves holding on to handrails for dear life as wave after wave broke over them throughout the night. After it was over, the four friends agreed to explore more experiences in the same vein, but with a much larger group of friends. On January 2, 1977 The Suicide Club was formed.
The Suicide Club quickly became known for their Golden Gate Bridge climbing exploits and lavish Golden Gate Bridge dinner parties held after each confirmed suicide from jumpers. While the Suicide Club holds a significant distinction within the history of Rooftopping and Urban Exploration for their frequent bridge climbs, the offshoot influences which spawned from former members reveal the depth of its cultural influence.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation was co-founded by former Suicide Club member John Gilmore. Sexologist Susan Block was also a former member. The Burning Man festival was influenced by Cacophony, and both were influenced by former Suicide Club members.
Modern Skywalking – Rebranding Rooftopping
“For the people doing it, it’s all about the image, getting the cool, exclusive YouTubable footage. It’s about building their personal brand, all about the image, all about the spectacle.”
The digital age has reawakened and re-imagined both the interest in physical spectacle and how it is experienced. Skywalking in the modern era has been re-branded into something more digital-age appropriate. Social media and the ubiquity of Smartphones have provided lucrative opportunities to cash in from marketing the spectacle of death-defying climbs.
During the time of Harry “The Human Fly” Gardiner, it was the corporations who would bankroll his public spectacle, but that all changed in 1923 when a man fell nine stories from the Hotel Martinique in New York City during such a climb.
“In the wake of his death, the city council outlawed ‘street exhibitions of a foolhardy character in climbing the outer walks of buildings by human beings.’ The law sought to ‘prevent performance in which human life is needlessly imperiled to satisfy either. . . an insane desire for vainglory or money on the part of those directing or executing that sort of exhibition.’”.
Aside from sparking sweeping legislation across the country to make Rooftopping illegal, it removed the major mechanism of monetizing the public spectacle from the climb itself.
In the current era, a lucrative empire of Skywalking no longer needs corporate sponsorship for mass distribution and monetization. The digital age permits social influencers in the Skywalker subculture the ability to market directly to the masses; building their brand and merchandising T-shirts, photos, prints and video to their army of armchair enthusiast one 24 Pound Sterling shirt at a time.
Significant Skywalker Social Influencers
Nightscape, a prominent social influencer in the Skywalking subculture currently has a YouTube subscriber base of 687,000 and growing. He features himself in Rooftopping videos climbing such iconic landmarks as The Pyramids in Canary Wharf, New Westham Stadium, and the London Skyscraper.
You can buy his Tshirts and prints over at his online store https://www.nightscape.london/
Nightscape’s Rooftopping adventure at The Pyramid in Canary Wharf:
James Kingston, is another prominent social influencer in the Skywalking subculture with a YouTube subscriber base of 565,000 and growing. He features himself in Rooftopping videos climbing such iconic landmarks as The Eiffel Tower, The Marina 101 crane (highest crane in the world) in Dubai, and the South Bank Tower in London.
You can buy his Tshirts and prints over at his online store https://www.jameskingston.co.uk/
James Kingston’s Rooftopping adventure at The Eiffel Tower:
While the digital age has evolved Skywalking far beyond the Omaha World-Herald building climb of Harry “The Human Fly” Gardenier back in 1916, the visceral thrill of climbing and conquering ever higher obstacles still exists as a piece of human nature in each of us. The digital medium now allows ever increasing crowds around the world to experience each conquest vicariously through the eyes of the Rooftopper from the safety of their couch.
“I guess I could never let myself adhere to the artificial boundaries created by our society, I think we all have an aptitude to explore our surroundings, to venture out into the unknown….”