Russian Climbers Explain Their Illegal Plan to Climb the Tallest Building in Europe

By now we all know that Russia is filled with extreme urban freeclimbers whose YouTube videos are liable to give you a panic attack. But this video stands out, partly because it’s well-produced (turn on those subtitles), and mostly because it details one of the most absurd urban climbing plans I’ve ever heard of.

The team of five dudes lay out their mission to climb the Mercury City Tower, which stands 1,112 feet over Moscow. The tower is still under construction, so getting to the top means defeating multiple layers of security and avoiding construction workers that the climbing crew said are more than willing to kick trespassers’ asses. And on top of all that, the crew decided that the top of the tower wasn’t enough–so they set out to climb to the very tip of a construction crane on the tower’s roof, which adds another 100 feet to the climb. And as John Metcalfe at Atlantic Cities notes, that crane is not only wobbly, but in the middle of super thick fog and covered in ice.

It’s an absurd challenge, one that involves hiding on the roof to scale the crane between shift changes, and one that the team’s lawyer was apparently not happy with. (With good reason, as breaking into a high-security construction zone to sneak to the top of the tower is knee-shakingly illegal.) Enjoy the video, as it make for a good tale, and make sure to get to the end. 

@derektmead