It's annoying that I've been coughing for the last few weeks, I guess it's a testament to my immune system's strength that I haven't got any other symptoms of illness besides coughing. In the past few days I tried to take time off to recovery but I just got worse (that's what happens when you acknowledge your illness)...
Kunoichi has a friend over from Calgary, I'll call her Green Boots and she seems pretty down for like sleeping at Jimbo's, dumpstering, sewing shit up and generally being cool. She came to food not bombs today and was impressed apparently ours is better than the one in Calgary.
The cabaret was alright, well actually I can't honestly tell you I left during the second act which I thought was boring and I also just wanted to be home. Ithaca is gone for the weekend which also affects my decision to not sleep at the coop. I've been seeing her so often lately, but I only realized this weekend when she's gone...
I'm sleeping at home tonight and sleeping in tomorrow, I may or may not go to tam tams. Either way I wanna recover and get rid of this cold.
Plans to see Pagoda on Wednesday and plans to do a mission with Pines and Lil Jon soon, maybe on Thursday night.
Showing posts with label nightops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nightops. Show all posts
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Operation: Frozen Shut
Tonight me and Kusa we supposed to go to Igloofest (look it up) with a few friends, but they changed their minds, after a while Kusa convinced me that we should still go, but when his friend bailed as well we thought hey, lets try to sneak in and if we don't get in we didn't lose anything but effort.
Gear-:
Me-
Black Pleather Jacket
Dark Blue BDU Pants w/ Bumflap
Grey Beanie
Black Neckwarmer
Black Leather Gloves
Brown Boots
Kusa-
Blue Coat
Dark Blue Jeans
Brown Boots
Tan Hobo Mittens
We rode out on our bike and locked up out front of the main entrance and began a quick recon. Our plan was to get in and then vanish into the crowd, so we didn't bring specific gear or anything uniquely NO related. We walked the whole east side until we hit a fence blocking our path, we then went to check out the west side but they had security and a fence that was the barrier between us and the interior of Igloofest. After our quick recon walk we learned the following:
*Security guards were everywhere, but easily identifiable by their bright orange vests.
*All the fences were either spiked or flimsy and spiked so speedy crossing was impossible, we had to find a spot that was out of site.
*The festival wasn't so crowded that security wouldn't notice us if we dropped into a secluded area and walked into a crowded.
After a quick discussion we decided to hop the fence on the east side and explore to find a more viable route since there seemed to be a lack of security to the south west of the festival.
We climbed over the fence and walked through the snow, taking a detour around a fenced vacant lot until we got close to the festival again, noise wasn't an issue since music was blasting out of Igloofest. Once we got around we were basically walking on flat, towards more fencing, we noticed a security guard in the distance with his back to us behind the western fence we saw earlier during the recon, but we weren't worried since there was no light behind us to silhouette us. We moved to another fence where we would be able to see the back of the festival, we decided to approach from the back and see if we could choose a route that was secluded enough to hop the fence but also unattended. We hopped the fence of the vacant lot slowly (spikes) and made our way to the back fence of the festival. We crouch walked behind piles of snow and looked over for maybe 15 minutes trying to figure out our next move. We were at the back where all the trailers were, the DJs, staff and really light security were hanging out there, unfortunately we didn't want to go backstage we wanted to go the crowd at the dance floor and there of course was a wall of orange vests between the back stage and the public areas. Although we would've been able to get over the fence and get into the back stage area we had no way to get into the public zone undetected. After more observation and contemplation regarding the consequences of rushing and hiding in the crowd we decided to head home and figure out something else to do with the night (which turned out to be a fun idea). We snuck back to the gate hopped it, walked to the fence hopped that in front of a bunch of people (hey, we were leaving anyway) and took off on our bikes.
Lessons learned:
Don't underestimate security setup at public events
Sneaking is fun even when you fail
We need to develop a fast quiet method of getting over spiked fences
Gear-:
Me-
Black Pleather Jacket
Dark Blue BDU Pants w/ Bumflap
Grey Beanie
Black Neckwarmer
Black Leather Gloves
Brown Boots
Kusa-
Blue Coat
Dark Blue Jeans
Brown Boots
Tan Hobo Mittens
We rode out on our bike and locked up out front of the main entrance and began a quick recon. Our plan was to get in and then vanish into the crowd, so we didn't bring specific gear or anything uniquely NO related. We walked the whole east side until we hit a fence blocking our path, we then went to check out the west side but they had security and a fence that was the barrier between us and the interior of Igloofest. After our quick recon walk we learned the following:
*Security guards were everywhere, but easily identifiable by their bright orange vests.
*All the fences were either spiked or flimsy and spiked so speedy crossing was impossible, we had to find a spot that was out of site.
*The festival wasn't so crowded that security wouldn't notice us if we dropped into a secluded area and walked into a crowded.
After a quick discussion we decided to hop the fence on the east side and explore to find a more viable route since there seemed to be a lack of security to the south west of the festival.
We climbed over the fence and walked through the snow, taking a detour around a fenced vacant lot until we got close to the festival again, noise wasn't an issue since music was blasting out of Igloofest. Once we got around we were basically walking on flat, towards more fencing, we noticed a security guard in the distance with his back to us behind the western fence we saw earlier during the recon, but we weren't worried since there was no light behind us to silhouette us. We moved to another fence where we would be able to see the back of the festival, we decided to approach from the back and see if we could choose a route that was secluded enough to hop the fence but also unattended. We hopped the fence of the vacant lot slowly (spikes) and made our way to the back fence of the festival. We crouch walked behind piles of snow and looked over for maybe 15 minutes trying to figure out our next move. We were at the back where all the trailers were, the DJs, staff and really light security were hanging out there, unfortunately we didn't want to go backstage we wanted to go the crowd at the dance floor and there of course was a wall of orange vests between the back stage and the public areas. Although we would've been able to get over the fence and get into the back stage area we had no way to get into the public zone undetected. After more observation and contemplation regarding the consequences of rushing and hiding in the crowd we decided to head home and figure out something else to do with the night (which turned out to be a fun idea). We snuck back to the gate hopped it, walked to the fence hopped that in front of a bunch of people (hey, we were leaving anyway) and took off on our bikes.
Lessons learned:
Don't underestimate security setup at public events
Sneaking is fun even when you fail
We need to develop a fast quiet method of getting over spiked fences
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Operation: New Neighbor
Yesterday afternoon when I woke, I showered ect. When I opened the curtains to let what little sun shone into the alley into my room I noticed that there was scaffolding filling the alley, I peeked out and noticed that it was maybe two stories and they were still building it up. I went back later that night, I called my neighbor (Kouka Mono) who told me he was interested in "ninja stuff" and climbing shit, but he was studying.
Gear:
Me-
Black Long Sleeve Shirt
Black Cargo Sweatpants
Black Water Shoes
Kouka Mono-
Grey Hoodie
Jeans
Grey Sneakers
I walked out my front door, and down the stairs, checked the street for anyone, all clear. I dash into the alley and look at the scaffolding. It goes all the way up to the roof of the building next to where I live and it's pressed against the wall so no scary 5th story jumping required, yay. There are three ways up, all three are basically just ladders, I take the middle, climb up three stories. Once on the third I realize I need to take a different way up because the workers added wood to the top and I can climb through it. I climb a bit higher to a lower and much thinner wood platform and carefully walk along it until I'm at the back of the scaffolding. From there I continue my climb up, I get to the wooden platform and I have to pull up with my arms leaving my legs to dangle, it's always uncomfortable but at this point I'm used to this stuff. I hoist myself up and from there climb over the ledge and start exploring the roof.
There's a nice view of the downtown skyline and there are some other roofs to check out, I climb down a story and check out my neighbors' roofs, they're all wet and saggy so I tread lightly. I decide I want to take a pic of the skyline. I wallrun up to the first roof and climb down the scaffolding. I go into the apartment and ask Ting to pass me his camera. I head back to Kouka Mono and tell him he should check the roof, he's down after I tell him it only takes five minutes. I head down to the alley and wait for him.
I've already photographed the scaffolding when he gets out. I hear him talking to someone asking if I've already gone up, I slip out of the shadows (I notice be brought his roomie, but I'm ok with that) and explain the best route up then start climbing. I get up and take pics and we explore teh roofs I've seen last time. I'm pleasantly surprised that Kouka Mono can do a wall run untrained and doesn't need any help getting up or down. After that we climb down and it's over.
Lessons learned:
None really, climbing scaffolding is fun.
