This was published 8 years ago
British daredevil James Kingston climbs to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, captures footage with GoPro
A British daredevil has scaled the Eiffel Tower, capturing the dizzying views of Paris from the top with his GoPro.
James Kingston, 24, managed to slip past armed security and climb up the side of the 300 metre French landmark from the ground.
GoPro footage shows the sneaker-clad free-runner walking precariously along the frames of the tower, with spectacular views of Paris beneath his feet.
Kingston, who posted the footage to YouTube, said the Eiffel Tower had been one of his goals for a while.
His initial plan had been to buy tickets to the second platform and climb out of one of the stairways when no one was looking, but it was too busy, he said.
James Kingston evaded security so he could climb up the side of the Eiffel Tower.
"We didn't really have a plan B so we decided to commit to climbing right up the side from the ground and see what happens.
"We started the climb at 1am, narrowly avoiding the patrolling security (which seemed more like the French army as they were in full camo and had massive guns) and wormed our way through what seemed like endless CCTV cameras.
"Once we reached about 20 metres up the side of the tower it appeared we'd made it through what would normally be the riskiest part of any climb. As far as I could tell, the tower was ours for the night."
Security eventually spotted the climbers, who found holes in the framework to hide in for the night as the tower workers looked for them.
They even turned on all of the icon's lights during their search, Kingston said.
By 9am, the climbers decided to make their way back down the tower, where they were met by security, handcuffed and taken to the police station for questioning.
After six hours, they were released without charges - as long as they promised they would not attempt to climb the tower for three years.
But that was no problem for Kingston, whose footage has been viewed more than 130,000 times.
"I can now officially tick the Eiffel Tower off my list."
Stuff.co.nz
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