Embrace fear: Free climber scales another London skyscraper

LONDON – Embrace the fearfulness oregon hazard death.

That's the mantra of George King-Thompson, 21, a British escaped climber who scaled his 2nd London skyscraper successful a small implicit a week connected Thursday greeting and his 3rd overall.

“I cognize however to get into that mindset, I cognize however to not beryllium overwhelmed by fearfulness but to power it and utilize it, and usage it to my advantage, and that’s what I bash each azygous ascent and that’s what I did today,” helium said aft climbing the 23-story Unex Tower successful the eastbound London territory of Stratford.

King-Thompson, who was jailed 2 years agone aft climbing London's tallest building, The Shard, says he's trying to rise consciousness astir clime alteration pursuing flooding successful London past month.

The erstwhile idiosyncratic trainer from Oxford climbed Unex Tower, a 305-foot (93-meter) residential building, without ropes successful astir 10 minutes, stopping to person a vape 2 stories from the top. Nine days ago, helium conquered the neighboring and taller Stratosphere Tower.

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“No substance however casual the method ascent is and facet of it is, you tin ne'er underestimate the imaginable for death. So each climb, I dainty and absorption with the aforesaid level of intensity, different it could beryllium fatal," helium said.

King-Thompson, who has been “doing these sorts of things” since helium was 10, is intelligibly a thrill-seeker.

“When you’re climbing the building, you person each emotion, each endorphin, each dopamine receptor, serotonin receptor firing astatine erstwhile to optimize your survival," helium said.

Pushing the likelihood successful his favour is partially a intelligence feat, helium said.

“You know, I’m not a pessimist nor an optimist. I’m a realist,” King-Thompson said. "I tin bid each I like, but there’s ever that small spot of a percent that I could die. So that’s successful the backmost of your mind, but erstwhile you’re connected the building, erstwhile you’re doing your thing, there’s nary country for immoderate thoughts similar that. It’s conscionable you successful the infinitesimal getting to bash what you person travel to do. Once you travel retired of that the feeling is an overwhelming consciousness of you are through.”

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King-Thompson was arrested successful 2019 aft scaling The Shard, which is the U.K.’s tallest skyscraper astatine 310 meters (1,017 feet) tall. The owners of the gathering pressed charges against him for trespassing. He was sentenced to six months successful situation successful October 2019 and served 3 months.

“A batch of radical accidental however horrific situation is and it is, but my full happening is I similar stepping into the fray, I similar danger, truthful I was, successful a weird sense, rather astatine location there," helium said.

“I conscionable similar looking implicit my enarthrosis and not cognize what’s coming next.”

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