Gear:
Me-
Black Long Sleeve Shirt
Black Cargo Sweatpants
Black Water Shoes
Kouka Mono-
Grey Hoodie
Jeans
Grey Sneakers
I walked out my front door, and down the stairs, checked the street for anyone, all clear. I dash into the alley and look at the scaffolding. It goes all the way up to the roof of the building next to where I live and it's pressed against the wall so no scary 5th story jumping required, yay. There are three ways up, all three are basically just ladders, I take the middle, climb up three stories. Once on the third I realize I need to take a different way up because the workers added wood to the top and I can climb through it. I climb a bit higher to a lower and much thinner wood platform and carefully walk along it until I'm at the back of the scaffolding. From there I continue my climb up, I get to the wooden platform and I have to pull up with my arms leaving my legs to dangle, it's always uncomfortable but at this point I'm used to this stuff. I hoist myself up and from there climb over the ledge and start exploring the roof.
There's a nice view of the downtown skyline and there are some other roofs to check out, I climb down a story and check out my neighbors' roofs, they're all wet and saggy so I tread lightly. I decide I want to take a pic of the skyline. I wallrun up to the first roof and climb down the scaffolding. I go into the apartment and ask Ting to pass me his camera. I head back to Kouka Mono and tell him he should check the roof, he's down after I tell him it only takes five minutes. I head down to the alley and wait for him.
I've already photographed the scaffolding when he gets out. I hear him talking to someone asking if I've already gone up, I slip out of the shadows (I notice be brought his roomie, but I'm ok with that) and explain the best route up then start climbing. I get up and take pics and we explore teh roofs I've seen last time. I'm pleasantly surprised that Kouka Mono can do a wall run untrained and doesn't need any help getting up or down. After that we climb down and it's over.
Lessons learned:
None really, climbing scaffolding is fun.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Some Links
Here are just some links I like, things I follow etc, to give you guys an idea of some of my influences, how I see things and what I agree with.
Evasion Probably what I consider the best book I ever read. It's all non-fiction which means if you want to (I know I do), you can pull this off.
Buttery Ass Mondays Donovan Strain explains and shows a ton of stuff. He's a skater, hustler, hip hop fan and is just resourceful.
Night Ops For the hardcore ones among you check this out. The real jem here is the forum.
My Youtube Account I don't have much uploaded but there's a ton of parkour and ninja stuff in my favorites (almost exclusively so).
Hobos, Tramps and Homeless Bums a great thread on a graffitti forum that'll teach a ton about, you guessed it hobos, tramps and bum. Goes over hopping trains, diving, jungling up, factions whatever.
Wikihow Learn to do things on your own.
That's it for now, off the top of my head, but that'll maybe give a bit of insight into my mind...
Evasion Probably what I consider the best book I ever read. It's all non-fiction which means if you want to (I know I do), you can pull this off.
Buttery Ass Mondays Donovan Strain explains and shows a ton of stuff. He's a skater, hustler, hip hop fan and is just resourceful.
Night Ops For the hardcore ones among you check this out. The real jem here is the forum.
My Youtube Account I don't have much uploaded but there's a ton of parkour and ninja stuff in my favorites (almost exclusively so).
Hobos, Tramps and Homeless Bums a great thread on a graffitti forum that'll teach a ton about, you guessed it hobos, tramps and bum. Goes over hopping trains, diving, jungling up, factions whatever.
Wikihow Learn to do things on your own.
That's it for now, off the top of my head, but that'll maybe give a bit of insight into my mind...
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Busted!
I'm watching a movie (Ghost Dog, which I haven't finished yet) when I get a notif on facebook about rolling out to climb a building from a UE friend (Dreads) and his roomie(Jet). I keep watching til around 11, then I head to his place. I trust him although I've never opped with him because he ops on his own through UE both day and night. I get there, eat a bit, sip some water and we head out, I'm riding on the back of Jet's bike. Here's the set up:
Dreads-
Black School T-shirt
Black Shorts
Sneakers
Bike
Jet-
Black T-shirt
Black Jeans
Sneakers
Backpack
Rope
Water Bottle
Analog Camera
Green Towel
Bike (with me riding in the back)
Me-
Brown Shirt
Black Hoodie around my waist
Woodland BDU Pants
Black Water Shoes
Pocket Knife
Flashlight
Camo Bandanna
Wallet <- :-/
We bike there pretty uneventful, I tell them a bit about the fruit dumpster, they tell me a bit about the building the want to roof. We get there, hop off the bikes. and walk towards the building, it's surrounded by barbed wire chain link, except for some railroad tracks that lead right in. We walk along the tracks above some lights that would otherwise silhouette us and follow them until we get into the compound.
First thing we notice is some bright lights that look light head lights, I scout ahead sticking to the walls and discover it's just regular lighting and that the area seems unoccupied (the building is abandoned anyways). I dash to underneath a staircase and look around more, then I run to a wall and stick my back to that. I signal everyone to come to where I am then point out a dome camera. After a bit of talk we decide to walk around regular style to look less suspect. We exit the shadow and walk through another gate, continue along side the building.
We noticed a guy across the water (we're on an island or peninsula thing, the tracks crossed a bridge) in neon orange but he probably doesn't see us. I point out what looks like an elongated water tower with a huge pipe on top maybe 3 or 4 stories up that could be used to roof the building if it wasn't so high, rusty and generally scary. We climb up the lower ladders anyway just for fun and hang out on the lower platform. After a while we notice some real head lights moving around where we came from, but they turn off. Jet starts heading down when another pair of headlights rolls around relatively fast coming our way. I tell everyone to hit the deck and Jet to do the same when he hits the bottom. First security car rolls by no problem. Next vehicle comes through much slower with lights waving around slowly looking out. I'm flat on the metal platform, Dreads is flat against the tower, Jet vanished into the bushed at the foot of the ladder, I thought we were ghosts, turns out not to be the case. Second security car stops in from of the tower and a booming voice shouts for us to come out and get down in French. It's pretty intimidating and seeing how we're cornered up a ladder Me and Dreads comply. A lady cop (turns out she was a security guard, but we found that out later) gets out and starts questioning us blah blah blah.
She radios in her buddy another guard, this one is a guy, he rolls in with a second car, we're covered in lights and Jet has come out to talk also. None of us have ID (I do but I keep that to myself) so we get questioned a bit;
"What are you doing here?"
"Just exploring"
"Didja go inside this building?"
"No"
"How many times have you been here?"
"First time"
Blah blah blah...
Turns out they had a big graffiti issue here so they set up patrols, also it's in a pretty historic neighborhood so the beefed up security makes sense in retrospect. In the end a real cop came checked our names in the computer and left us to the security guards who seemed cool with us (because we're cool). They let us out and gave us a warning for trespassing.
We walked away relieved and happy. After that I took Dreads and Jet to the fruit dumpster and we got a ton of nectarines, some pine apples and some veggies. Tried finding a bakery dumpster but it would've involved climbing a wall into an alley in front of some cops so we checked around elsewhere but came upon nothing and called it a night.
Lessons learned:
Be aware of who you're dealing with (are they a cop, a guard, a person in dark clothes...)
Know you're rights and make sure everyone else does too (know a ton of legal stuff about getting caught in the US, no idea how it works here, need to read up. Any links to Canadian laws or videos would be helpful)
Never relax while hiding even if you feel like a ghost.
Dreads-
Black School T-shirt
Black Shorts
Sneakers
Bike
Jet-
Black T-shirt
Black Jeans
Sneakers
Backpack
Rope
Water Bottle
Analog Camera
Green Towel
Bike (with me riding in the back)
Me-
Brown Shirt
Black Hoodie around my waist
Woodland BDU Pants
Black Water Shoes
Pocket Knife
Flashlight
Camo Bandanna
Wallet <- :-/
We bike there pretty uneventful, I tell them a bit about the fruit dumpster, they tell me a bit about the building the want to roof. We get there, hop off the bikes. and walk towards the building, it's surrounded by barbed wire chain link, except for some railroad tracks that lead right in. We walk along the tracks above some lights that would otherwise silhouette us and follow them until we get into the compound.
First thing we notice is some bright lights that look light head lights, I scout ahead sticking to the walls and discover it's just regular lighting and that the area seems unoccupied (the building is abandoned anyways). I dash to underneath a staircase and look around more, then I run to a wall and stick my back to that. I signal everyone to come to where I am then point out a dome camera. After a bit of talk we decide to walk around regular style to look less suspect. We exit the shadow and walk through another gate, continue along side the building.
