In January, two young thrill seekers, Vitaliy Raskalov, from Ukraine, and Russian Vadim Makhorov spent two weeks in Hong Kong where they reportedly spent time on the roofs of 15 local towers, including the Admiralty Centre, Bank of America Tower and the 374m Central Plaza.
The pair has previously made a name for themselves having taken videos atop some of the most famous landmarks in the world, including the Eiffel Tower and the pyramids of Giza.
On 12 February the world’s attention was focused in startling fashion upon Shanghai Tower, when a video showing them on top of the world’s second tallest building went viral. Within ten days of being posted on YouTube it had been viewed more than 27 million times.
It shows them climbing up the stairs of the as-yet unfinished Shanghai Tower, pausing some way up where they create some breath-taking time lapse photography of neighbouring buildings, Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai ICC poking through the morning clouds, then emerging some 630 metres above ground before scurrying up a crane – without safety equipment.
It was a controversial, yet stunning first look for millions around the world at China’s tallest skyscraper. Before heading to Shanghai, the daredevil duo was interviewed by the SCMP, in an article published on 22 February, in which Raskalov commented nonchalantly: “We are Russian and Ukrainian. We don’t get scared.” Maybe so, but their video is heart pounding stuff indeed.