They haven't yet gained the notoriety of Alain "Spiderman" Robert, the urban climber who has scaled skyscrapers around the globe, but several student-daredevils are boldly ascending the walls of University buildings.
Two weeks ago, two male undergraduate students, who spoke on condition of anonymity, scaled the face of the Graduate Center Bar and the wall underneath the Grad Center ramp. They call the activity "buildering," a play on the word "bouldering," - a style of climbing without ropes in which rock climbers make short climbs that test strength and technique.
The two students said they have also "chimney-climbed" into several sixth-story windows of Grad Center without ropes. "Chimney-climbing" involves scaling a rock-face, or building in this case, by bracing oneself between two closely spaced vertical surfaces.
"We've pretty much climbed everything on the Main Green," said one of the students. He named Sayles Hall and Wilson Hall specifically and added that they have also climbed Barus Hall next to MacMillan Hall but were "kicked off" by officers from the Department of Public Safety.
"It's constantly an issue of whether Brown police will come," the student said.
The danger of getting caught by the police, the students said, is one of the reasons they usually don't use a rope. If a DPS officer approached the students when they were using a rope, it would be harder for them to get away without leaving a $200 investment behind, they said.
The builderers are not the first students to climb Brown's buildings. Devon Penney '06 GS used to builder regularly two to three years ago as a Brown undergrad. "The big places I've gone to a lot are Barus Hall ... and also the applied math building (180 George St.)," he said. On those buildings, he added, the "blocks are granite ... it provides pretty good handholds, and you can make interesting routes."
Penney, a graduate student in computer science, said he used to mark the rocks needed for interesting "problems," or climbing routes, with athletic tape. He has also climbed a wall near Smith-Buonanno Hall, he said.
Penney sometimes would "builder in the middle of the night" at the Center for Information Technology as a study break, he said.
Penney said two or three other climbers who were members of the Brown Outing Club would often join him. At peak popularity, the climbs involved about four people.
One of the more difficult climbs Penney's group attempted was a traverse on Barus Hall. "You traverse across the (entire front of the building) facing Hope Street, then you climb over a railing ... which is kind of scary. No one ever finished it because it was really difficult," Penney said.
Penney said he stopped climbing because DPS officers would not let his group continue to scale buildings.
"Sometimes (DPS officers would) come by and say, 'Oh, what are you doing? You should stop.' We actually had our name taken down once, and they said, 'You know, you've really got to stop doing this,' so we actually didn't do it much after that," he said.
DPS did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
Though he does not builder much anymore, Penney said that "every now and then, I'll jump on a building" or the side of a stairwell. He added that he's working on some other projects "that are kind of hush-hush."
Buildering has a history at Brown that extends at least 40 years. A book titled "A Climbing Guide to Brown University" was written in 1966 and can be found in the office of the Brown Outing Club - it lists about 100 different climbs for buildings on campus, broken down by techniques used and ranked from 5.1 to 5.9 using the Yosemite decimal system, a climbing ranking system that is no longer popularly used.
In the guide, a "balances and traverses" chapter lists climbs on the Rockefeller Library, Avon Cinema, Carrie Tower and the Van Wickle Gates. A chapter on "laybacks," a technique common for crack climbing, has routes for climbs on Barus and Holley and Soldiers Arch. A "chimney" chapter lists climbs on Rhode Island Hall, and a "friction and miscellaneous" chapter gives routes for Faunce House.
Penney said he has never tried any of the routes in the guidebook but speculated that many of the climbs would get students into trouble. "It's not really the most condoned activity on campus," he said.
Shane Schoepfer '09, president of the Brown Outing Club, said the club does not condone or organize buildering at Brown, though he has heard stories. Last year there was discussion on the club's listserv about rappelling down the Sciences Library, an idea that was "very quickly squelched" by Associate Dean of the College David Targan, the group's faculty adviser, Schoepfer said.
Buildering "is a sign of desperation," Schoepfer said. "We don't have a climbing wall here at Brown. It's an amenity that virtually every other college in the country has at this point. ... I think the fundamental fact about climbers is that they will climb things and - if there are not legitimate things to climb - they'll find something," he added.
Both students who were buildering Grad Center two weeks ago had a similar take.
"In my mind, Brown doesn't have any places to climb (such as a climbing wall). That's insane for a school our size," one of the students said. They did mention, though, that the wall under the Grad Center ramp is dotted with "roots," or pieces of rock grafted to the wall that serve as handholds and footholds for climbers. The students climbing Grad Center said the roots, which were placed by students, were already there when they began climbing at Brown.
Schoepfer said that there is a petition circulating to have a climbing wall included in the Jonathan Nelson Fitness Center, which is currently in its planning stages.
Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger said Assistant Director of Athletics Matthew Tsimikas have met with a number of students interested in a climbing wall. Goldberger said discussion is still underway about whether a wall is feasible and whether it might be built in the Olney-Margolies Athletics Center or the planned new fitness center.
Besides trips to Rhode Island's Lincoln Woods State Park, Schoepfer said the outing club makes a trip to the Rhode Island Rock Gym every Sunday night. Usually, 12 to 15 students show up, he said. "It's probably the best outlet for climbing addicts on campus right now," he said.
