Athlete Makes Her Way Up Eiffel Tower via Rope

A story to wow those of us who have struggled to climb a rope in gym class: A French athlete set out to break the record for greatest height climbed by rope on Wednesday by pulling herself up to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. Anouk Garnier, described as "an obstacle course world champion and Olympic torch bearer," made it, getting to a level that stands at 377 feet. The BBC gives perspective: that's equal to about 24 stacked double-decker buses.

The Times of London reports that the 35-year-old, who spent a year training for the feat, at times "paused for breath ... visibly straining." She tells the paper, "My mother has cancer and it was important for me to surpass my limits for a good cause close to my heart, to help cancer research." Elle reports that as part of her climb, Garnier took donations to support the League Against Cancer. Hers is far from the only rope-climbing feat. Guinness World Records notes the fastest 5-meter rope climb by a male, at 3.99 seconds, was set by Josiah Pippel in 2022. In 2018, Ross Edgley managed the world's longest rope climb in under 24 hours by scaling a rope over and over until he hit a distance equal to the height of Everest. (More world record stories.)