American
Dan Goodwin is a building, rock, and sports climber, as well as a stage-four
cancer survivorA cancer survivor is an individual with cancer of any type, current or past, who is still living. About 11 million Americans alive today—one in 30 people–are either currently undergoing treatment for cancer or have done so in the past." Currently nearly 65% of adults diagnosed with cancer in the...
, originally from Kennebunkport,
MaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and living as of 2010 in
Lake TahoeLake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Building climber
On November 21, 1980, Dan Goodwin witnessed the MGM Grand fire in
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
,
NevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, United States, including the inability of the Las Vegas Fire Department to rescue scores of hotel guests trapped inside. Believing he knew how to rescue the trapped people, Goodwin presented a rescue plan to the on-location fire boss. Goodwin's plan included his climbing up the building and connecting cables to the floors to enable rescue baskets to be ferried to and from helicopters. The fire boss responded by threatening Goodwin with arrest and then ordered him escorted from the scene. The following day, Goodwin approached the fire chief of a Las Vegas Fire Department sub-station and presented his rescue plan. The fire chief told Goodwin he needed to climb a building to learn of the dangers of high-rise firefighting and rescue. The following
Memorial DayMemorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
, Goodwin scaled the outside of the then-tallest building in the world, the then-named
Sears TowerSears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
,
IllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States.
| History of Building Climbs |
| Date | Name of the building | Location | Height | Tool |
| May 25, 1981 |
Sears TowerSears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
|
Chicago, Illinois |
108 Floors |
Suction Cups / Camming Device / Sky Hooks |
| November 7, 1981 |
Renaissance Tower (Dallas) |
Dallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
|
56 Floors |
Suction Cups / Hands & Feet |
| November 11, 1981 |
John Hancock CenterJohn Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan...
|
Chicago, Illinois |
100 Floors |
Self-Made Climbing Device |
| February 7, 1982 |
Simon Bolivar Centre |
Caracas, Venezuela |
30 Floors |
Hands & Feet |
| February 14, 1982 |
Parque Central ComplexThe Parque Central Complex is a housing, commercial and cultural development, implemented by Centro Simón Bolívar and located in the urbanization of the county in the center of the city of Caracas, Venezuela adjacent to Paseo Vargas....
|
Caracas, Venezuela |
56 Floors |
Suction Cups / Sky Hooks / Hands & Feet |
| May 30, 1983 |
World Trade CenterThe original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
- North Tower |
New York, New York |
110 Floors |
Suction Cups / Camming Device |
| March 9, 1984 |
Nippon Televisionis a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan and is controlled by the Yomiuri Shimbun publishing company. Broadcasting terrestrially across Japan, the network is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV" or "AX".-Offices:*The Headquarters : 6-1,...
Tower |
Tokyo, Japan |
10 Floors |
Suction Cups |
| February 27, 1985 |
Bonaventure Hotel |
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
|
30 Floors |
Suction Cups / Hands & Feet |
| June 26, 1986 |
CN TowerThe CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
|
Toronto, Canada |
100 Floors |
Hands & Feet (scaled twice on same day) |
| September 06, 2010 |
Millennium Tower |
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
|
58 Floors |
Suction Cups / Hands & Feet |
Willis Tower
On Memorial Day, May 25, 1981, wearing a
Spider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
suit and using suction cups, camming devices, and sky hooks, Goodwin successfully scaled the then-tallest building in the world, the 110-story
Sears TowerSears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
, now known as the Willis Tower, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. For seven hours Goodwin fought severe winds, slippery glass, and repeated attempts by the
Chicago Fire DepartmentThe Chicago Fire Department, also known as the CFD, is the principal fire suppression, prevention, and rescue agency of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the mayor of Chicago. The Chicago Fire Department is the second largest fire department in the United States after the New York City...
to stop him. A few feet below the top Goodwin taped an American flag to the building to honor his father who fought in the
Korean WarThe Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. Chicago’s press dubbed him "SpiderDan". Goodwin stated the reason he scaled the building was to call attention to inadequacies in high-rise firefighting and rescue.
Renaissance Tower
On November 7, 1981, wearing a Spider-Man suit and using suction cups along with his hands and feet, Goodwin scaled the 56-story Renaissance Tower (Dallas) in Dallas,
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States. Goodwin stated the reason he made the climb was to keep a promise he made to a young Dallas resident stricken with
Cystic FibrosisCystic fibrosis is a recessive genetic disease affecting most critically the lungs, and also the pancreas, liver, and intestine...
.
John Hancock Center
On November 11, 1981, wearing a wetsuit disguised as a Spider-Man suit and using a climbing device he designed for the building, Goodwin scaled the 100-story
John Hancock CenterJohn Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan...
in Chicago. To elude firemen that were descending toward him in a window-washing machine, Goodwin pendulum-ed across the building with a rope. The fire department responded by attempting to knock him off the building with water from a fire hose. When this effort failed, the fire department on the inside of the building used fire axes to shatter window glass near Goodwin and then, through the openings in the glass, attempted to dislodge Goodwin from the building with grappling hooks attached to long poles. Chicago’s Mayor,
Jane ByrneJane Margaret Byrne was the first and to date only female Mayor of Chicago. She served from April 16, 1979 to April 29, 1983. Chicago is the largest city in the United States to have had a female mayor as of 2011.-Early political career:...
, intervened, allowing Goodwin to continue to the top. Goodwin said he made the climb to call attention to the inability to successfully fight fires in high-rise buildings.
North Tower of the World Trade Center
On Memorial Day, May 30, 1983, using suction cups for the first four floors before switching to a camming device he connected to the building’s window-washing track, Goodwin successfully scaled the North Tower of the
World Trade CenterThe original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Goodwin attached an American flag, the same one he taped to the Sears Tower in 1981, to the upper-most floor of the North Tower in tribute to Americans who died in war. Goodwin said he made the climb to call attention to the inability to rescue trapped occupants from the upper levels of skyscrapers.