We noticed a guy across the water (we're on an island or peninsula thing, the tracks crossed a bridge) in neon orange but he probably doesn't see us. I point out what looks like an elongated water tower with a huge pipe on top maybe 3 or 4 stories up that could be used to roof the building if it wasn't so high, rusty and generally scary. We climb up the lower ladders anyway just for fun and hang out on the lower platform. After a while we notice some real head lights moving around where we came from, but they turn off. Jet starts heading down when another pair of headlights rolls around relatively fast coming our way. I tell everyone to hit the deck and Jet to do the same when he hits the bottom. First security car rolls by no problem. Next vehicle comes through much slower with lights waving around slowly looking out. I'm flat on the metal platform, Dreads is flat against the tower, Jet vanished into the bushed at the foot of the ladder, I thought we were ghosts, turns out not to be the case. Second security car stops in from of the tower and a booming voice shouts for us to come out and get down in French. It's pretty intimidating and seeing how we're cornered up a ladder Me and Dreads comply. A lady cop (turns out she was a security guard, but we found that out later) gets out and starts questioning us blah blah blah.
She radios in her buddy another guard, this one is a guy, he rolls in with a second car, we're covered in lights and Jet has come out to talk also. None of us have ID (I do but I keep that to myself) so we get questioned a bit;
"What are you doing here?"
"Just exploring"
"Didja go inside this building?"
"No"
"How many times have you been here?"
"First time"
Blah blah blah...
Turns out they had a big graffiti issue here so they set up patrols, also it's in a pretty historic neighborhood so the beefed up security makes sense in retrospect. In the end a real cop came checked our names in the computer and left us to the security guards who seemed cool with us (because we're cool). They let us out and gave us a warning for trespassing.
We walked away relieved and happy. After that I took Dreads and Jet to the fruit dumpster and we got a ton of nectarines, some pine apples and some veggies. Tried finding a bakery dumpster but it would've involved climbing a wall into an alley in front of some cops so we checked around elsewhere but came upon nothing and called it a night.
Lessons learned:
Be aware of who you're dealing with (are they a cop, a guard, a person in dark clothes...)
Know you're rights and make sure everyone else does too (know a ton of legal stuff about getting caught in the US, no idea how it works here, need to read up. Any links to Canadian laws or videos would be helpful)
Never relax while hiding even if you feel like a ghost.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
First Dive
Back in my computer hacker days I used to get my mom to drop me off on the other side of the bridge near J&R and I would pick up computer parts from the trash. That was in middle school.
Tonight me and Kusa went dumpster diving for fruits and vegetables. I found a dumpster map of the city I'm in, and there was a fruitery dumpster a few blocks away from our apartment so we crashed it around midnight. I'll write it up as a night op:
Gear:
Me-
Black Hoodie
Tan Cargo Pants
Brown Boots
Flash light
pocket knife
Lighter
Kusa-
Jeans
Dark Blue Long Sleeve
Brown Sneakers
We walked the few blocks down a fairly busy street to where our supermarket is so we could check around there before we hit the fruit dumpster. The super market dumpster said cardboard only (and unlike in Evasion it only had cardboard) and another one was locked up. Super market dumpsters are for another time then, but now I have a great reason to learn to pick locks like I always wanted to.
The next alley was the fruit dumpster alley and boy did it have a fruit dumpster. I was happy to see that the dumpster was unlocked open, and full. The first thing we found was a box of fruit which we haven't IDed, they're purple, oval shaped, with little brownish nubs, there's purple pulpy stuff inside that seems edible. Kunoichi knows what they are but I don't really remember what she said about them, I'll ask her some time. After that I climbed into the dumpster and dug around I found so much food we didn't carry it all back. The dumpster even provided us with a means to carry the food back (so many boxes and trays). In the end we walked off with:
A watermelon (we left two in the dumpster)
Two Bags of green grapes (after removing the bad ones we had about a bag and a half)
Some broccoli
Maybe seven of the purple things
A single plum
A bag of lettuce or salad or some type of edible leaves...
Overall a good experience I will be sure to repeat. I was surprised at how much there was. There was a bow full of eggplants in the dumpster that was barely open, it's too bad Kusa, Ting and I don't really like eggplant or we'd be in heaven.
Tonight me and Kusa went dumpster diving for fruits and vegetables. I found a dumpster map of the city I'm in, and there was a fruitery dumpster a few blocks away from our apartment so we crashed it around midnight. I'll write it up as a night op:
Gear:
Me-
Black Hoodie
Tan Cargo Pants
Brown Boots
Flash light
pocket knife
Lighter
Kusa-
Jeans
Dark Blue Long Sleeve
Brown Sneakers
We walked the few blocks down a fairly busy street to where our supermarket is so we could check around there before we hit the fruit dumpster. The super market dumpster said cardboard only (and unlike in Evasion it only had cardboard) and another one was locked up. Super market dumpsters are for another time then, but now I have a great reason to learn to pick locks like I always wanted to.
The next alley was the fruit dumpster alley and boy did it have a fruit dumpster. I was happy to see that the dumpster was unlocked open, and full. The first thing we found was a box of fruit which we haven't IDed, they're purple, oval shaped, with little brownish nubs, there's purple pulpy stuff inside that seems edible. Kunoichi knows what they are but I don't really remember what she said about them, I'll ask her some time. After that I climbed into the dumpster and dug around I found so much food we didn't carry it all back. The dumpster even provided us with a means to carry the food back (so many boxes and trays). In the end we walked off with:
A watermelon (we left two in the dumpster)
Two Bags of green grapes (after removing the bad ones we had about a bag and a half)
Some broccoli
Maybe seven of the purple things
A single plum
A bag of lettuce or salad or some type of edible leaves...
Overall a good experience I will be sure to repeat. I was surprised at how much there was. There was a bow full of eggplants in the dumpster that was barely open, it's too bad Kusa, Ting and I don't really like eggplant or we'd be in heaven.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Summer Roofing 3 (France)
As you may know I'm in France. I stayed a few days in my mother's friend's house in a suburb (wow it's different). I did a quick op on the lst night:
Gear-
Black Chinese drawstring pants
Brown t-shirt
Black Bandanna
Red filtered L-neck military flash light
Black water shoes
(Excuse any typos or anything like that, google image search French Keyboard)
I prepared my gear, hit the lights, got dressed and took a listening break to make sure no one in the house was awake (including the cute, but annoying dogs). Satisfied that I was the only awake person in the house I crouch on the window sill and observe making sure that no one will see my escape; I was overly cautios due to the fact that I wasn't in my hometown, wasn't being an opportunist and that I didn't like hearing a ton of dogs bark earlier in the week while walking the dogs.
I'm just being paranoid though, I hop out the window, wait two seconds, crouch walk to the wall that surrounds the house, peek over it, note the empty but lit street and hop over with a wall run. I walk down the empty street until I hit a dark, alley with lots of plants in it that I choose as my route from previous scouting earlier that night.
The alley is uneventful, loud (gravel) and thus stressful. I reach the end and make my way to the center of town rather uneventfully, the whole place is empty the only thing out at this hour is stray cats, not so stray cats and two random guys hanging with a stray dog. Once at the middle of town I do some precision jumps and parkour then head back towards the alley, the two guys ask me if I have any cigs, which I don't. As I approach the alley I decide to visit the graveyard in town which is pretty interesting because all the graves are in small mausoleums.
On my way to the graveyard a car rolls by and I jog behind a gate to stay invisible, once it's gone I climb into the graveyard, it's elevated but has no gate on one side. I'm pissed that the ground is gravel, and move slowly. I sneak around and decide it's time for some stealth parkour to spice things up. The mausoleums are close to each other and on cement (which is much quieter than gravel :) ), so I move around on top of them, crouch running, QMing, and of course jumping. As I'm hanging out on top of one in the cover of an overhanging tree a sound freaks me out, it flits by a few times before I realize it's a bat. I move along the top of the mausoleums towards the side of the graveyard that I came in from after jumping around a bit, lower myself to the ground and drop out of it. I've decided to hit up one more place before turning in.
I walk towards a large grey building with lower orange buildings on either side. I want to climb up the front, which looks like a ladder stretched out horizontally, it's ridiculously exposed to the street and a bunch of light, so I climb up a small building on the side first. I'm happily assisted by a window covered by horizontal bars. Once up I get on my belly because I know there are tents full of (hopefully) sleeping campers on the other side. The other reason I'm on my belly is... Gravel, again... I creep to the edge, see that no light is coming from any tents and everyone seems to be asleep except what sounds like a sneezing girl. As I make myway back along the roof in crouch walk, I notice that there is another window and it's covered in horizontal bars that shoul keep me out, but actually just help me roof the grey building.
I'm going to let you guess what this roof is covered with (hint: it starts with g and ends with ravel). I QM and sideways walk along this one until I find a ladder cage leading to a lower rooflet. Once down on it, I see a nice route down accross this roof and that of the other orange building. I move over some rails and gravel, climb down a pipe and head back to my alley.
