Views from Above
COLIN EDWARDS
“You see that crane behind you?” Simons said. “I climbed that last week.”
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When Jordan Simons isn’t in his high school classroom he’s likely on top of a building or crane in Toronto. “I started climbing schools and exploring abandoned places in my neighbourhood when I was in grade 6,” Simons says.
Climbing schools is one thing, but climbing to the top of a crane in a construction site in the middle of downtown Toronto is something else. He’s crazy, right? Who else would attempt to do that? Well, Herbert Ford and Jordan Pacfico would.
Toronto is home to a great number of urban explorers who use the city’s tall buildings and underground tunnels as their playground. Simons, Ford and Pacfico are photographers who capture parts of Toronto that most people have never seen. Whether they’re on top of the Ice Condominiums on York Street or in an abandoned research facility, these photographers see Toronto from unique vantage points.
Herbert Ford has always been fascinated in how things work behind the scenes. “I’ve always been really curious in seeing things that aren’t open for the public to see,” Ford says.
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He started urban exploring a few years back when he and a few friends would go out looking for buildings to discover. Pacfico started urban exploring in 2014 after photos on Instagram sparked his interest. “I didn’t get into urban exploring for the thrill, I do it for the amazing shots,” Pacfico says.
Scary, right? Simons remembers the feeling he had before his first tall building downtown. “I puked,” Simons says. “Well, not actually, but I felt sick to my stomach.” Nowadays, Simons has put the fear behind him and enjoys the adrenaline rush he gets. “I’m not scared to climb anything now, you just have to conquer that fear and then you’re fine,” he says.
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Aside from conquering fear, urban explorers also have to deal with security and police. Ford has had his fair share of run-ins with security in Toronto. Once, Ford was scaling a crane with a friend and noticed that somebody was watching them from a condo across the street. A few minutes later they were startled by the sound of sirens.
“We had to rush down to the bottom (of the crane) and we got out five minutes before the cops got there,” Ford says.
Urban explorers can face charges including breaking and entering, trespassing and criminal mischief. That worries Pacfico.
“I’m slowly starting to stop rooftopping because I don’t want a criminal record before I go to university,” he says. But for Simons, the good outweighs the bad in urban exploring. “I’ve ran into security a couple of times and sometimes they don’t even care, so it’s not going to stop me from doing anything,” Simons says. Simons said he popped open the hatch to a roof once and workers at the building were right there. He played it cool and pretended he was meant to be there and they let him take pictures.
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Don’t all buildings have security cameras in place to stop you? Wrong.
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“I would say about 70 to 80 per-cent of the time the roof of buildings is easy to get on,” Ford says. According to Ford, most rooftops lack cameras and alarm systems. Simons is shocked by how easy it is to get into buildings. “Some buildings just make no sense, one stairwell will be locked with cameras around and the stairwell on the other side of the building will be open,” he says. Most urban explorers bring a screwdriver or small pocket knife set in case they have to open a door. That being said, Simons stays away from doors that have been damaged by a crowbar in case he gets caught and they pin the damage on him.
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All that trouble just to get a few pictures? Well worth it, they say. “Sunsets from the rooftop are the most spectacular thing in the world,” Simons says. Then he grinned and pointed.
“See that building over there,” he said. “I’m going on the roof.”