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Never really shared with anyone about that hobby of mine I got into recently, I think UER is the perfect place for that. I always liked them rooftops, and quite recently I finally decided to give it a try and see how hard it can be to gain the access to a roof or two. Leaping ahead I can say it doesn't really gets easier with time, since every building and environment around it are absolutely unique.
So far I've been to more than 15 rooftops around Vancouver, both office and residential buildings, which is probably not that much. Photography isn't something I am particularly very interested in, when getting to the top of a building, so don't expect any masterpieces from me. Actually almost half of my photos are taken with my phone camera. I guess because of that it probably was my 5-6 rooftop when it occurred to me that I probably should somewhat document my achievements and I started taking photos. Although, I think at some point I will try going back to the rooftops I didn't photograph.
I kinda outlined several rules for myself, following which I never had any troubles so far. First of all, I always explore on my own. I just see it being much more safe, mainly because I can't really control what person next to me says in certain situation, possibly ruining it for everyone. Secondly, depending on a building, I dress up either into something resembling general tradesman outfit or opposite from it very formal outfit, in my opinion such types of people are usually raise much less questions and attention. Thirdly, I always have my story straight. I simply do a little research on a building I'm planning on infiltrating, finding a reasonable cause why I can be there, going through possible questions I can be asked. Fourthly, I don't do stupid sh*t. If I'm not sure in something I simply don't do it. No sitting on the edge of the rooftop and such. Not a chance. Even though I'm doing it for not so long I already can see a correlation between all that hype 'young roofers" create by doing rather questionable stunts that gain publicity and how more secure rooftops become. Don't be that guy ruining fun for everyone else. And, of course, the main rule, that been mentioned here millions of times: act like you belong.
Not to create a random cluster of photos here, I think I'll just post shots from one rooftop at a time giving a bit of description. Plus, to see if there is an actual need of posting all of them here, I'm absolutely not sure if anyone actually will be interested in my little adventures.
And sorry in advance for my shi**y writing.
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First one here is an office building. From what I've heard its current owner is planing to build very tall skyscraper on its place in the nearest future, said owner already building yet another condo building right across the street.
I like office buildings because they have high foot traffic, meaning less questions asked, plus in most cases entering a building itself is given, meaning one less step to a rooftop. It actually took me, what seems like, an eternity to find that staircase leading to the rooftop. That one thing I've noticed pursuing this hobby is that rooftops almost never are marked as rooftops, I even seen one that was marked with a suite number, I just thought it's odd taking into account that I was already on the mechanical floor. Okay, back to our today's rooftop. For a moment I thought I will never find it, at some point I even found myself in a shower room. Eventually I did find it, but what I thought was a rooftop, well it actually was one, turned out to be top of the building with all the equipment on it and surrounded by walls with only sky to see, that was a bummer. But I was positive there should be a patio in the building and I found it two stories lower. Patio itself is actually pretty big with a very nice view. I could see another patio few stories lower but it has all sorts of plants on it, so I believe so it belongs to one of the offices. Great experience overall.
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Well done and great photos! Just curious, what it is like dealing with security when you are doing these active buildings?
You're not in a brothel lineup. You're in a two way business discussion. | |
Posted by crockett85
Well done and great photos! Just curious, what it is like dealing with security when you are doing these active buildings?
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Thanks! Well, quite frankly I never had any real problems with security so far. I passed one few times on my way somewhere, but simply when I hear someone approaching or I know I will be passing some security I just make myself look busy, like talking on the phone, etc. So far such approach worked good for me.
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Vancouver looks dope for rooftopping. You've got some good pics there.
constants are changing... | |
Posted by sanctive
Vancouver looks dope for rooftopping. You've got some good pics there.
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It really does! I'll share more locations soon. And thank you!
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Might not be the most popular type of destination among people exploring roofs, but I personally find those old not so tall buildings around Hastings and Gastown very appealing. First of all because roofs on such buildings are very different, than what modern buildings have. Most of them have that attic type of access where you have climb the ladders through very narrow pathways. Plus taking into account their age you very often see something cool that been there for around 100 years.
But getting to the rooftops of such buildings is very hard, much harder than rooftops of the hi-rises. General rule applies where the bigger building is means easier it is to get inside. Many wouldn't think that but lots of the buildings along E Hastings are very secure, and just tailgating someone doesn't work all the time.
