A daredevil accomplished an awe-inspiring but perilous feat when he scaled one of the world’s tallest towers, which happened to be covered in grease.
Adam Lockwood, a free climber from Manchester, shared the daring stunt on his YouTube Channel Nuisance, where he has over 15,000 subscribers.
In the viral video, titled ‘Hanging off the tallest crane in Dubai (390m) after getting caught,’ his impressive skills and the immense challenge he faced are captured.
Lockwood’s daring journey began with a bold deception—security guards initially blocked his access to the crane atop the 77-story Il Primo residential skyscraper, near the iconic Burj Khalifa.
Thinking on his feet and using Google Translate, he managed to convince a guard that he was a worker retrieving a forgotten item.
“The guard showed me the stairs, watched me walk down a floor, and then left. I switched to the opposite stairwell and kept going up—my bluff had worked,” Lockwood recalled.
But the climb was anything but smooth. Workers occupied nearly every floor, forcing him to change stairwells multiple times over two exhausting hours.
Reaching the top, he faced one final obstacle—his only GoPro battery was nearly drained, leaving him with just minutes to capture his fearless ascent.
Lockwood’s video captured his fearless maneuvers atop the crane, balancing on its steel beams hundreds of meters above the ground.
He executed breathtaking stunts, hanging by one hand and even suspending himself upside down by his legs.
At first, he mistook the grime coating the crane’s bars for desert dust. But as he moved, he realized the surface was slick with grease, making every step dangerously unpredictable.
The slippery coating led to several nerve-wracking moments during both his ascent and descent.
Yet, Lockwood remained unfazed.
“Hanging off things doesn’t feel like much,” he reflected. “It’s surreal to be that high with no safety, but like all my other hangs, my mind goes blank, my heartbeat stays steady, and it almost feels peaceful.”
To make his escape, Lockwood seamlessly blended in with workers, slipping on a hard hat and vanishing unnoticed into the crowd.
Exhausted, he spent the next day recovering—but the thrill of his achievement left him elated.
Reflecting on the experience, he said, “When I first watched the footage, I thought to myself, ‘This is it. This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever done.’”
Hanging off Dubai’s tallest crane, right next to the world’s tallest building, felt like a milestone. “It was definitely worth the risk—and even the legal consequences if I had been caught.”
He added, “This is something I know I can do, something 99 percent of the world never will. I feel obligated to use my ability—and I love every second of it.”
You can watch Adam Lockwood’s jaw-dropping stunt here.
