German teen, Andrej Ciesielski, successfully scaled a structure of 455 feet within eight minutes. The structure was the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Ciesielski is a 19 year-old with a fascination for heights. His personal blog contains an array of photos taken from rooftops and other elevated surfaces all over the world. His recent blog post about his trip to Cairo, Egypt was no exception. Photographs of Talaat Harb Square, Tahrir Square, the ERTU building, and the Cairo Tower were just some of the locations within Cairo captured by Ciesielski from neighboring rooftops.
The teen continued his photo shoot from the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza, scaling the 4,500-year-old Wonder while listening to music. About halfway up, the teen captured the attention of tourists. The commotion resulted in local authorities spotting the adventurous climber. Once at the top Ciesielski managed to record his view despite protests from local authorities at the bottom of the pyramid demanding he get down.
Climbing this prized pyramid is against the law, and has a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment. Ciesielski remained at the top of the the pyramid for a period of time, though, in no particular rush to return to the ground.
Eventually, the teen began his descent. He took 20-minutes to climb down, exclaiming in his article that he was practicing "safety first!"
Local authorities met him at the foot of the pyramid and began questioning him. Fortunately, authorities decided not to press charges, and the teen was released.
Whether police let him off the hook because they respected his ambition and skill or because he posed no actual threat may never be completely understood, but either way it's hard not to be impressed with both the act and the outcome of this story.
Ciesielski has a pretty impressive website and does a fairly good job at writing it in English. His photos are the main feature in all of his posts. They portray another perspective of the world entirely.
