Talk:Alain Robert

Untitled

I changed "The ONLY extreme solo climber in the world" (emphasis mine), as it implies either that other solo climbers are not extreme or that no other extreme climber goes solo, and as such is perhaps not accurate or NPOV. Could the original writer justify this statement? JHCC

I modified the article to explain and reinstated what were facts. JillandJack 15:34, 28 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I'm not really sure how to reword that part, but the Petronas Towers were never really the "World's Tallest Building"... see World's tallest structures for details.

"Extreme"

Use of the buzzword "extreme" in this article should be reduced or eliminated. Taco Deposit | Talk-o to Taco 15:30, Mar 29, 2005 (UTC) Never mind; I did it myself. Taco Deposit | Talk-o to Taco 15:35, Mar 29, 2005 (UTC)

This article has a lot of good information, but it reads as if it was written by its subject (or a close friend). It could use quite a bit of toning-down, so I added the NPOV-thing. I'm new here, maybe that's going a bit too far - maybe I'll see if I can fix it up if I have time later. ZacharyS 23:49, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

hmmm, much nicer now thanks to 206.180.135.117. thanks! ZacharyS 23:27, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

speed

How long would it take Alain Robert to climb a building as opposed to the character Spiderman? Scorpionman 19:27, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Is that a serious question? Ok, here is your fantasy answer... Hours vs seconds. =) Binarypower 08:17, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

But I can do it much quicker with my goblin glider so they're all wankers. Gmuir 14:01, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Taipei 101

Someone added Taipei 101 to the list of buildings he has climbed, I have found no evidence of this so I took it out. If anyone finds evidence then feel free to put it back in. QzarBaron 23:41, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Well there's a couple of photos on his website ([1], [2]). It's pretty clearly Taipei 101, but he's not very far up and the next bit looks impossible! Anyone know if he got to the top? I'll add it back to the list anyway as it already contains at least one building he hasn't reached the top of. Frankd 22:26, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

Update Court Appearance

"His next court appearance is scheduled for January 4, 2006, but Robert says that he will be climbing in Mexico at that time."

This needs to be updated to tell us what happened. Captain Jackson 19:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I can't seem to find any information about it except this item on a French climing forum: [3]. It seems to say that an agreement was reached for a one-week sentence with time served, but this doesn't appear to be a reliable source. Can anyone else confirm what happened? --Claygate 03:21, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Couple Issues

I'm going to delete the references and comparison to other urban climbers. The article seems to suggest that Robert is a more pure and sophisticated urban climber because he uses no tools or equipment in contrast to two other famous climbers. Beyond being NPOV, this information is not even about Robert. A comparison or analysis or anything else about urban climbing 'philosophy' might belong in the urban climber page.

I'm a bit skeptical about this statement:

"The arrests and trials are little more than quick formalities and he is always discharged."

Sounds very pretentious, as if governments are actually pleased to be 'endowed' with his presence but have to put on an ostensible show of power to keep up their image. But it could be the dead truth, and I haven't checked the references so I'll leave it.

-Snpoj

Agreed about using the names but would be fair to note that other climbers often use assists. As for arrests the Houston one actually involved detention for a night and a fine. I can't find any references to how that one finally got resolved. --Claygate 14:47, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

First thing vs. immediately

I noticed that these terms are being batted back and forth in the article. IMO, "immediately" is more appropriate for written English than "first thing," which is more likely to be used in speech.

Tadiew 23-Jun-2006 12:47 p.m. PST

Climbing Chalk Powder vs. Rosin

Isn't rosin a sticky substance while climbing chalk powder is magnesium carbonate? The article claims Robert uses the powder which is "similar to rosin."

My mistake, found the answer. There is a powdered version of rosin. --Doctorcherokee 20:45, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Golden Gate Bridge

I checked some of the photos on his website... Is it true he managed to scale the Golden Gate Bridge by using the bolts protuding from the columns on it? Or was that just where he had a rest or something...? Joe 042293 00:07, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Technique

Is there any information on how exactly he can ascend up a sheer surface? "Robert's well-developed arm and leg muscles enable him to hold on to vertical surfaces" doesn't really cut it. This sounds downright impossible. Is he using window ledges, protruding beams, what?

I was also wondering that. On many buildings, I would say there aren't really anything to hold on to, regardardless of "well developed arm and leg muscles". How does he do it? Marxmax 14:28, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

From the clips I've seen on YouTube, he uses protruding bits of the building to hold on to. The quote above about holding onto vertical surfaces seems misleading. — Matt Crypto 14:36, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Just added the December 18 2007 climb, but my cite got messed up, can someone fix please ? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3068969.ece FYI I watched the whole climb, very impressive. 213.199.128.148 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 15:11, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

He is using normal rock climbing techniques. From the Photos I 've seen some of the buildings are fairly easy to scale - they are nowhere near a sheer surface; lots of ledges, cables, crisscrossing bars, slots, even resting places. Just look at [4], even you or I could climb that any day. The main feat to me seems to be mastering some rather short but difficult passages like overhangs plus the sheer length of the climb in total. And daring to do it without safety measures. --92.202.211.217 (talk) 19:45, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Dubai

Lol He should climb the Burj Dubai. 818m tall!! -- 210.55.145.163 (talk) 01:39, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Finnish newspapers say he just climbed Burj Khalifa. Could someone check this out and add it to the list? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.154.89.149 (talk) 21:35, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

It's added. Just I thought he completeted it after midnight local time but my edit was corrected to the 28th. Is there a policy on dating? Rackham (talk) 16:24, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

The date is always local date/time, so if it was 28th or 29th in Dubai then that is the date that should be included. Zarcadia (talk) 21:07, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Arrest?