CN Tower
On June 26, 1986, Goodwin successfully scaled the world’s tallest structure, the
CN TowerThe CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
in
TorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Using his hands and feet, Goodwin climbed one side, rappelled down then climbed the far side of the tower, followed by another rappel. Goodwin's climb was a sponsored publicity event celebrating the CN Tower's ten-year anniversary.
Millennium Tower
On September 6, 2010, Goodwin scaled the Millennium Tower in San Francisco, California, United States. In tribute to the United States, Goodwin attached a United States flag to the top of the Millennium Tower, the same flag he attached to the top of Chicago's Sears Tower in 1981 and to the top of the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center in 1983. Goodwin said he made the climb to call attention to the inability to conduct rescue operations in the upper floors of skyscrapers. In addition, as a Stage Four cancer survivor, Goodwin wanted to inspire people throughout the world who have been diagnosed with cancer.
Rock and sports climbing
As a rock climber, Goodwin made several
first ascentIn climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route...
s. Frequently, he broke with rock climbing tradition by climbing without a rope, performing acrobatic maneuvers including the one arm fly-off and flag maneuver. In response to those in the rock climbing community who called Goodwin's acrobatic moves "stunts", and therefore unworthy of recognition, Goodwin stated he was "
sport climbingSport climbing is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors fixed to the rock, and possibly bolts, for protection,...
" and not bound by the rules of traditional rock climbing.
Rock climber Jeff Lowe, along with
Dick Bass----Richard Lee Bass was an American football running back who played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1960 to 1969....
, the owner of the Snowbird ski resort, invited Goodwin to build the
climbing wallA climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors as well. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used is a thick multiplex board with holes drilled...
for the world's first International Sport Climbing Championship held at Snowbird,
UtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, United States, in 1988. Goodwin did not participate in the championship, serving instead as a commentator for
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...
.
| History of First Ascents |
| Date | Location | Climb | Rating |
| January 1980 |
Joshua Tree National ParkJoshua Tree National Park is located in southeastern California. Declared a U.S. National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act , it had previously been a U.S. National Monument since 1936. It is named for the Joshua tree forests native to the park...
, CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
|
White Rasterfarie |
V3+ |
| November 1980 |
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation AreaRed Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada is an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of its National Landscape Conservation System, and protected as a National Conservation Area. It is located about west of Las Vegas, and easily seen from the Las Vegas Strip...
, NevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
|
Ixtlan |
5.11c |
| February 1984 |
Joshua Tree National Park, California |
Apollo |
5.12d |
| July 1984 |
Little Cottonwood CanyonLittle Cottonwood Canyon lies within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest along the eastern side of the Salt Lake Valley, roughly 15 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah. The canyon is part of Granite, a CDP and “Community Council” designated by Salt Lake County. The canyon is a glacial trough , carved by...
, UtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
|
Fallen Arches |
5.13c |
| August 1984 |
Quoddy Head State Park Quoddy Head State Park is a park located four miles off Maine State Route 189 in Lubec, Maine on the easternmost point of land in the continental United States...
, MaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
|
Maniac |
5.13c |
| August 1984 |
Quoddy Head State Park, Maine |
Stiletto |
5.12b |
| August 1984 |
Quoddy Head State Park, Maine |
Yellow Dagger |
5.11c |
| August 1984 |
Quoddy Head State Park, Maine |
Triangulation |
5.12b |
| November 1986 |
Tahoe Donner, California |
Neanderthal Man |
5.12a |
| November 1986 |
Smith Rock State Park Smith Rock State Park is a state park located in central Oregon's high desert near the towns of Redmond and Terrebonne. Its sheer cliffs of tuff and basalt are ideal for rock climbing of all difficulty levels...
, OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
|
Sign of the Times |
5.12d |
The Skyscraper Defense Act
Following the
1993 World Trade Center bombingThe 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
, Goodwin wrote the Skyscraper Defense Act, calling for an agency within the United States government entitled "Skyscraper Defense" as well as teams of "Skyscraper Defenders", individuals trained in skyscraper defense, security, and safety protocol, to be stationed within major cities of the United States.
Biography
His life story, titled
SkyscrapermanSkyscraperman is a 2010 memoir of Dan Goodwin, written by Dan Goodwin and co-written / edited by D. B. Guidinger. Dan Goodwin, an American rock climber known as SpiderDan, in the 1980s donned a Spider-Man suit and successfully scaled the outside of the tallest buildings in the world, including the...
, was written by Dan Goodwin, co-written / edited by D. B. Guidinger, with a
forewordA foreword is a piece of writing sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the writer of the foreword and the book's primary author or the story the book tells...
by
Stan LeeStan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, the co-creator of
Spider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
. It was published on January 1, 2010, in an e-book format.
External links
See also
- Harry Gardiner
Harry H. Gardiner , better known as the Human Fly, was an American man famous for climbing buildings. He began climbing in 1905, and successfully climbed over 700 buildings in Europe and North America, usually wearing ordinary street clothes and used no special equipment.- Climbs :Some of the...
- Ivan Kristoff
Ivan Kristoff , is an aviator, rescue worker, and rope access expert in vertical and aerial operations. He has developed various solutions to improve the safety of vertical and aerial rope manoeuvres...
- Philippe Petit
Philippe Petit is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, on 7 August 1974...
- Alain Robert
Alain Robert , is a French rock and urban climber, from Digoin, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France...
- George Willig
George Willig is a mountain-climber from Queens, New York, United States, who climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 26 May 1977, about 2½ years after tightrope walker Phillippe Petit walked between the tops of the two towers...