After that it's smooth sailing; head back home, hop the wall, enter through window, check my 6, close window, undress and sleep.
Kinda boring op, not used to the suburban setting yet. I understand the dog problem now.
Lessons learned: No one is out at night around there.
Gravel is still the suck.
Cats and bats are good at startling you at night.
Gear-
Black Chinese drawstring pants
Brown t-shirt
Black Bandanna
Red filtered L-neck military flash light
Black water shoes
(Excuse any typos or anything like that, google image search French Keyboard)
I prepared my gear, hit the lights, got dressed and took a listening break to make sure no one in the house was awake (including the cute, but annoying dogs). Satisfied that I was the only awake person in the house I crouch on the window sill and observe making sure that no one will see my escape; I was overly cautios due to the fact that I wasn't in my hometown, wasn't being an opportunist and that I didn't like hearing a ton of dogs bark earlier in the week while walking the dogs.
I'm just being paranoid though, I hop out the window, wait two seconds, crouch walk to the wall that surrounds the house, peek over it, note the empty but lit street and hop over with a wall run. I walk down the empty street until I hit a dark, alley with lots of plants in it that I choose as my route from previous scouting earlier that night.
The alley is uneventful, loud (gravel) and thus stressful. I reach the end and make my way to the center of town rather uneventfully, the whole place is empty the only thing out at this hour is stray cats, not so stray cats and two random guys hanging with a stray dog. Once at the middle of town I do some precision jumps and parkour then head back towards the alley, the two guys ask me if I have any cigs, which I don't. As I approach the alley I decide to visit the graveyard in town which is pretty interesting because all the graves are in small mausoleums.
On my way to the graveyard a car rolls by and I jog behind a gate to stay invisible, once it's gone I climb into the graveyard, it's elevated but has no gate on one side. I'm pissed that the ground is gravel, and move slowly. I sneak around and decide it's time for some stealth parkour to spice things up. The mausoleums are close to each other and on cement (which is much quieter than gravel :) ), so I move around on top of them, crouch running, QMing, and of course jumping. As I'm hanging out on top of one in the cover of an overhanging tree a sound freaks me out, it flits by a few times before I realize it's a bat. I move along the top of the mausoleums towards the side of the graveyard that I came in from after jumping around a bit, lower myself to the ground and drop out of it. I've decided to hit up one more place before turning in.
I walk towards a large grey building with lower orange buildings on either side. I want to climb up the front, which looks like a ladder stretched out horizontally, it's ridiculously exposed to the street and a bunch of light, so I climb up a small building on the side first. I'm happily assisted by a window covered by horizontal bars. Once up I get on my belly because I know there are tents full of (hopefully) sleeping campers on the other side. The other reason I'm on my belly is... Gravel, again... I creep to the edge, see that no light is coming from any tents and everyone seems to be asleep except what sounds like a sneezing girl. As I make myway back along the roof in crouch walk, I notice that there is another window and it's covered in horizontal bars that shoul keep me out, but actually just help me roof the grey building.
I'm going to let you guess what this roof is covered with (hint: it starts with g and ends with ravel). I QM and sideways walk along this one until I find a ladder cage leading to a lower rooflet. Once down on it, I see a nice route down accross this roof and that of the other orange building. I move over some rails and gravel, climb down a pipe and head back to my alley.
After that it's smooth sailing; head back home, hop the wall, enter through window, check my 6, close window, undress and sleep.
Kinda boring op, not used to the suburban setting yet. I understand the dog problem now.
Lessons learned: No one is out at night around there.
Gravel is still the suck.
Cats and bats are good at startling you at night.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Operation: Pitt's Parkour
Crisis as you may know ops with me a lot, he also happens to be a lifeguard at a pool with an awesome parkour spot right behind it part of the park it's in. Unfortunately the park closes at 9ish and when I am there the park workers are also there to dissuade me from training a bit because the parkour spot is fenced off. I happened to be around there with Crisis and some other friends, we were all going home and I suggested to him that we sneak in and train a bit. Here's what happened.
Gear:
Me-
Red sleeveless shirt
Camo cargo shorts
Nike Sneakerboats (awesome shoe btw)
Woodland bandanna over mouth/nose.
Crisis-Black wolverine shirt (turned inside out so security wouldn't recognize him)
Navy BDU pants
Grey Sneakers
Digital camo bandanna on top of head
We walked through some projects and hopped some rails/fences to get to the park/pool faster. Crisis had a new haircut so he put his bandanna over his head to make it recognizable. We got to the outer fence and climbed over it quickly, we stood in a bunch of under growth underneath a tree, the air was so humid my body felt heavier. We looked through the inner fence and so no activity and I began my ascent, at the top of the fence I quickly looked around and then slid down (vertical spikes with a cross bar at the top), upon landing I moved into some bushes and waited as Crisis followed suit. Once there I decided on a quick route to the parkour spot. We moved to a handball wall and were covered in shadow, we crouch ran to a red shed and then hopped a low wall onto a staircase leading to the parkour spot behind the pool.
Once on the stairs a lot of QMing and pausing ensued as we crossed the entire parkour spot. We took a few listening breaks and looked around, after we were sure no one was there we moved along back and forth doing some parkour training on the obstacles, in between moves we got behind something for cover. After some training we took a water break, sneaking down to the pool deck and taking some water from a water fountain. After that more parkour training and then we exfiltrated by the same route as our infiltration. A good time and fun training, especially because of the pressure.
Lessons learned:
Doing parkour with a bandanna on your face makes you run out of breath quickly.
Pools/parks lack security.
The pool on Pitt St has a cool parkour spot right behind it.
Gear:
Me-
Red sleeveless shirt
Camo cargo shorts
Nike Sneakerboats (awesome shoe btw)
Woodland bandanna over mouth/nose.
Crisis-Black wolverine shirt (turned inside out so security wouldn't recognize him)
Navy BDU pants
Grey Sneakers
Digital camo bandanna on top of head
We walked through some projects and hopped some rails/fences to get to the park/pool faster. Crisis had a new haircut so he put his bandanna over his head to make it recognizable. We got to the outer fence and climbed over it quickly, we stood in a bunch of under growth underneath a tree, the air was so humid my body felt heavier. We looked through the inner fence and so no activity and I began my ascent, at the top of the fence I quickly looked around and then slid down (vertical spikes with a cross bar at the top), upon landing I moved into some bushes and waited as Crisis followed suit. Once there I decided on a quick route to the parkour spot. We moved to a handball wall and were covered in shadow, we crouch ran to a red shed and then hopped a low wall onto a staircase leading to the parkour spot behind the pool.
Once on the stairs a lot of QMing and pausing ensued as we crossed the entire parkour spot. We took a few listening breaks and looked around, after we were sure no one was there we moved along back and forth doing some parkour training on the obstacles, in between moves we got behind something for cover. After some training we took a water break, sneaking down to the pool deck and taking some water from a water fountain. After that more parkour training and then we exfiltrated by the same route as our infiltration. A good time and fun training, especially because of the pressure.
Lessons learned:
Doing parkour with a bandanna on your face makes you run out of breath quickly.
Pools/parks lack security.
The pool on Pitt St has a cool parkour spot right behind it.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Summer Roofing II
This adventure was really exciting and pretty nerve wracking now that I think back to it. Here's how it went down:
Gear-
Me
Green Field Shirt
Brown Tank Top
Camo Cargo Shorts
Black Sneakers
Crisis
Navy Long Sleeve
White Short Sleeve
Jeans
Grey Converse
We were hanging out with some friends at night, feasting on free food (if you hang out late enough good left over food gets thrown out, just ask the guy to take some before they toss it) and walking around. After a while everyone needs to go home. Me and Crisis had decided ahead of time to do some roofing that night so this is our chance. After we all split up me and Crisis walk to a street where we want to climb a house. It's just a ladder leading to a fire escape in from of a lit garage.
Once we get there we sit on the stoop of an abandoned house and watch for people until the street clears out. After that I hop a low rail and climb up the ladder (it's much louder than I'd like) and start up the stairs. After one flight I stick to the wall and wait for Crisis, (his ascent is just as loud, I don't like the ladder). We go up the rest of the stairs and climb the hook ladder at the top flight to get to the roof.
This seems like a regular ordinary block of roofs until we notice once thing; the door leading inside one of the apartment buildings is wide open with light leaking out. Wow, you're leaving a huge welcome sign to any burglars who know how to use binoculars...
We decide to keep exploring the roofs before we do anything with the door. We climb over the door and check the sky light to look down into the staircase it leads to then proceed to the end of the block. On the last house we find a nice setup of chairs and a table where we lounge out and enjoy the view of the city for a while. After some relaxing we decide to go back down, Crisis is set on getting back to street level through the apartment building.
