In a jaw-dropping stunt, free climber Adam Lockwood defied the odds by scaling one of the world’s tallest cranes, located atop the 77-story Il Primo residential tower in Dubai. What made his climb even more dangerous was that the crane was covered in grease, adding an extra layer of peril to his already risky challenge.
Lockwood, a Manchester-based free climber, shared the heart-stopping adventure on his YouTube channel, Nuisance, where he has over 15,000 subscribers. The video, titled “Hanging off the Tallest Crane in Dubai (390m) After Getting Caught”, quickly went viral, captivating viewers with his remarkable skill and the tense obstacles he faced during the climb.
The daring mission began with an unexpected hurdle. Security guards initially stopped Lockwood from accessing the crane, but through quick thinking and the help of Google Translate, he convinced them that he was a worker who had forgotten something. “He showed me the stairs, watched me walk down a floor, and left. I changed to the opposite stairwell and carried on going up. My blag worked,” Lockwood recalled.
However, once inside the building, his ascent was anything but easy. The tower was bustling with workers, forcing Lockwood to frequently switch stairwells and dodge obstacles for over two hours.
When he finally reached the crane, another challenge emerged: Lockwood had only one GoPro battery, which was nearly depleted. He knew time was running out to document the climb. But despite the dwindling battery life, he pressed on, capturing his daring feats as he scaled the crane.
Suspended hundreds of meters in the air, Lockwood performed jaw-dropping stunts, including hanging from the crane with one hand and dangling upside down by his legs. Initially, he mistook the grime covering the crane for desert dust, but soon realized it was grease, making every move slippery and risky.
Despite the danger, Lockwood maintained his focus. “Hanging off things doesn’t feel like much. It feels surreal to be suspended that high with no safety, but like all my other hangs, my brain is blank, my heartbeat doesn’t go up, and it feels almost peaceful,” he shared.
After completing the climb, Lockwood faced the daunting task of descending. He blended in with the workers by donning a hard hat, escaping the site unnoticed. Exhausted, he spent the following day recovering but was immensely proud of his accomplishment.
Reflecting on his feat, Lockwood said, “When I first looked at the footage, I thought, ‘This is it, this is the most incredible thing I’ve done.’ The fact I hung off the tallest crane in Dubai, on the doorstep of the world’s tallest building, is something special. I feel like it was definitely worth the risk and the legal consequences if I was caught.”
He added, “It’s something I know I can do, and that 99 percent of the world can’t and never will do. I feel obliged to use my ability and enjoy doing it in the process.”
