I just watched a man free-solo climb the 50-story NY Times building (meaning no ropes). My co-workers wife, who works in the building, called my co-worker to say a man just climbed past her window, which wouldn't have been too odd except for the fact she works on the 20th floor. Since the building is only a few blocks down the street, we headed out to our building's deck on the 19th floor, and there he was:
Working in midtown, I live among skyscrapers every day. Seeing a man hang off the face of one was pretty awesome though. It was like an ant crawling on your wall. We watched for about a half-hour, until he reached the top and climbed into the waiting arms of the NYPD. To confirm how completely different I am from this man (Alain Robert, who has done this sort of thing around the world to promote political causes), it is safe to say that I was more nervous watching him than he was actually climbing. I imagine what it is like, and that imagination scares me worse than the reality does him. If you ever see a man free solo climbing a skyscraper, you can go ahead and safely assume it wasn't me.