We get to the open doorway and check around before going in, Crisis is in point and he tests the first step, it squeaks more than a haunted house in scooby doo. Doesn't matter, step two is quiet, but step three is the loudest step ever also. We brace ourselves between the banister and the wall and swing down to the next landing quietly. We then jog down the rest of the stairs and just walk out the front door. Kinda very stressful the fact that we walked down the staircase of an apartment building we knew nothing about but it turned out good.
After leaving the apartment we decided to climb a nearby friend's house (well our goal was to get onto his roof). We walked down his block and went under an apartment into the back yards (there are small unlocked passageways that go from the streets to the yards). Once in the back yards Crisis gave me a boost to a fire escape and then climbed up an AC to get on himself. The fire escape was covered in chipping paint and seemed old. As I started on the stairs I realized that one was missing and the one underneath was loose I warned Crisis and we headed up until w-- CRACK! A stair breaks off under Crisis' foot (apparently more than one stair was loose). We keep going up and paint is chipping off everywhere, as we reach the top flight a light comes on in a window and my back goes against the wall, Crisis crouches halfway up the stairs. A hand pulls back some curtains and I see a face approach the window. After a few seconds the face retreats and the curtains close, the lights go back off. We slink back down the fire escape (the fire escape clearly hates us anyways) and jump across to the one on the next building. As we climb that one nothing seems to go wrong, we fast and silent like the ninjas we are but maybe there are ninjas in the house we're going up also because some lights come one while we're going up the ladder :?, I'll never know...
Once we finally get to the roof we moved around a bit and decided to head down in case people called the cops on us. Went down our friend's fire escape which is actually sturdy and hopped a fence. We walked to the park and lay low for a while then each of us went home. My cab driver was a crazy conspiracy theorist.
Lessons learned: Don't trust rusty old fire escapes.
Gear-
Me
Green Field Shirt
Brown Tank Top
Camo Cargo Shorts
Black Sneakers
Crisis
Navy Long Sleeve
White Short Sleeve
Jeans
Grey Converse
We were hanging out with some friends at night, feasting on free food (if you hang out late enough good left over food gets thrown out, just ask the guy to take some before they toss it) and walking around. After a while everyone needs to go home. Me and Crisis had decided ahead of time to do some roofing that night so this is our chance. After we all split up me and Crisis walk to a street where we want to climb a house. It's just a ladder leading to a fire escape in from of a lit garage.
Once we get there we sit on the stoop of an abandoned house and watch for people until the street clears out. After that I hop a low rail and climb up the ladder (it's much louder than I'd like) and start up the stairs. After one flight I stick to the wall and wait for Crisis, (his ascent is just as loud, I don't like the ladder). We go up the rest of the stairs and climb the hook ladder at the top flight to get to the roof.
This seems like a regular ordinary block of roofs until we notice once thing; the door leading inside one of the apartment buildings is wide open with light leaking out. Wow, you're leaving a huge welcome sign to any burglars who know how to use binoculars...
We decide to keep exploring the roofs before we do anything with the door. We climb over the door and check the sky light to look down into the staircase it leads to then proceed to the end of the block. On the last house we find a nice setup of chairs and a table where we lounge out and enjoy the view of the city for a while. After some relaxing we decide to go back down, Crisis is set on getting back to street level through the apartment building.
We get to the open doorway and check around before going in, Crisis is in point and he tests the first step, it squeaks more than a haunted house in scooby doo. Doesn't matter, step two is quiet, but step three is the loudest step ever also. We brace ourselves between the banister and the wall and swing down to the next landing quietly. We then jog down the rest of the stairs and just walk out the front door. Kinda very stressful the fact that we walked down the staircase of an apartment building we knew nothing about but it turned out good.
After leaving the apartment we decided to climb a nearby friend's house (well our goal was to get onto his roof). We walked down his block and went under an apartment into the back yards (there are small unlocked passageways that go from the streets to the yards). Once in the back yards Crisis gave me a boost to a fire escape and then climbed up an AC to get on himself. The fire escape was covered in chipping paint and seemed old. As I started on the stairs I realized that one was missing and the one underneath was loose I warned Crisis and we headed up until w-- CRACK! A stair breaks off under Crisis' foot (apparently more than one stair was loose). We keep going up and paint is chipping off everywhere, as we reach the top flight a light comes on in a window and my back goes against the wall, Crisis crouches halfway up the stairs. A hand pulls back some curtains and I see a face approach the window. After a few seconds the face retreats and the curtains close, the lights go back off. We slink back down the fire escape (the fire escape clearly hates us anyways) and jump across to the one on the next building. As we climb that one nothing seems to go wrong, we fast and silent like the ninjas we are but maybe there are ninjas in the house we're going up also because some lights come one while we're going up the ladder :?, I'll never know...
Once we finally get to the roof we moved around a bit and decided to head down in case people called the cops on us. Went down our friend's fire escape which is actually sturdy and hopped a fence. We walked to the park and lay low for a while then each of us went home. My cab driver was a crazy conspiracy theorist.
Lessons learned: Don't trust rusty old fire escapes.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Summer Roofing 1
I figure I'm gonna be roofing all the time this summer and unless something particularly crazy happens to distinguish a roofing op I'll just use a generic name.
This one was me and Crisis, we were walking around at like 2 in the morning and we saw a yard with a fire escape.
Gear:
me-
Green open (zipperless) hoody
Red sleeveless shirt
Brown cargo pants
Black sneakers
Crisis-
Grey t-shirt
Jeans
Grey converse
We climbed over a spiked fence into the yard and realized we were really exposed, I sat on the bench in the yard social stealth style while a guy walked by. After he passed us we realized how exposed the entire area was (including our fire escape route), so we moved towards a gate in the back of the yard, Crisis opened it quietly and we passed through it, we were in a small alley between a building and a yard.
We move through the yard slowly because the ground there is really loud (covered in some white stuff *shrugs*), and grab onto the bottom of a fire escape and make our way up. We get up pretty quick because most of the windows are dark. On our way up we caught a couple watching South Park and a guy sleeping with the lights on. Once we got to the roof we took a few minute to admire the view and then climbed up a rooflet and hung there for a bit. We heard a weird noise coming from a chimney and listened but realized it must be either mechanical or an animal because it wasn't the kind of noise a person could make (kind of a flexible metal bending sound).
We moved along the roofs up the block until we go to our last roof, this one was separated from the one were standing on by some metal divider that was ankle high but really malleable and loud, Crisis jumped over it and rolled on the roof (too loud by my standards) I took the slow route and went feet first with a lot of arm support to keep quiet. Once there Crisis tests a door and finds it to be open. Later we decided not to go in because of our lack of equipment (no masks, no gloves etc...).
We headed back to the first yard after hanging out in some random lawn chairs. Got out uneventfully after catching some more of South Park.
Crisis tells me about a huge warehouse nearby, sounds like a good op, we're waiting for Cipher to get back then we'll check it out.
Lessons learned:
Don't jump and roll on roofs
Be prepared to go from plain roofing to indoor ops in terms of equipment.
This one was me and Crisis, we were walking around at like 2 in the morning and we saw a yard with a fire escape.
Gear:
me-
Green open (zipperless) hoody
Red sleeveless shirt
Brown cargo pants
Black sneakers
Crisis-
Grey t-shirt
Jeans
Grey converse
We climbed over a spiked fence into the yard and realized we were really exposed, I sat on the bench in the yard social stealth style while a guy walked by. After he passed us we realized how exposed the entire area was (including our fire escape route), so we moved towards a gate in the back of the yard, Crisis opened it quietly and we passed through it, we were in a small alley between a building and a yard.
We move through the yard slowly because the ground there is really loud (covered in some white stuff *shrugs*), and grab onto the bottom of a fire escape and make our way up. We get up pretty quick because most of the windows are dark. On our way up we caught a couple watching South Park and a guy sleeping with the lights on. Once we got to the roof we took a few minute to admire the view and then climbed up a rooflet and hung there for a bit. We heard a weird noise coming from a chimney and listened but realized it must be either mechanical or an animal because it wasn't the kind of noise a person could make (kind of a flexible metal bending sound).
We moved along the roofs up the block until we go to our last roof, this one was separated from the one were standing on by some metal divider that was ankle high but really malleable and loud, Crisis jumped over it and rolled on the roof (too loud by my standards) I took the slow route and went feet first with a lot of arm support to keep quiet. Once there Crisis tests a door and finds it to be open. Later we decided not to go in because of our lack of equipment (no masks, no gloves etc...).
We headed back to the first yard after hanging out in some random lawn chairs. Got out uneventfully after catching some more of South Park.
