Rooftopping

Rooftopping sometimes called roofing refers to the unsecured ascent of rooftops, cranes, antennas, smokestacks, etc., usually illegally. Rooftoppers usually take photos or videos and panoramic photographs—either a selfie by themselves or with the help of an assistant/accomplice crew from a distance. The practice of scaling skyscrapers often results in security crackdowns and arrests.[1]

A rooftopper on top of Frankfurt Cathedral, Frankfurt, Germany.

Many people have died or been injured while rooftopping due to falling from a height.

Details

Rooftopping is chiefly an undertaking of younger people. Rooftoppers clandestinely access off-limits staircases, roof hatches, ladders, etc., and it incorporates some aspects of buildering. It is an offshoot of urban exploring, but is not universally condoned among urban explorers due to high risk of possibility of fatal injures. Because it is often practised in the pursuit of making viral-ready videos or photos, it tends to result in heightened security and greater restriction against access to desirable exploration venues.[2]

In one report presented to American Educational Research Association in 1995 participants were suggested as thrill seekers who enjoy "high levels of stimulation and complexity" of thinking, although other theories explaining their motivation exist.[3][1]

Rooftoppers usually take photos or videos and panoramic photographs—either a selfie by themselves or with the help of an assistant/accomplice crew from a distance. They often use helmet cameras for videos.[4][5][6] Some also use quadcopter drones for exploration and recording.[7]

There was a rooftopping "craze" in Russia around 2017.[8]

A rooftopper on the edge of a skyscraper in Frankfurt.

Known rooftoppers
  • Angela Nikolau, a Russian model.[8][9]
  • Kirill Oreshkin, the Moscow-based "Russian Spiderman" has published pictures of himself in the midst of dangerous stunts on some of Russia's tallest buildings. Oreshkin started scaling buildings as a hobby in 2008 and videos of his ascents have also been posted on YouTube.[10]
  • Mustang Wanted, real name Pavlo Ushivets, a Ukrainian rooftopper who has performed climbs and stunts around the world. On 19/20 August 2014, during the War in Donbass, he climbed the spire of Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building in Moscow, Russia, and painted the yellow star on the top of the spire in blue to make the colors of the Ukrainian flag on the star. Later he was prosecuted in absentia in Russia for this action that was qualified as a vandalism, and also awarded in Ukraine.[11][12][13][14]
  • Tom Ryaboi, a Canadian photographer who has been credited as a pioneer in the community.[15][16][17] His photo "I'll Make You Famous" in 2011 was the first Rooftopping image to go viral.[9]
  • Wu Yongning, known as the Chinese Superman, died in 2017 while performing a rooftopping stunt.[18][19][20][21]

Injuries and deaths

Many people have died or been injured while rooftopping due to falling from a height.[22][23]