And don't get me wrong, I don't get into all buildings or rooftops that I try, on every successful attempt I have about 5-6 failed, at least. But so far getting into the small buildings was the hardest for me, but I like that reward in the end.
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Posted by qwartet
Might not be the most popular type of destination among people exploring roofs, but I personally find those old not so tall buildings around Hastings and Gastown very appealing. First of all because roofs on such buildings are very different, than what modern buildings have. Most of them have that attic type of access where you have climb the ladders through very narrow pathways. Plus taking into account their age you very often see something cool that been there for around 100 years.
But getting to the rooftops of such buildings is very hard, much harder than rooftops of the hi-rises. General rule applies where the bigger building is means easier it is to get inside. Many wouldn't think that but lots of the buildings along E Hastings are very secure, and just tailgating someone doesn't work all the time.
And don't get me wrong, I don't get into all buildings or rooftops that I try, on every successful attempt I have about 5-6 failed, at least. But so far getting into the small buildings was the hardest for me, but I like that reward in the end.
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The last time I was around E Hastings was 5 years ago. With all the sketchy people that hang out around E Hastings, it doesn't surprise me that the buildings there are buttoned up tight.
Edit: By the way, if you are into rooftopping on told heritage buildings, there are lots of those here in Victoria too.
[last edit 5/12/2018 12:54 AM by GearheadExplorer85 - edited 1 times]
You're not in a brothel lineup. You're in a two way business discussion. | |
Posted by crockett85
The last time I was around E Hastings was 5 years ago. With all the sketchy people that hang out around E Hastings, it doesn't surprise me that the buildings there are buttoned up tight.
Edit: By the way, if you are into rooftopping on told heritage buildings, there are lots of those here in Victoria too.
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Well, not much changed around Hastings in past 5 years, so yeah. Although, while being secured some of the buildings there look the same as the street outside, but others look pretty nice.
Oh, I've been thinking a lot about seeing what is out there on Van Island, haven't been there in years. Planning with my friends going riding ATVs there during the summer, so that might be my chance. Thanks for the hint!
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Great introduction to yourself, and nice snaps! Welcome to the forums!
It's totally cool that you're in it for the adventure with pics being an afterthought. You seem to have good senses about you, which is awesome.
One day I got a good camera.
https://www.flickr...hotos/fleetsurbex/ | |
Posted by Fleeting
Great introduction to yourself, and nice snaps! Welcome to the forums!
It's totally cool that you're in it for the adventure with pics being an afterthought. You seem to have good senses about you, which is awesome.
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Thank you for your support! And it is pleasure to be here!
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For some reason I was interested in this building for quite some time, I guess it kinda stands out. Getting in to the building wasn't hard at all, once again 'bigger building=easier access' rule worked good for me. There is a concierge sitting behind the desk at the entrance, but she didn't even raised her head to see who is entering the building. And for building of such size I was surprised how small lobby was, It's pretty much non-existent. Walking 40+ stories up, on the other hand, wasn't too existing, but in the end it totally worth it. First I ended up on the floor with access to patio. It's actually one where all the fun is located: sauna, patio with grill and hot tub, room where you can study/work, and I think building's gym located on the same floor. While I was there I haven't seen anyone outside on the patio, but overall inside it was very busy with lots of people walking around, which was good for me. As nice as it was I could see that there was an actual rooftop above the patio, and I wanted to get there. Took me lots of time to find access to it, was it worth the effort? I don't know, but for some reason I thought that would be a perfect place to eat a sandwich I brought with me. I liked it there, beautiful view, great patio. I think I've never seen such a busy residential building in Vancouver, which makes access to it much easier, I doubt anyone in the building really knows all their neighbors.
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That's The Regal you are on top of, the original Vancouver stock exchange was located in that building. It's very secure, currently low barrier housing run by phs. Nice one on the Woodwards roof.
Posted by qwartet
Might not be the most popular type of destination among people exploring roofs, but I personally find those old not so tall buildings around Hastings and Gastown very appealing. First of all because roofs on such buildings are very different, than what modern buildings have. Most of them have that attic type of access where you have climb the ladders through very narrow pathways. Plus taking into account their age you very often see something cool that been there for around 100 years.