Crisis tells me about a huge warehouse nearby, sounds like a good op, we're waiting for Cipher to get back then we'll check it out.
Lessons learned:
Don't jump and roll on roofs
Be prepared to go from plain roofing to indoor ops in terms of equipment.
Roofing and scams
I watched a bunch of clips from a how called the real hustle where guys in the UK and the US scam people out of money or information. It was really interesting and that a lot of the ideas could be used for espionage and ninja stuff. I realized that the correct disguise can get you really far and no one would question it. I'm learning some sleight of hand for fun that I learned from the show.
Late last night I went out with Crisis and we went roofing. Climbed into a yard then up a fire escape and across a block the came back. Might post the whole op later.
Late last night I went out with Crisis and we went roofing. Climbed into a yard then up a fire escape and across a block the came back. Might post the whole op later.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Operation: Headlights
This is an exploration op that I've been waiting to do for a while. There are a few buildings in a park near where I hang out a bit that are gated off, I always wanted to find out what that was about. Tonight I had the opportunity to check it out.
Gear:
Me:
Black tank top
Woodland BDU pants
Woodland bandanna on the face
Black water sneakers
Folding knife
Cipher:
Black and brown camo Jacket
Black short sleeve
Black cargo pants
Grey sneakers
Phone
We were chilling with some friends outside when I told cipher we should split off and check out a place in the park. He was already in the gear listed above because I told him I planned on sneaking around. We left and walked towards the park, along it and then into it. Once in the park we see a cop car driving away from us, we slow down and let it pass away.
We head to some bushes, behind them is a tall chain link, I tell Cipher that I'll climb it, check out the other side and then have him climb over.
I get to the top of the fence, look around and then drop down and get behind a truck. I was surrounded by lots of park vehicles (trucks, cars, garbage trucks etc) and shipping containers. I sneak between the cars until I see a clearing of just dirt. I peek around and see an open gate to a huge parking lot, straight ahead is a large pile of dirt and wood chips. I go back to the fence and tell Cipher to climb over. He gets over with the help of a tree.
We slip through the trucks and after listening and looking cross the clearing to the pile of dirt. We get on top of the pile and hear noises from behind it so we freeze for a while (there are bushes between us and the sounds so we're invisible), I then move to the edge of the pile and look into the huge car lot, seeing no one, lots of cover and only dim lighting I tell Cipher that we're going to continue, as I crawl back my knee acts up and I pop it back into place after I get back to the bottom of the pile. We noticed that the pile was really warm and steam was coming out it at some spots, maybe compost does that or maybe there was something weird about it... I move behind two trucks to the gate and wait for Cipher.
While I'm waiting I hear the wind in the trees but also a car approaching, I get under the truck I'm crouching near and Cipher does as well behind me. We see some headlights hit a shipping container then turn away from us and deeper into the parking lot. We decide to continue anyway.
After waiting a bit to make sure no other cars are headed our way we head into the big lot and get under a big truck. Underneath the truck I explain to Cipher that we're not gonna do lots of small sprints between cover because that's the kind of thing that gets seen out of the corner of the eye, we're going to take a slow approach behind the parked vehicles along the fence I looked over while on the pile of dirt. We do just that.
We hit the last vehicle a large street trolley and get under it and plan our next move, a car goes by the headlights hit us but we're ghosts and it keeps driving by. There's a fence to our left, a building in front of us after a few meters of empty space and more cars to out right but they're well lit. There is light spilling from around the right of the building and a camera on top of it overlooking the parking lot we snuck through, good thing we didn't dart about and took it slow :mrgreen: . We decided to crawl along the fence to the building and peek around the corner to see where all the lights coming from. We QM along the fence and get behind a metal box that's along the building, then I move to a car that's close to the building and lay in it's shadow before getting behind a palet that's leaning on the building. Cipher did the same up until the car part, but he had to dive behind a tiny parking lot car stopper cement thing when a car drove by. After waiting around and peeking around a bit and conferencing with hushed voices Cipher thought (correctly) that we should continue via rooftop after I informed him that there was a running truck with it's head lights pointing our way and a security cam doing the same.
Originally I was going to climb up by using the air conditioner but I didn't trust it and took the fence which turned out to be easier. I moved around a bit on the roof and then Cipher showed up. I've been on a lot of roofs and of all of them I'd have to say this one is the worst, it was loud with gravel but the gravel was half attached to the roof with tar, it was painful to crawl and QM on, even QM was relatively loud (by my standards anyway). We moved along the roof, there were many sky lights, each covered with a metal mesh cage that was padlocked. We QM to the corner of the building where the wall is broken allowing us to look around instead of over, we spot another camera that faces the space between our building and another one across a road from us, good thing we didn't stay on the ground. At this point we split up and agree upon a signal to reunite.
I go on my way and explore a certain section of roof that can get us onto the ground and also out of the compound. Cipher goes to see if he can find a way into the building and to pee. After a few minutes I hear some movement behind me and see a cellphone near one of the sky light cages, I move towards Cipher and we discuss out findings in hushed voices, as the people inside the building we are on blast Spanish music, making our quest for silence that much easier. I tell Cipher that I found a way out but no way to the other buildings without being seen on camera. Cipher tells me that we found no way into the building and I tell him it's for the better since we don't have gloves and he has no mask.
We crouch walk behind some overhanging branches to the edge of the roof as close to the fences we need to climb to get out. There are two fences to climb. One is short the other is tall, I climb one, grab the second one, climb up and then down the other side then wait in the bushes for Cipher to do the same. When he's down we wait around a bit then head to our friends.
For those who don't know QM is quadrupedal movement (balls of the feet and heels of the hands).
Lessons learned:
Unless you're spotted then no car is even trying to be vigilant.
Security cameras never cover roofs.
People still don't look up.
Had a great time, stayed invisible, and finally got to see what the compound I had walked past so many times was actually like.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Shinobi Schooling
I decided it was time to teach Pines some stealth and escape stuff, to see if he was into that kinda thing. He has the potential to be part of my group of operatives. Teaching began two days ago:
Equipment:
Me:
Black martial arts pants
Black tank top
Black short sleeve
Woodland sleeveless jacket
Black water shoes
Pines:
Brown cargo pants
Red short sleeve
Black hoodie
Black high top converse
We met up later than usual the sky was getting dark but it wasn't night yet. We went to a parkour spot we call "the Fort" after food and I explained some shinobi-iri (infiltration) and some gotonpo (5 elements escape evasion). Once we were there we did parkour and I taught different walking techniques for stealth and enclosed spaces. We moved onto our next parkour spot taking a few short cuts and passing a police station which we may revisit one night soon.
After training more parkour at the next spot (a place we call "Black Marble" because it's made of...) I taught Pines different night awareness techniques to increase the sense at night. We checked the time (we were gonna go to a house party later) and decided we wanted to check out a spot in one of our campus buildings, a small dark passage we found unlocked. We ran around trying to find a flashlight until we realized that there was a pharmacy right in front of us that sold them. Armed with our lights we headed towards the building we planned on exploring took the elevator up and headed up a bit further on the service staircase to the small door.
Once we went in and closed it behind us we turned our lights on and were disappointed. We were on a small ledge near a huge fall filled with vents, and insulated pipes. Somewhere above us was a catwalk, but climbing in pitch darkness with a flashlight didn't really tickle my fancy so we left and explored the building some more. We found some interesting stuff including an entrance to the service elevator that didn't require a key which could get us on any floor that was inaccessible otherwise. We left after that.
We planned on getting a ride from a friend to a house party but he was out eating with his girlfriend and was taking hours (literally), Pines got tired of waiting and we went back outside to explore roofs on such a nice night. I told him that I knew a few roofs behind the building we had explored. The roof I planned on climbing was close to a group of people so we climbed up a staircase on the building across from it and then took a ladder to the roof. After walking around and looking around we saw that no one was on the ground level anymore and we could climb the roof we initially planned to climb. We headed down another staircase and ended up in a backyard full of old bikes, we took a small unlocked passage under a house and got to the street. From there we took more fire escape stairs to the roof, where Pines realized that we were across the street from a friend of his who's window we could see. After giving a call and finding that they weren't home we bounced to the closest alley.
This was a shady alley, complete with flickering lights and silhouettes of homeless people. After we walked through it once (avoiding said silhouettes) we waited on the other side for a bit then went back in without running into people. We found a ladder at the top of a staircase and climbed onto the roof, I guess we were near above a restaurant because it smelled of sex and fish. We walked around and enjoyed the view (we were looking down on a well lit street full of bars and clubs Smile ). On our way down we heard a girl scream, me and Pines looked at each other and rushed to the edge of the rooflet we were on and peeked over ready to kick some rapist ass. Turned out to be a drunk girl running around with her friends (so much for shady alleys...). We remained hidden until the alley cleared out and then left, we saw a chick smoking in a dark doorway, which looked pretty creepy since we could see her cig, the smoke and her knees only. We went to another alley across the street.