Given that he's been arrested so many times it seems a bit strange to refer to a recent arrest as simply "Arrest". Almost seems USA-centric given that this particular arrest was in Texas and so perhaps got more media coverage than some previous ones. Have changed the section title accordingly. 86.139.15.170 (talk) 19:15, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I've changed the section title back to Arrests instead of 2005 Arrest. This is a more accurate reflection of the section contents. Three arrests are currently described in this section, each from a different year. Details of more arrests can probably be added to the section. Beejaypii (talk) 18:24, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

OK, if you think so. But consider this: in earlier sections of the document, a long career full of arrests is implied and in some cases described explicitly. I think it's likely that he's been arrested many more than three times. I therefore find it odd to see a few recent arrests described simply as "Arrests." For that to be an accurate section heading, it should really be an overall history of his brushes with the law. 86.139.15.170 (talk) 19:38, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree that the section title is a little abrupt. I just thought it would be better to drop the 2005 for the moment because only one of the three arrests detailed is from 2005. As it happens, I saw a documentary about Alain Robert last week and it showed him being arrested in China, where he spent 5 days in prison. He was also arrested in Russia, at one point, and I think there were other recent arrests. I haven't looked for any citeable sources so that this information can be included in this article though. Maybe the section heading should be something along the lines of Legal Issues or Breaking the Law. What do you think? Beejaypii (talk) 00:15, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

It's a tough one. In a perfect world we'd have a complete history of Robert's various arrests, and then the section name would work well. But I am in no position to write that and no doubt few people are. I can live with the current heading of Arrests for now, although I think I worked out why it bothers me: the initial mention of his tendency to get arrested (near the top of the article) says that his appearances in court are always mere formalities and yet when we hear about some of his arrests in more detail, we find this isn't always true. 86.139.15.170 (talk) 02:02, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Accidents

I put the word abseiling in after the word rappelling. We don't use the word rappelling in England. I think the original author must have been American!

On Discovery Channel, they said he had his both knees shattered once. It showed on an x-ray exam. Does anyone have more info about that to include in the article? It says he had 7 accidents, but only 4 are described in detail. --Hugo Spinelli (talk) 19:52, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

If he is "unable to completely straighten his fingers", wouldn't that be due to accidents rather than exercise?203.184.41.226 (talk) 01:00, 10 February 2013 (UTC)

Charities involvement

I guess it would be relevant to add his charities involvement, e.g. http://www.thesolutionissimple.org/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.65.133.234 (talk) 14:33, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Luxor Obelisk/Obelisque

"Luxor Obelisque" was autolinked to an uncreated page about same. I fixed the link to instead refer to the Obelisk's section on the Place de la Concorde page. This is just a late-night drive-by edit. Obelisk, Obelisque, Tomato, tomato. vive la difference!

--98.199.75.253 (talk) 06:19, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

falls

only fallen while depending on ropes or goofing off. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.66.143.99 (talk) 02:42, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Nut / Crackerjack

Perhaps contributions from reliable sources that state him being a nut/mental case as discussed by some sources? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.193.160.8 (talk) 09:29, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

commited

have they ever commited him? here in the us if they feel u did crime but will get a light settence they commite u instread becausse they can keep u there for a long time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.246.254.35 (talk) 02:14, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Occupation

His occupation is listed as "climber". Does he make money from doing this? Funnyhat (talk) 03:00, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Small tweak

I noticed a confusing part of Career. The sentence “In June that year he also climbed the 140-meter Marriott Hotel in Warsaw, Poland.” Is lacking context and sounds like it's still talking about Dan Goodwin. The height of the Hotel is also slightly off, so I’m changing it to 170 meters. Okikage (talk) 05:13, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Wow!

This guy is amazing. 108.59.8.131 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:07, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

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"Uncited, trivial"

May I ask for a proper reason for this reversion? https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alain_Robert&diff=prev&oldid=1223928831

The lack of a citation could have been fixed. (In fact when I made this edit, Robert had been discussed on a radio show on Rás 2 earlier, and this fact had been mentioned there.)

Whether it is "trivial" is debatable, but I don't see how this is more trivial than just about any other item in any "in popular culture" section on Wikipedia (most of which are not deleted).

I have a feeling that the real reason for reversion was a) "this is a song I've never heard of by a singer I've never heard of from a country I've never heard of", or b) "this was an edit by an anonymous editor, not one of the established clique", or c) both.