On June 4 2015 I ran the stairs of the tallest building in
Arizona marking the 18th state I have run the tallest building in.
Chase Tower at 40 stories and 483 feet tall is the tallest
building in the state of Arizona. Downtown Phoenix is in the flight path for Sky Harbor airport so they have an ordinance on how tall buildings can be downtown.
I visit Phoenix each month for work and yet
it has taken me three years to finally get in this stairwell to run to the top.
I tried three times unsuccessfully to speak to the property manager of the
building. He took my business card once and I left him a couple of voicemail messages and he never called me back to talk about it.
I figured that was plenty of due diligence on my part and it was time to just
go in, find the stairwell and run up it.
Chase tower is downtown with a parking garage across the
street. There is an underground tunnel connecting parking to the building. The
tunnel is lit up in blue lights and then leads to a spacious open lobby area.
There are three security guards at the table to the entrance. When I scouted
the building on previous visits I noticed the main stairwell is locked with an
alarm sign on it. There are three different elevator sections that go to
different floor groupings in the building.
This day I had just finished with some customer visits for
work and was in my business clothes with three hours until my flight. I went to
the second floor and wondered over to where the main concrete tower stairwell
would be. There was a small break room and then the stairwell entrance. I
walked into the hot stairwell and was happy to see that I made it. I walked
down to the main floor level to start my run and noticed there is a security
camera and doors that would certainly alarm if I exited out of them.
I noticed a small sign near each door as I started the run
up to the top. In my brief glance at the sign I thought it said I could exit
any floor except the bottom floor would sound an alarm. That was fine with me
and began my run up the stairwell. If you look on the outside of the concrete
portion of Chase tower you’ll notice a black strip running up it. Turns out
that is a vented area that runs up the stairwell. When it is over 100 degrees outside that stairwell sure
heats up!
I made it up to the 40th floor and saw a small
built in ladder going up to a cave like area that houses some HVAC pipes. I
climbed up the ladder just so I could show I made it to the top but quickly
climbed down to the main stairwell.
It took me 8 minutes 6 seconds to make it up in my business
clothes. Not bad. As I caught my breath I took a minute to read the sign by
each door a bit closer.
It is clear by the sign that I only had three options out.
1) Walk down and go out the only unlocked door and set off an alarm. 2) Push
the intercom and have security come save me. 3) Stand there all day until
someone entered the stairwell.
I chose option number 2. I decided to call them from the 2nd
floor so I made my way down the stairs. On the 22nd floor I heard
people just outside the stairwell door talking and waiting for an elevator. I
knocked hard on the door and made some noises to see if they would open the
door for me. They didn’t do anything about my knocking so I laughed at how
silly I looked and continued down.
I finally made it to the 2nd floor and took a
minute to catch my breath and wipe the sweat off my face. I pushed the intercom
button and told security “Hey, it appears I’ve locked myself in the stairwell
on the second floor, any chance you can come get me out of here?” He told me he
was on his way and I waited a bit nervously. I didn’t really know what to
expect. Was I going to get an interview of who I was and why I was there? I
would be honest as I wasn’t breaking any posted rules but I would prefer to
just get out of there without having to go through an interview.
The door opened and I saw a man in his mid-20’s. I started
the conversation with a smile “wow thanks! I stepped in here to get a little
break and exercise and locked myself in.” before he could respond I quickly
kept talking and changed the subject to show I didn’t think it was a big deal I
was in there “How is your day going?” We were walking toward the elevator and
he says “Long and BORING! NOTHING going on at all today, can’t wait to get out
of here.” I’m thinking to myself, well there is some random dude running your
stairs, that is something that is going on. At that point I knew he didn’t care
at all about sweaty old business man stuck in the stairwell and we made some
nice small talk about college and some other things about his day.
I walked out of the elevator and out to the parking garage
and was thrilled to have my 18th state checked off my list, each one
has been an adventure. I travel a lot for work and spend a lot of time on my
own so little moments like the one with this security guard give me a good
laugh. On to the next!
I watch your videos.
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