In between alleys we ran into the guy who was supposed to drive us to the house party, he had finally finished eating and was heading home. He said he'd call us when he was ready to go. We crossed the street and entered the last alley of the night.
It turned out to be a place we had trained a long time ago in the beginning of the school year. We had seen a fire escape with the stair case pulled up and decided to come back and do it at night, three months later I guess it was time. A wall run and some quick climbing got us onto the fire escape. Once on the rooflet (one story up out of three) I noticed a guy in a lit window so I crouch ran onto a fire escape on the same height level and flattened myself against the wall out of sight, as soon as Pines head appeared between the ladder bars I signed that he move fast. Ironically the fire escape we were now on was covered in barbed wire on the ground level but easily accessible from the rooflet of the adjacent building (where we were), no point locking a glass door. We ascended and crouched behind a wooded plank attached to the side a staircase (a make shift climb-proofing I'm assuming) while people on ground level passed underneath us. We climbed a ladder that had a wood cover with the lock rusted off (probably taggers or something). We hung out on that roof for a bit (the people who owned the buildings we were on had set up a couch and tables and had clearly partied up there before. We left when Pines got a call from his friend who was ready to go to the party, we hid a bit while we waited for the alley to empty out the descended and jogged to his apartment. Guy didn't drive us but he did pay for the cab ride...
A full night that proves that people still don't look up...
Maps:
Equipment:
Me:
Black martial arts pants
Black tank top
Black short sleeve
Woodland sleeveless jacket
Black water shoes
Pines:
Brown cargo pants
Red short sleeve
Black hoodie
Black high top converse
We met up later than usual the sky was getting dark but it wasn't night yet. We went to a parkour spot we call "the Fort" after food and I explained some shinobi-iri (infiltration) and some gotonpo (5 elements escape evasion). Once we were there we did parkour and I taught different walking techniques for stealth and enclosed spaces. We moved onto our next parkour spot taking a few short cuts and passing a police station which we may revisit one night soon.
After training more parkour at the next spot (a place we call "Black Marble" because it's made of...) I taught Pines different night awareness techniques to increase the sense at night. We checked the time (we were gonna go to a house party later) and decided we wanted to check out a spot in one of our campus buildings, a small dark passage we found unlocked. We ran around trying to find a flashlight until we realized that there was a pharmacy right in front of us that sold them. Armed with our lights we headed towards the building we planned on exploring took the elevator up and headed up a bit further on the service staircase to the small door.
Once we went in and closed it behind us we turned our lights on and were disappointed. We were on a small ledge near a huge fall filled with vents, and insulated pipes. Somewhere above us was a catwalk, but climbing in pitch darkness with a flashlight didn't really tickle my fancy so we left and explored the building some more. We found some interesting stuff including an entrance to the service elevator that didn't require a key which could get us on any floor that was inaccessible otherwise. We left after that.
We planned on getting a ride from a friend to a house party but he was out eating with his girlfriend and was taking hours (literally), Pines got tired of waiting and we went back outside to explore roofs on such a nice night. I told him that I knew a few roofs behind the building we had explored. The roof I planned on climbing was close to a group of people so we climbed up a staircase on the building across from it and then took a ladder to the roof. After walking around and looking around we saw that no one was on the ground level anymore and we could climb the roof we initially planned to climb. We headed down another staircase and ended up in a backyard full of old bikes, we took a small unlocked passage under a house and got to the street. From there we took more fire escape stairs to the roof, where Pines realized that we were across the street from a friend of his who's window we could see. After giving a call and finding that they weren't home we bounced to the closest alley.
This was a shady alley, complete with flickering lights and silhouettes of homeless people. After we walked through it once (avoiding said silhouettes) we waited on the other side for a bit then went back in without running into people. We found a ladder at the top of a staircase and climbed onto the roof, I guess we were near above a restaurant because it smelled of sex and fish. We walked around and enjoyed the view (we were looking down on a well lit street full of bars and clubs Smile ). On our way down we heard a girl scream, me and Pines looked at each other and rushed to the edge of the rooflet we were on and peeked over ready to kick some rapist ass. Turned out to be a drunk girl running around with her friends (so much for shady alleys...). We remained hidden until the alley cleared out and then left, we saw a chick smoking in a dark doorway, which looked pretty creepy since we could see her cig, the smoke and her knees only. We went to another alley across the street.
In between alleys we ran into the guy who was supposed to drive us to the house party, he had finally finished eating and was heading home. He said he'd call us when he was ready to go. We crossed the street and entered the last alley of the night.
It turned out to be a place we had trained a long time ago in the beginning of the school year. We had seen a fire escape with the stair case pulled up and decided to come back and do it at night, three months later I guess it was time. A wall run and some quick climbing got us onto the fire escape. Once on the rooflet (one story up out of three) I noticed a guy in a lit window so I crouch ran onto a fire escape on the same height level and flattened myself against the wall out of sight, as soon as Pines head appeared between the ladder bars I signed that he move fast. Ironically the fire escape we were now on was covered in barbed wire on the ground level but easily accessible from the rooflet of the adjacent building (where we were), no point locking a glass door. We ascended and crouched behind a wooded plank attached to the side a staircase (a make shift climb-proofing I'm assuming) while people on ground level passed underneath us. We climbed a ladder that had a wood cover with the lock rusted off (probably taggers or something). We hung out on that roof for a bit (the people who owned the buildings we were on had set up a couch and tables and had clearly partied up there before. We left when Pines got a call from his friend who was ready to go to the party, we hid a bit while we waited for the alley to empty out the descended and jogged to his apartment. Guy didn't drive us but he did pay for the cab ride...
A full night that proves that people still don't look up...
Maps:
Monday, March 23, 2009
Operation: Roof Marathon
A great night with two people I've found to be interested in opping, parkour, and general sneaky stuff. The morning consited of me and Pines doing parkour, finding and buying the book "Access All Areas" in our student book store, and climbing a low roof downtown in daylight.
Later that night we decided to go out and do some more parkour and sneaking, this time Kusa was with us too.
Gear:
Me:
Black martial arts pants
Black sneakers
Black hoodie
Old USMC jacket (sleeves cut off)
Kusa:
Green hoodie
Tan cargo pants
Brown sneakers
Pines:
Black striped hoodie
Brown cargo pants
Black converse sneakers
We met up relatively early(other friends were going clubbing), it was probably around 10ish. Me and Kusa took the subway downtown, Pines met us outside the subway station. We grabbed some food and then went on our way.
We went down to a busy street and moved from parkour spot to parkour spot, training a bit on each one (we found a huge wrench at one and decided to go back and keep it later), we filmed a bit of out training for fun. We followed the street until we turned towards a well known university where Pines' girlfriend studies. There we did some more parkour (which impressed drunk people heading for clubs and some pretty girls as well Wink ). We saw some of Kusa's friends who went to the school and asked them about security and they told us security was invisible but that their building was to the north of the campus. After some parkour we moved around the campus and environs to look for some sneaky stuff to do.
Our first expedition of the night was a small roof on the campus. It was surrounded by buildings on all sides, but only touched the side of one of them. Before we made our way up we went underneath a dome camera and made sure it wasn't facing us, after that we moved towards and over a rail and a rooflet onto the low roof. Pines started filming a bit here as we crouch walked around the ventilation and up a ladder onto a higher roof. After checking it out for a while we got back down and continued to look for opportunities.
We crossed a few streets and found a building whose awning we wanted to climb but the street was too busy and the awning "wasn't epic enough" to do with that much risk involved. However the building was a residence for the aforementioned university AND it was an all girls residence so we knew we had to try something stupid there. We actually figured that all out when we went into a side alley and peeked over a wall to see a bunch of girls studying at tables at 12 on a Friday night. After checking the building's exterior for exits and weighting out balls to make sure we felt up for it we decided to climb a small wall talk into the residence, talk to girls and run from security if they whined at us. Nothing went according to plan Rolling Eyes We climbed the wall and crouched in the bushes on the other side then walked up to the door (backs straight, no stealth here, just gutsiness) and..
discovered it to be locked. We knocked and two Asian girls gave us dirty/confused looks through the glass but didn't let us in. We ran back and vanished over the wall then ran for a block or so before turning into an alley.
