Climber scales 140m building using suction from an LG vacuum cleaner

LG pulled off a strange, but very cool marketing stunt recently that had a famous rock climber called Sierra Blair-Coyle. Blair-Coyle was the winner of the 2015 US Extreme Rock Climbing contest and rather than climbing rocks this time, she scaled the outside of a glass skyscraper using suction created from a pair of LG CORDZERO K94SGN vacuums.

The vacuum is a cordless unit and was powered by batteries and worn on the climbers back during the feat. Suction from the vacuum was passed through large hoses that look like something you would see on a car wash vacuum to large black suction cup style pads. The suction created by the vacuums had to hold their own weight combined with the weight of the climber and rigging for a total of 70kg to eh slippery surface.

The climber wore two of the vacuums on her back with one providing suction to each of her hands. Presumably, she had to turn the vacuum off to allow the suction cup to lift from the glass surface as she moved up. This was no free climb; the climber was harnessed with safety ropes in case the vacuums failed so she wouldn’t plummet to hear death.

Even though she was harnessed up during the climb, it appears that the climb was very grueling. There were straps attached to her feet that were in turn attached to the suction cups to give her footholds as well. Clearly, this woman isn’t afraid of heights. If you want to prove that your vacuum sucks hard, having an attractive woman use it to climb a sheer glass building is a good way to advertise. You can see a video of Blair-Coyle making the climb below complete with shots from suction cup mounted GoPro cameras.

SOURCE: LG