1 The climber
Luke Jones, a 30-year-old former rope-access technician who now works for Greenpeace full-time, has previously climbed on to the roofs of Parliament and the National Gallery. He is currently on bail after being arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage, although he says he caused none. No previous climber of Nelson’s column has been prosecuted for it.
2 The partner
Hidden behind this carving of a coil of rope is Ali Garrigan, Jones’s team-mate for this climb. She is holding the end of the yellow line that would have caught him if he had fallen. In 2013, she climbed the Shard.
3 The technique
Beginning at 4am, Jones and Garrigan used a 15-metre ladder to reach the base of the column itself, then “aid climbed” up its lightning conductor and free climbed over the floral capital. The most technically difficult part of the climb was the statue itself, however. Jones chose a route up Nelson’s right leg, then on to his right arm, from where he was able to fix a sling round his neck.
4 The air
The air in London, and elsewhere, is what the climb was all about. Pollution levels in the capital have been illegally high for many years, and will remain so until 2025, even under the government’s reduction plans.
5 The mask
Personalised with a ship’s wheel and anchor, this specially made respirator mask was one of several placed on statues throughout London, including on Eros, Oliver Cromwell, Winston Churchill and Thierry Henry.