The alley though wasn't bare of impromptu exploring. I spotted a ladder that lead straight to the roof of a four story building. There was a balcony beside it which helped because the ladder started on the second floor. I took the lead, sneaking under the balcony then climbing it before grabbing the bottom rung of the ladder. The climb took forever and the cage around the ladder made it feel slightly claustrophobic but the roof was to tranquil and nice that it was well worth it. We explored more roof and enjoyed the skyline as we crouched behind ventilation ducts. We found a staircase down to the ground and took that. On out way down we saw a beware of do sign, but didn't have any real problems.
We continued to move along alleys (this city is full of them, you can move miles without setting foot on a major street), when I spotted a staircase that led upwards towards a barbed wire fence. Curious, I went up and found a wooden board leading to a roof. I tested the board to see if it could hold then crossed it onto the roof, Kusa and Pines followed suite. We moved forward in low crouches and found a ladder leading to higher location. I instinctively went to it and began ascending. At the top was another roof with another ladder Very Happy , we went up that one and were quite surprised to see a third ladder Shocked we scaled it too and reached the highest point of the gymnasium we were on (Pines checked some sky lights on the exploration on the way down). Kusa spotted a ladder and we used it to get onto a small substructure that has a roof that slanted on the sides. We got onto that and lay on our backs for a while and just talked and looked at the sky, Kusa showed me how to tell North with the stars. The view of the city was incredible, even though we had climbed a bunch we were still so close to the ground compared to the other buildings in sight. We stayed until the wind made us cold then we explored a bit and went back down.
The rest of the night is us travel via alleyways and contemplating entering a hotel but deciding against it, vowing to wait for summer instead when we'd be able to jump in the pool. We made our way to Pines' place and at one point dropped from a one story roof onto a main street (some people probably though we were crazy). We took a photo on a random statue and Kusa got one on another statue that he climbed on his own.
We spent time at Pine's place watching parkour videos until half an hour before our bus.
Before heading home me and Kusa picked up the wrench from earlier in the night and made our way to the bus stop. We found an old TV with knobs and an antennae and picked that up too. Got to the bus ran into friends, waited to get off, lugged the TV back to residence where a few high girls held doors open for us, dropped the TV off in Kusa's room, go to my room, put wrench on the ground, remove clothes, position myself under the covers, pretend to try to read Access All Areas and fall asleep.
A great night full of random opportunities.
I learned that:
Security at ****** University sucks, but the things to do around and in it do not suck.
Pines can be trusted to behave appropriately on ops (which I suspected before even going out that night but now I know for sure).
I probably have a fun, reliable three man team now
Later that night we decided to go out and do some more parkour and sneaking, this time Kusa was with us too.
Gear:
Me:
Black martial arts pants
Black sneakers
Black hoodie
Old USMC jacket (sleeves cut off)
Kusa:
Green hoodie
Tan cargo pants
Brown sneakers
Pines:
Black striped hoodie
Brown cargo pants
Black converse sneakers
We met up relatively early(other friends were going clubbing), it was probably around 10ish. Me and Kusa took the subway downtown, Pines met us outside the subway station. We grabbed some food and then went on our way.
We went down to a busy street and moved from parkour spot to parkour spot, training a bit on each one (we found a huge wrench at one and decided to go back and keep it later), we filmed a bit of out training for fun. We followed the street until we turned towards a well known university where Pines' girlfriend studies. There we did some more parkour (which impressed drunk people heading for clubs and some pretty girls as well Wink ). We saw some of Kusa's friends who went to the school and asked them about security and they told us security was invisible but that their building was to the north of the campus. After some parkour we moved around the campus and environs to look for some sneaky stuff to do.
Our first expedition of the night was a small roof on the campus. It was surrounded by buildings on all sides, but only touched the side of one of them. Before we made our way up we went underneath a dome camera and made sure it wasn't facing us, after that we moved towards and over a rail and a rooflet onto the low roof. Pines started filming a bit here as we crouch walked around the ventilation and up a ladder onto a higher roof. After checking it out for a while we got back down and continued to look for opportunities.
We crossed a few streets and found a building whose awning we wanted to climb but the street was too busy and the awning "wasn't epic enough" to do with that much risk involved. However the building was a residence for the aforementioned university AND it was an all girls residence so we knew we had to try something stupid there. We actually figured that all out when we went into a side alley and peeked over a wall to see a bunch of girls studying at tables at 12 on a Friday night. After checking the building's exterior for exits and weighting out balls to make sure we felt up for it we decided to climb a small wall talk into the residence, talk to girls and run from security if they whined at us. Nothing went according to plan Rolling Eyes We climbed the wall and crouched in the bushes on the other side then walked up to the door (backs straight, no stealth here, just gutsiness) and..
discovered it to be locked. We knocked and two Asian girls gave us dirty/confused looks through the glass but didn't let us in. We ran back and vanished over the wall then ran for a block or so before turning into an alley.
The alley though wasn't bare of impromptu exploring. I spotted a ladder that lead straight to the roof of a four story building. There was a balcony beside it which helped because the ladder started on the second floor. I took the lead, sneaking under the balcony then climbing it before grabbing the bottom rung of the ladder. The climb took forever and the cage around the ladder made it feel slightly claustrophobic but the roof was to tranquil and nice that it was well worth it. We explored more roof and enjoyed the skyline as we crouched behind ventilation ducts. We found a staircase down to the ground and took that. On out way down we saw a beware of do sign, but didn't have any real problems.
We continued to move along alleys (this city is full of them, you can move miles without setting foot on a major street), when I spotted a staircase that led upwards towards a barbed wire fence. Curious, I went up and found a wooden board leading to a roof. I tested the board to see if it could hold then crossed it onto the roof, Kusa and Pines followed suite. We moved forward in low crouches and found a ladder leading to higher location. I instinctively went to it and began ascending. At the top was another roof with another ladder Very Happy , we went up that one and were quite surprised to see a third ladder Shocked we scaled it too and reached the highest point of the gymnasium we were on (Pines checked some sky lights on the exploration on the way down). Kusa spotted a ladder and we used it to get onto a small substructure that has a roof that slanted on the sides. We got onto that and lay on our backs for a while and just talked and looked at the sky, Kusa showed me how to tell North with the stars. The view of the city was incredible, even though we had climbed a bunch we were still so close to the ground compared to the other buildings in sight. We stayed until the wind made us cold then we explored a bit and went back down.
The rest of the night is us travel via alleyways and contemplating entering a hotel but deciding against it, vowing to wait for summer instead when we'd be able to jump in the pool. We made our way to Pines' place and at one point dropped from a one story roof onto a main street (some people probably though we were crazy). We took a photo on a random statue and Kusa got one on another statue that he climbed on his own.
We spent time at Pine's place watching parkour videos until half an hour before our bus.
Before heading home me and Kusa picked up the wrench from earlier in the night and made our way to the bus stop. We found an old TV with knobs and an antennae and picked that up too. Got to the bus ran into friends, waited to get off, lugged the TV back to residence where a few high girls held doors open for us, dropped the TV off in Kusa's room, go to my room, put wrench on the ground, remove clothes, position myself under the covers, pretend to try to read Access All Areas and fall asleep.
A great night full of random opportunities.
I learned that:
Security at ****** University sucks, but the things to do around and in it do not suck.
Pines can be trusted to behave appropriately on ops (which I suspected before even going out that night but now I know for sure).
I probably have a fun, reliable three man team now
Saturday, March 14, 2009
PK all Day
Lot's of parkour recently. The weather is clearing up and the snow is melting. Last night I went out with Kusa in some dark clothes to climb onto some roofs, but we went out too early and there were people, so we did a bunch of parkour near the new spot I found, and in a playground as well as on some train tracks. Was a great night run especially on the limited spots we had. Worked on a lot of stuff but didn't end up climbing the buildings, we'll get to it some other time...
Today had a great jam with my friend from Jersey (Pines), we basically did a migration jam discovering tons of spots around downtown and we then went into this campus we trained on before did a bunch there and then headed back towards where we started using only alleys. We have a lot in common and should train together more. Discovered a few great spots and we appreciate marble surfaces a lot because of how nice it feels. Great jam, we got ice cream and after talking to the chick behind the counter (who thought we were a team because we both wore red) we decided we wanna start a parkour club at our school.
Weekend is great so far and I look forward to tons of nice weather with lots of parkour :D.
Today had a great jam with my friend from Jersey (Pines), we basically did a migration jam discovering tons of spots around downtown and we then went into this campus we trained on before did a bunch there and then headed back towards where we started using only alleys. We have a lot in common and should train together more. Discovered a few great spots and we appreciate marble surfaces a lot because of how nice it feels. Great jam, we got ice cream and after talking to the chick behind the counter (who thought we were a team because we both wore red) we decided we wanna start a parkour club at our school.
Weekend is great so far and I look forward to tons of nice weather with lots of parkour :D.
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