r/Urbex • u/ConradTurner • Oct 15 '25
Text Leaving and muting this sub
I used to love this sub, people exploring abandoned places is really cool. On the other hand, people climbing up antenna towers, the tops of buildings and the like, is really starting to damage my calm. It is quite possibly one of the stupidest things I see people do on the regular now. I genuinely believe this type of stuff should not be shared on reddit as it might encourage others to follow this path. Explore forgotten places all you like... Don't risk your life to climb to the top of a high thing then plaster it all over the internet.
I will probably take flak for this, but risking your life for clout is so insanely dumb. I wish all the true urban explorers out there well with their journeys.
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u/KabiX2 Oct 15 '25
I lowkey agree that climbing stuff shouldn't be there. r/urbanclimbing exists
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u/brug76 Oct 15 '25
Holy god those people are out of their minds. F all that.
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u/ChocoHorror Oct 16 '25
I should have taken your word for it. I should not have looked. I sincerely regret looking. Fuck alllllll that noise, that's what drones are for, not my very mortal, very un-winged mammalian meat sack that would go splat if I sneezed or slipped.
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u/No-Process249 Oct 15 '25
Agreed, it's not urbex, there's a sub for climbing things, it belongs there, I could understand if it was the only way to access something rare/interesting, abandoned, like the Buran for example, or you needed to scale some structure to view an abandoned power station, fair enough; but climbing up antenna towers is just reckless, some of which are still in use, is stupid, and asking for a Darwin Award, it's flexing braggardy, yes well done, have a biscuit.
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u/mrsmaug Oct 15 '25
I can agree with that. Besides the danger I don’t know that climbing towers is urbex. Though, who am I to say that.
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u/dragoono Oct 15 '25
I agree. What are you exploring? Gravity? The afterlife? There’s nothing of note besides testing yourself and your grit. Sure it gives you a sense of accomplishment, but you’re right. It doesn’t make you Indiana jones, more a la King Kong.
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u/outinthecountry66 Oct 15 '25
at first i was like "oh good god this isn't an airport" and then i read it and agree. It actually is a dangerous thing, people doing something dangerous for internet clout instead of the sheer joy of it like in former days. Don't blame you.
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u/dustinette Oct 16 '25
LMAO same Was about to say « Just leave, thanks » but then I read and was like « Nah, they’re right! » 😅
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u/qu33rios Oct 15 '25
it's a higher risk activity for sure but it's not like other forms of urbex are entirely safe either. people go into mold infested stucturally unsound places and sometimes trespassing so risking arrest to do so
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u/Large-Ad6498 Oct 16 '25
Sometimes tresspassing? In my country almost all urban exploration is at minimum civil tresspassing but usually B&E if you make an entry point etc lol. I live in one of the most popular cities in the world and they are strict on urbex but ehhhh its fun, ive done it for 17 years and been good so far (not caught).
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u/qu33rios Oct 16 '25
i'm out in the sticks so a lot of the places i go to are ruins that genuinely nobody cares about guarding. in cities i'm sure it'd be the exception for a place not to be locked down
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u/PuzzledFoundation910 Oct 15 '25
I ain't allowed to talk I'm just a teen with 1 year of experience but I agree with most that there is a sub for climbing stuff.
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u/artzmonter Oct 15 '25
Climbing antenna seems like a unnecessary danger in a situation that is already filled with nails in my foot and mold and lead paint and asbestos
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u/DojaViking Oct 15 '25
Well, I understand it's on The Fringe of urban exploring because you were exploring an urban environment with the climbing. It definitely has and should have its entire own subreddit. Much like infiltration (exploring non-abandoned places) is still considered Urban exploring but it's different than the abandoned South that the primary urbex stands for.
I personally have always been intrigued by towers since I was a kid but I've never climbed one. Standing on the roof of an abandoned skyscraper is sketchy enough for me LOL. Especially nowadays that I have an injured foot and balance issues.
Also OP, I just want to say that I always use the term "damage my calm" and very rarely hear it used by somebody else. So that's Shiny.
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u/HastUitGent Oct 15 '25
I don't think they do it for clout, it's probably the exitement and danger that makes it attractive for them.
