This video from the top of Rio's Christ the Redeemer just might give you vertigo

This video from the top of Rio&#039;s Christ the Redeemer just might give you vertigo

(Image credit: Lee Thompson/Instagram)

last updated January 8, 2015

Lee Thompson went to Rio de Janeiro to take photos of the World Cup preparations. He left with a selfie atop the Christ the Redeemer statue, nearly 98 feet above the ground.

Thompson wrote about the adventure at his company's website, The Flash Pack. Everything was done by the book, as his colleague, Oliver Harvey, secured clearance for the journey to the top of the statue through Brazil's tourist board. The trip wasn't for the faint of heart: The pair (along with two workmen) "crawled in circles up 12 flights of rickety stairs that seemed to get narrower with every step," Thompson wrote. It took about 20 minutes to get to the heart of the statue, and they finally made it to the shoulder "after what felt like an eternity of pressing heat and pitch darkness."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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