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He
scaled the summit of the fourth-tallest building in Paris'
modern business district on Wednesday after evading security
officers who had thwarted an earlier attempt.
A hobby that started at 11 years old has taken Robert to more
than 150 skyscrapers around the world, including Dubai's Burj
Khalifa, the world's tallest building, the Eiffel Tower, and the
Sydney Opera House.
"For me, climbing is a passion, it's a way of life," he said.
It took Robert just over an hour to scale to the top of the
187-metre (614-feet) high Tour Total, which houses some of the
offices of the French energy group of the same name.
He has accomplished the feat twice in the past.
Using only climbing shoes and chalk, he clung to the window
ledges to lift himself up past the tower's 48 floors, cheered on
by office workers-turned-spectators in La Defense.
Robert had first tried to climb the Engie building on Wednesday
morning, but security guards quickly came to remove him.
He often climbs without permission and has been arrested several
times. In 2008, he scaled the New York Times building to unfurl
a banner on global warming, and was arrested by police.
Robert sees no end in sight for his vertiginous adventures.
"As long as I have the physical strength to scale heights, I
will continue to climb," he said.
(Reporting credits to Feyi Adegbite and Clotaire Achi; writing
by Leigh Thomas)
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