Date Died/

Injured

 Description
June 2011 Injured A person was on the roof of a building when they fell 14 metres head first into a ventilation shaft and became stuck in the shaft and needed to be removed by rescue workers. Their injuries included fractures of both hands, concussion, bruises and facial injuries and they were to undergo a neurological assessment.[24][25]
January 2012 Died A person was climbing along a crane when they fell to the ground and were killed.[26]
December 2012 Died A person was on the roof of a building, they climbed onto the top of a smokestack and then fell down inside it. They were stopped part of the way down by an object and they were found inside it in an unconscious state and then died a short time later.[27]
September 2013 Injured A person was walking on a roof when they fell 10 metres through the roof hatch receiving a head injury, a pelvic fracture, an open fracture of the leg and a compression fracture of the spine.[28]
October 2014 Injured A person climbed onto the roof of a two storey building and then as they were going down from the roof on a ladder they fell off and received several fractures and bruised wounds.[29][30][31][32][33]
December 2015 Died A person was on scaffolding on the roof of a building and they stepped back and fell through an opening in the floor of the scaffolding to the roof 25 feet below and died from the fall.[34]
March 2016 Died A person died after falling from the roof of a three storey building.[35]
March 2016 Died A person was attempting to walk on top of a cylindrical beam on the horizontal boom of a tower crane when they fell to the ground below and were killed.[36]
May 2016 Died A person died after taking a selfie on the roof of a nine storey building and falling off.[37][38]
September 2016 Died A person fell from the roof to the ceiling of the first floor in an unfinished lamp factory and received a head injury and were put on a ventilator and remained in a stable and serious condition.[39]
December 2016 Died A person died when they were on the roof of a shopping centre and a Plexiglas dome collapsed under their weight and they fell over seven metres.[40]
March 2017 Died A person fell 25 metres from the roof of an abandoned factory and died.[41][42]
March 2017 Died A 15 year-old girl entered the roof of a 10-story apartment block where a metal railing was attached to the edge and the person sat down on the edge with their legs hanging over the side. The railing gave way and she fell to her death.[43][44]
May 2017 Injured A person was on the roof of an old chemical factory when the roof broke and they fell eight metres and received a head injury and remained in a critical condition.[45][46]
May 2017 Died A person died when they were on the roof an abandoned factory and it gave way and they fell 10 metres.[47][48][46]
May 2017 Injured A person was on the roof of an abandoned factory when the roof broke and they fell fifteen metres and they remained in a serious condition in an intensive care unit.[46]
June 2017 Died A person fell from the roof of a 10 storey building and was killed.[49][50][51][52]
August 2017 Died A person died after falling through a corrugated roof panel into a disused building.[53]
October 2017 Died A person climbed over a barrier to an unprotected area of a roof and then fell from a 20th floor parapet wall to a 6th floor roooftop.[54][55][56]
December 2017 Died A person died after they climbed from a railway track onto a rooftop and then fell 6 metres to the footpath below.[57][58]
February 2018 Injured A person fell from the roof of a 10 storey building and remained in a serious condition.[59]
May 2018 Injured A person fell through a glass roof and broke their leg.[60]
May 2018 Injured A person fell from the roof of a 4 storey building and received serious injuries.[61][62][63]
May 2018 Died A person was on the roof of an abandoned mill and then at one point they fell 30 metres down an elevator shaft and died.[64][65]
May 2018 Injured A person was descending from the roof of an abandoned factory when they fell from a height of the third storey onto a concrete floor and were hospitalised with multiple injuries and remained in a serious condition.[65][66]
September 2018 Died A person died after falling from the roof of a building.[67][68]
September 2018 Injured A person fell 8 to 10 metres from the roof of abandoned mud baths and was treated in hospital for injuries.[69][70]
April 2019 Died A person was on the top floor of an unfinished building attempting to access the roof when they fell down into an elevator shaft and were killed.[71][72][73][74]
May 2019 Injured A person was on the edge of a roof when they miss stepped and fell seven floors to the ground below. They received multiple fractures and a punctured liver.[75]
May 2019 Injured A person was walking down from the roof of a building when they fell from the second floor and received injuries including a head injury, multiple fractures and was being treated in an intensive care unit.[76][77]
July 2019 Died A person died when they were on the roof of an abandoned warehouse and sheet metal gave way underneath them and they fell 5 metres.[78]
July 2019 Died A person died after they attempted to jump across a 14 feet gap between two buildings and fell 50 feet to the ground.[79][80]
August 2019 Died A person died when they climbed to the roof of a building and fell from it.[81][82][83]
August 2019 Died It was reported that "a Ruffer...died in St. Petersburg" and that "They wanted to climb to the high-rise located on Mebelnaya Street, but at some point the young man became entangled in a rope and fell from a height of about two meters, falling into the opening of the fourth floor of the building." The person died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.[84][85]
August 2019 Died A person was climbing up a ladder on the outside of a building when part of it broke off and they fell to the ground and were killed.[86][87][88]
September 2019 Died A person fell four storeys off the roof of a building and died more than a month later.[89][90]
September 2019 Died A man climbed up a block of flats to the 8th storey and fell from scaffolding to the ground and was killed.[91][92]
November 2019 Died A person fell off the roof of a 9 storey building and was killed.[93][94][95][96][97]
November 2019 Injured A person was on the roof of a shopping centre on a section of Plexiglas and the Plexiglas broke and they fell through it. A false ceiling in the shape of a grate was below the Plexiglas and they attempted to hang onto the grate and then fell from it 8 – 10 metres. They received fractures to their pelvis and femur.[98][99]
March 2020 Died A person died when they were on a roof and leaned on a plastic skylight whilst taking a selfie and the skylight split and they fell through it into the stairwell below.The person was taken to hospital and then died a few hours later.[100][101]

See also

References
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