A free climber scaled a crane rising 1,280 feet above Dubai’s skyline, only to find it covered in grease. Adam Lockwood, also known as “Nuisance” on YouTube, documented the daring ascent and posted the nerve-racking footage on his channel. In this bold stunt, the British climber disguised himself as a construction worker to gain access and reach the summit of a towering skyscraper.
He fearlessly dangled from a terrifying height above Dubai, gripping with only one hand. To his dismay, the crane was slick with grease, causing his hands and feet to slip uncontrollably. Get ready for a stomach-churning moment:
The 21-year-old YouTuber from Manchester had managed to sneak into the residential skyscraper, Il Primo, before making his audacious climb.
He skillfully avoided the actual construction workers as he made his way toward the crane, 390 meters (1,280 feet) above the ground.
Lockwood explained that he was briefly halted during his climb, but with some quick thinking and a bit of “chatting some s**t,” he found an alternate route to continue. He added, “I didn’t want to hike up 77 floors in 45-degree heat. I figured no one would be in the elevator, but then, out of nowhere, he starts shouting at me in Arabic.”
“I used Google Translate to tell him I was working on site and had forgotten something (obviously not true, but worth a shot),” Lockwood explained. “So he sent me down the stairs—alone. He showed me the way, watched me walk down one floor, and then left. I switched to the other stairwell and kept going up. My excuse worked.”
As he made his way up to the 77th floor, Lockwood frequently stopped to splash water on his head from faucets to cool off in the sweltering heat.
He switched staircases eight times over the course of two hours, constantly running into workers along the way.
“When I finally reached the top, I realized I’d only brought one GoPro battery—and it was at 20 percent. That meant I only had a few minutes of filming left,” Lockwood recalled.
The YouTuber then turned the camera on himself, capturing the heart-pounding footage as he scaled the crane—at times hanging by just one hand, before looping his legs over a bar and dangling upside down.
It was only then that he realized what he’d thought was desert dust on the crane’s bars was actually thick grease, causing his feet and hands to slip on everything he touched.
Lockwood described the experience as “surreal” and “almost peaceful,” explaining that during such stunts, he often enters a mental blank state.
Looking back at the footage, he reflected, “When I first watched it, I thought to myself: ‘This is it. This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever done.’”
He feels a strong drive to push his limits, saying, “It’s something I know I can do, and 99% of the world can’t—and never will. So I feel obligated to use that ability and enjoy the process while I’m at it.”
Once safely back on the ground, however, Lockwood admitted that he didn’t have any plans to repeat the risky climb.
He wrapped up the video, breathless, stating, “Wow, I’m not doing that again. On my life, I’m not doing that again.”
Lockwood admitted to having had “four close calls” with his grip and footing during the climb, and encountered a few more on the way down. Despite the danger, he still felt the risk was worth it.
“The fact that I hung off the tallest crane in Dubai, right next to the world’s tallest building, is something truly special,” Lockwood said. “I feel like it was absolutely worth the risk—and even the potential legal consequences if I got caught.”
He continued, “I love seeing the world from that height, being suspended hundreds of meters in the air. I love the challenge of infiltrating secure places to achieve these goals. It’s what’s kept me going since I started, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to give it up.”
