Rooftopping

This article is about climbing to the top of tall structures. For the act of climbing the outside of a building, see Buildering. For the US college tradition, see Roof and tunnel hacking.

Rooftopping, sometimes called roofing (or climbing), refers to the (typically illegal) unsecured ascent of rooftops, skyscrapers, towers, cranes, antennas, smokestacks, or other tall structures. Rooftoppers usually take photos or videos of their climbs.

A rooftopper on top of Frankfurt Cathedral, Frankfurt, Germany

Buildering and rooftopping on a cable-stayed bridge in Kyiv, Ukraine

The practice of scaling skyscrapers often results in security crackdowns and arrests.^[1] Many people have died or been injured when falling while rooftopping.^[2][3]

Activity

Rooftopping is chiefly an undertaking of younger people. Rooftoppers clandestinely access off-limits staircases, roof hatches, ladders, etc., and it incorporates some aspects of bouldering or free solo climbing. It is an offshoot of urban exploring, but is not universally condoned among urban explorers and is considered a stunt due to its illegality and high risk of fatal injuries.

Rooftoppers usually take photos or videos and panoramic photographs—either a selfie by themselves or with the help of a crew of assistants or accomplices, present on the climb or filming from a distance. Rooftoppers often use helmet cameras for videos.^[4][5][6] Some also use quadcopter drones for exploration and recording.^[7] Because it is often practised in the pursuit of making viral-ready videos or photos, it tends to result in heightened security and greater restriction against access to desirable exploration venues.^[8]

Popularity

In one report presented to American Educational Research Association in 1995 participants were suggested as thrill seekers who enjoy "high levels of stimulation and complexity of thinking," although other theories explaining their motivation exist.^[9][1]

There was a rooftopping "craze" in Russia around 2017.^[10]

Notable rooftoppers

• Ally Law, English YouTuber who makes rooftopping videos
• Mustang Wanted, real name Pavlo Ushivets, a Ukrainian rooftopper who has performed climbs and stunts around the world. In August 2014, during the War in Donbas, he climbed the spire of Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building in Moscow, Russia and painted the yellow star on the top of the spire in blue to symbolize the colors of the Ukrainian flag. He was later prosecuted in absentia in Russia for vandalism, and also awarded in Ukraine.^{[11][12][13][14]}
• Angela Nikolau, a Russian rooftopper and model.^[10][15]
• Ivan Beerkus, a Russian rooftopper
• Kirill Oreshkin, the Moscow-based "Russian Spiderman"; has published pictures of himself in the midst of dangerous stunts on some of Russia's tallest buildings. Oreshkin started scaling buildings as a hobby in 2008. Videos of his ascents have been posted on YouTube.^[16]
• Vitaliy Raskalov and Vadim Makhorov, YouTube rooftoppers.
• Vic Invades, New York urban explorer^[17]
• Tom Ryaboi, a Canadian photographer who has been credited as a pioneer in the community.^[18][19][20] His photo "I'll Make You Famous" in 2011 was the first Rooftopping image to go viral.^[15]
• Justin Casquejo is an American who has scaled several skyscrapers in Manhattan, New York City, as well as a water tower in his hometown of Weehawken, New Jersey.
• Alain Robert is a French climber nicknamed "the French Spider-Man" who has free-climbed numerous skyscrapers around the world.^[21]

Deaths

• Wu Yongning, known as the Chinese Superman; died in 2017 while performing a rooftopping stunt.^{[22][23][24][25]}
• Remi Lucidi aka Remi Enigma, a 30-year-old French daredevil and photographer known for climbing skyscrapers, fell to his death from the 68th floor of Tregunter Towers in Hong Kong in 2023.^[26]

See also

• Free solo climbing
• List of selfie-related injuries and deaths
• Modern ruins
• Roof and tunnel hacking
• Ruins photography
• Unfinished building
• Urban exploration