But getting to the rooftops of such buildings is very hard, much harder than rooftops of the hi-rises. General rule applies where the bigger building is means easier it is to get inside. Many wouldn't think that but lots of the buildings along E Hastings are very secure, and just tailgating someone doesn't work all the time.
And don't get me wrong, I don't get into all buildings or rooftops that I try, on every successful attempt I have about 5-6 failed, at least. But so far getting into the small buildings was the hardest for me, but I like that reward in the end.
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[last edit 5/16/2018 4:26 AM by PorkRenegade - edited 2 times]
god created the au/mc to test the faithful.
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Posted by PorkRenegade
That's The Regal you are on top of, the original Vancouver stock exchange was located in that building. It's very secure, currently low barrier housing run by phs. Nice one on the Woodwards roof.
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Thank you so much! And that is correct. Actually, all the buildings on Hastings I've been able to get into so far are managed by phs, because their website has lots of information about their buildings, mainly about people housed there, which helped me to get into two of them, and with the third one I simply got lucky. I'll post about it later with photos.
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Posted by qwartet
Thank you so much! And that is correct. Actually, all the buildings on Hastings I've been able to get into so far are managed by phs, because their website has lots of information about their buildings, mainly about people housed there, which helped me to get into two of them, and with the third one I simply got lucky. I'll post about it later with photos.
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Surprising, phs building's will not allow entry without being accompanied by a guest and they are staffed 24hr's. Not to mention due to the resident's being high needs they are very secure. What information did you find about the people housed there? That data is also generally very private given the demographic.
god created the au/mc to test the faithful.
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Posted by PorkRenegade
Surprising, phs building's will not allow entry without being accompanied by a guest and they are staffed 24hr's. Not to mention due to the resident's being high needs they are very secure. What information did you find about the people housed there? That data is also generally very private given the demographic.
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That exact information you listed above: "phs building's will not allow entry without being accompanied by a guest", and sometimes by helping people you do get something in return  I simply don't think that in order to infiltrate a building you need to climb into the windows or something like that, at times it asks for rather unusual approach. I don't think that by gaining someone's trust in order to get to the desired location I do something sinister. I might be wrong though.
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Posted by qwartet
That exact information you listed above: "phs building's will not allow entry without being accompanied by a guest", and sometimes by helping people you do get something in return I simply don't think that in order to infiltrate a building you need to climb into the windows or something like that, at times it asks for rather unusual approach. I don't think that by gaining someone's trust in order to get to the desired location I do something sinister. I might be wrong though.
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I wasn't suggesting it was anything sinister, that approach is usually referred to as social engineering. Staff must have accessed you is all I was suggesting,those buildings are buttoned tight. Nothing wrong with that.
god created the au/mc to test the faithful.
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That's some nice infiltrating, qwartet!
You're giving me ideas.
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Posted by PorkRenegade
I wasn't suggesting it was anything sinister, that approach is usually referred to as social engineering. Staff must have accessed you is all I was suggesting,those buildings are buttoned tight. Nothing wrong with that.
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Social engineering it is. I just simply got hooked on any material from Jayson E. Street I can find, that guy is a genius! His approach is very bold, which I find most amusing about him, but he also describes few rather subtle techniques I thought I can adopt and use on a smaller and finely secured buildings. Such techniques are very time consuming, I should say, mainly because you have to wait for that specific person to target, but it worked twice already for me. That helps me not further than getting to the staircase leading to the rooftop. Further actions are totally different story, and having experience in the field of home security usually helps me there. People managing these buildings really do a great job, and respecting that I never said a word of lie to them, as well as I also provided my real name to them on one specific occasion, I just don't disclose my real intention of being in the building. As of getting access via knowing someone personally, so far I haven't succeeded in that field at all, not even sure where from to start, to be honest. But that would be great, because I still am very stressed out being on the rooftops I shouldn't be at, can only imagine the consequences of being caught (although Mr Street gives few ideas how to get away with that as well), thus I never can really relax and fully enjoy my presence on a rooftop.
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Posted by billgeorge
That's some nice infiltrating, qwartet!
You're giving me ideas.
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Thank you so much! Means a lot coming from you, since your adventures inspired me on exploring more!
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