My emotional feeling, the night before I had to leave the first footprints on the unclimbed areas of the Tallest Freestanding Structure on land, is beyond explanation. The few days when I was stepping into the unknown, I felt the sensation of reaching new heights in photography.
Everyone who dares to climb the highest peak needs his Tensing Norgay to assist him. Especially during the first ascend of the world’s tallest urban summit. Especially in the winter, when he has face brutal winds, extreme weather conditions, deal with the freezing cold and work in harsh environment.
Not for me. I wanted to experience this once-in-a-lifetime event by myself. In the sphere of uncertainty I wanted to manage the entire risk and critical situations. I always test my innovative suspended access procedures in dangerous environment by myself. Through the trial-error experience I improve them, where necessary. After I developed the best work plan, I invited an overqualified rope access technician to assist me on the exterior high angle slope. I saw his legs shaking and his face changing colors. Obviously, from now on, I had to complete solo the job assignment. The camera was my only companion.
Ivan Kristoff, the Bulgarian Spiderman is one of the best-known Bulgarians in Canada. Many years ago he climbed the side of a building soaring to 553 meters in the sky, attracting the attention of many journalists, who dubbed him the Spiderman”.
Ever since it has been his alias. In 1990 Mr. Kristoff went to Canada, where he established a prosperous company called ‘EIGER’, offering an array of services such as fixing the roofs and the vertical walls of skyscrapers. He also participated in fire rescue missions as well as rescuing suicides attempting to jump off the top of tall buildings. Although he has been occasionally descended on a rope from a helicopter to reach a lofty goal, he believes that he can go virtually everywhere on his own. Thus he has gotten used to the North American climbing business. Although he lives on the other side of the Atlantic, he has been often coming to Bulgaria to seek new challenges. “Unfortunately, a lot of work needs to be done in Bulgaria before it has its own big-height emergency rescue missions team.’
“For a long time now I have been working hard to recruit such a team. It is imperative that more and more people see the importance of recruiting such a team, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve such goal. I would welcome everyone who supports my idea. While many influential people in Bulgaria have promised to support my undertaking, I have received no support whatsoever ever since. In parallel, in Canada, everything is clear; if someone cannot help you, they will let you know.
The American Army is the best in the world, because they work in all kinds of extreme conditions including the Atlantic Ocean, high mountains, as well as iceberg areas. Despite their long experience they rarely work in populated areas with a view to precluding disasters such as Sept. 11. People like me, though can complete such missions successfully and less riskily”, says the Bulgarian Spiderman.
“Out of 8 million Bulgarians, I am sure all people would support my idea”, says Ivan Kristoff. “Unfortunately, when someone sniffs a big challenge ahead of them, they try to avoid it. I have always strived to try new things. For 15 years in the America I have gained a lot of experience. Toronto was the first place where I was dubbed the ‘spiderman’ by one of the city’s biggest newspapers. This was the first time when a Canadian newspaper dedicated two of its pages to a foreign adventurer. Later on, I became quite keen on cars and motorbikes. Once my passion for motorbikes weakens, I will definitely fall for something new,” says Ivan Kristoff.