The building with Jan in the middle.

Jan van der Meulen will illegally (solo-) climb a building in Rotterdam next Thursday. He visited me two weeks ago and showed me the special homemade hooks he will use for the ascent. He already placed four of them in the lower 12 meters of the ascent route. Posing as a maintenance worker he simply rappelled form the balcony of one of the inhabitants, while that person was looking on! He's got balls! I'll keep you informed. I've taken a day off to go and look at his ascent (and probable arrest).

When I saw it ...

At 10:00 I arrived at the appartment building "De Hoge Heren" near the Erasmus bridge. The building is 100m high and the facade is made out of black segments with a rough, stone-like texture. Narrow vertical and horizontal slits form a grid over the whole wall and serve as hand- and footholds. Still the route is not easy, at least 5c.

There was no one in sight. I drove around and then I saw Jan, decorated like a Christmas tree with slings and gear. He carried an old shopping bag with 110m of rope. For the occasion he was dressed in blue-white striped trousers and a red-white striped sweater. He had an orange helmet on his head. Well, he would be very visible on TV ...

He walked to the starting point, and a small crowd of reporters, camera-men, photographers and journalists followed him. Jan had asked me to distribute his brochures to the onlookers, to film the onlookers and especially to record the police and their reactions. "No need to film me, there will be enough camera's doing that."

Jan's entry was quick and simple. Stepping onto a low billboard he climbed onto a roof at 1st floor level. From there he climbed three floors up over a featureless surface. A few days before his climb he had already placed four bolts into the facade and now he used them for protection. It was crucial to cross this part quickly and then he would be out of reach of ordinary ladders.

Jan uses a simple and efficient technique for soloing, but it is difficult to describe in text. He carries a section of rope up with him and attaches it to an anchor at regular intervals. From the fourth floor upwards he used the balcony railings as anchors. He also uses a device that grips the rope in case of a fall. This is not the usual Grigri or Shunt, but an industrial safety device.

 In the mean time the first onlookers gathered. I filmed and interviewed them. All were impressed and sympathetic. "You have to have the guts to do something like this." And: "I wouldn't dare to do it myself."

The climb went quickly and without problems. At regular intervals I called Jan's wife to tell her how her husband was doing. Jan thanked me afterwards for this service, he didn't have the time nor opportunity to call her himself.

Jan got sympathetic reactions from the people along whose balconies he was climbing. He was offered coffee and water. Only on one of the lower balconies an old lady said "I'm going to call the police".

When the police arrived Jan was almost finished with his climb. I went to speak with them and I explained that no extra precautions were necessary, and that Jan would be willing to come with them afterwards. They were calm and businesslike and settled down to enjoy the spectacle. One policeman went up onto the roof to watch Jan's progress.

I was surprised by the different reactions of the police and of the caretakers of the building. In private they liked the show and readily admitted that it was good fun. But as soon as a microphone or camera was near they withdrew into their formal, professional attitude: "No comment." and "We'll check if he has done any damage, and then we'll sue him."

Waiting