The “dare to dream big” attitude has always been the cornerstone of the UAE’s growth. It has resulted in some really big buildings, some of which have broken world records, and, as a byproduct, it has also given rise to a unique group of intrepid people who have extremely ambitious goals. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most outrageous large-scale and real-life, sweaty-palmed, cloud-bothering, tower-top antics ever captured on video in the United Arab Emirates.
Wake up call
Give a hearty round of applause to the person who shouted, “You know how we’re going to sell more handbags” during the Prada marketing meeting before going on to propose the plan below. Three times World Wakeskate Champion Brian Grubb linked his wakeboard to a drone on the Address Beach Resort’s 77th floor rooftop infinity pool. He then launched him into a base jump free fall, executed a low altitude chute deployment and landed on the beach of the JBR. Grubb crashed across the surface at a breakneck speed before hitting a ramp and pulling off a grab trick. Which, given the way we were “clutching” onto our phones while watching it with sweaty palms, made us think of extravagant handbags? To be fair, it seems like it was promoting a selection of extreme clothing from the Linea Rossa brand. Quite a creative jump, but we’ll accept it.
Raising the skates
Figure skater Zahra Lari from the United Arab Emirates earned fame after she strapped onto a helicopter and skyrocketed 250 metres to the summit of The View at the Palm for a date night at a pop-up ice skating rink. The reason is The Next Level, a new observation deck located at the top of the tower. Presumably, the fearless and highly capable Lari completed that level, made skate-scapers popular, and looked gorgeous in the process.
The double fault in our stars
We wish we could have been present when Roger Federer and Andrea Agassi were originally contacted in 2005 about playing tennis on the Burj Al Arab helipad. “Yeah, it’s 210 feet up in the air, just your average casual knockabout. Oh, and there’s no safety rail. It’s windy and warm, and shrugs astroturf, so we’d recommend shoes with grip.” If that had been us, you can bet the show would have comprised one big fuck into the Gulf, followed by thirty minutes of crying McEnroes and clutching to the net in foetal position. Thankfully, the now-famous exchange between the two aces was a little more tactful than that.
It’s lonely at the top
In the pure light of the de-masked morning, much of what happened during the epidemic appears bizarre. Perhaps it is the true “new normal,” a sparkling mixture of nostalgia for some of the weirder aspects of our common past (like Zoom quizzes, banana bread, and Tiger King) combined with PTSD. One thing, though, that did not feel at all strange at the time—though looking back provide us a pretty good idea of where we were all at emotionally—was when skydiver Nicole Smith-Ludvik, posing as Emirates cabin crew, stood on the razor-sharp edge of the Burj Khalifa, which is still the world’s tallest building at 2,722 feet, to share a message of hope through handwritten signs.
