Daredevil ‘Spiderman’ scales world’s tallest tower

A TINY speck more than half a mile in the air, a French skyscraper climber has successfully scaled the world’s tallest building, even navigating the tapered spire that extends beyond the top floors of the Dubai structure.

Alain Robert’s climb up the 2,717 foot-tall (828 metre) Burj Khalifa, took just over six hours. As night fell a row of powerful spotlights shone on the side of the tower as Robert climbed.

Unlike on many previous climbs, the 48-year-old daredevil used a rope and harness to comply with organisers’ requirements in the Gulf sheikdom that opened the tapering metal and glass tower in January last year. An ambulance, with a stretcher at the ready, was parked alongside other emergency vehicles at the Burj’s base.