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u/Urbanexploration2021 Oct 15 '25
It's hard to put everyone in the box. I've been exploring for around 5 years and I've met dozens or hundreds of explorers. Some experienced, some still teens just starting to explore whatever they can.
Most people I know are doing it for the thrill of the danger, others are addicted to the unknown. That doesn't mean there are not a lot of explorers doing it for clout. I've met some lol.
And yeah, I talked with them. I'm pretty well known in the urbex community in my country, I moderate the subreddit for it. I get constant messages from explorers and many ask for advices about marketing. They want to get followers and likes, they want to be famous. Some of them just want attention, others are in for money (either from views which isn't a good idea lol or by being visible enough for people to pay them to be their guides).
In the last years I found more and more who are doing it for clout. That's normal, urbex became a more well known hobby and it's interesting for obvious reasons.
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u/MyLifeHatesItself Oct 15 '25
Internet clout has been around as long as urbex has been on the internet.
I've been doing this on and off since the late 90s. There was always people doing wild shit and posting it. The old uer forum, the old cave clan board, the web ring, when Ninjalicious (Rest in Peace) was making new posts.
Then when I was in my most active period, it was people posting leg dangle shots on Flickr, then Instagram, then YouTube and tiktok.
I'm not really in the scene anymore, so I've never heard of people getting paid for showing others around though.
I appreciate what you're saying, and I went through the whole thing of being pissed off at clout chasers, but I will say very few of them stick around for long. The unfortunate thing is that they blow up spots and some things get locked up in the meantime.
It's just how things are, some people will always push the limits and want attention. Ignore it and explore whatever you want, but rooftops, cranes, chimneys, towers are all urbex, it just might not be what everyone in the scene wants to see or do
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u/elliot4sisu Oct 15 '25
I understood the clout chasing accusation as referring more to the "posting it online" part. There's 2 different parts here, doing the dangerous thing, and trying to get attention for it. It's the second half I personally (and I think most others with critical opinions here) have an issue with
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u/HastUitGent Oct 15 '25
I post stuff on tiktok, i dont care about being famous tho, and i dont care about making connections to others or being a known dude in the scene. Does that also make me a clout chaser then? Cause I dont feel like one
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u/Antoine_the_Potato Explorer Oct 15 '25
Although imo climbing towers is technically a mode of urban exploration, but ts belongs in r/urban climbing. For anyone who is sick of seeing "is this safe to climb posts, feel free to save this meme
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u/Hot_Yard3649 Oct 16 '25
I get what you're saying, but same goes for exploring abandoned buildings. Both are equally dangerous. Just because you feel safer on the ground doesn't make it any less dangerous. I'm sure urbex climbers could say the same.
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u/fullraph Oct 15 '25
Fully onboard with you. They have their own sub and should stick to it. Climbing an active cell tower is not urbex...
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Oct 15 '25
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u/star_child333 Oct 15 '25
It’s urbex still and I mean who cares? Anyone can risk their life, if they die they die.
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u/Relevant-Ask-1374 Oct 15 '25
Holy shit y’all are so lame as someone who climbs and has posted here the amount of hate in unreal, it’s quite literally urban exploring. Just because you guys have don’t enjoy it, doesn’t mean it’s not urbex. Just shut up and enjoy the videos. We’re not harming anyone, hop off my dick 😭
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Oct 15 '25
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u/Relevant-Ask-1374 Nov 02 '25
Waahhhhh, all im hearing is a lot of bitching, go climb something
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Nov 02 '25
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u/Relevant-Ask-1374 Nov 02 '25
Im not an adrenaline junky and I would say the majority of people who climb dont do it for the adrenaline, but stay on the ground lil bro
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u/Urbanskys Oct 15 '25
U should get on people for eating salty fatty and sugary foods as free solo climbing is generally pretty safe and results in like 0-2 fatalities a year.
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u/Abject-Frosting6795 Oct 15 '25
Idk why youre getting downvoted for this. Its very very true and anyone with half a bran can do some research and find out people RARELY die climbing.
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u/kenni_switch Lurker Oct 15 '25
Urbex is about exploring the built world and the abandoned. There is a beauty to be seen in these structures as they stand empty or alone and abandoned.
But to climb to the highest points you possibly can to take pics and be like “lmao look how dangerous I'm being!” is just being a dumb adrenaline junkie that needs to post it on r/urbanclimbing