Watch These Urban Explorers Climb the Eiffel Tower After Hours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdHD8ZCIC_M

A precarious view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower

As one of the world’s most famous landmarks, the Eiffel Tower is always under heavy security. However, City Lab recently posted a video of a British urban climber and his friend successfully climbing the its framework at night-without getting into too much trouble.

Their adventure is exciting and makes you hold your breath at the sight of them precariously climbing the beams without any kind of harness or support (if you’re not one for heights, maybe you should pass this one).

James Kingston, the urban explorer, always wanted to add climbing the Eiffel Tower to his list of accomplishments, which include backflipping on Ukraine’s tallest bridge. So at 1 am and just barely avoiding security, he and a friend snuck through cameras and started climbing from the tower’s base.

After a while, they reached the fully lit top platform and out of curiosity, Kingston opened the door, only to hear the sounds of walkie talkies emitting French voices. These voices indicated they’d been seen, so they climbed down a few floors and hid within the framework for a few hours until everything was clear.

As they climbed down and night became morning, workers and tourists started arriving and the pair was seen again. After climbing down, security handcuffed and questioned them, but they were released without charges. We do wish they had gotten a glimpse of the apartment built by Eiffel that’s still in the tower though!

Next, try 8 Historic Buildings and Structures You Can Legally Climb in NYC, Urban Exploration Atop NYC’s Manhattan Bridge and Insane Instagrammer Takes Photo Atop 432 Park Construction, Tallest Residential Building in NYC . Get in touch with the author @sgeier97