YouTuber into urbex and invention
Urban explorer Altair Scorpio climbs to great heights during his journeys. • Photos Submitted
By Tom Victoria
Altair Scorpio likes to explore buildings, ascend to the tops of structures and descend below them. He is one of the various Lithuanian urban explorers who are skilled at navigating heights, depths and other tricky spots.
"Actually, I like various places, roofs, underground rooms, abandoned buildings," Altair said. "Everything looks amazing. But now, I'm thinking that underground places are attracting me. Like bunkers, they are so cool. Long time untouched things, like a time machine. Then, I get on the roof. That feeling. You see everything, the view, which you can't see in everyday life. It's fascinating every time. I understood that on the ground is an everyday routine, which people experience. But I feel like I'm doing something out of the box, something unusual to an ordinary person."
Altair records his exploration of abandoned buildings.
Altair, 23, posts YouTube videos to share that experience.
"What I most like are photography and recording those places, sharing with people where ordinary ones haven't been," he said. "It keeps me motivated. In my experience, climbing and exploring abandoned places gives me curiosity, deja vu and adrenalin."
Altair realizes not everyone is happy to see people traipsing through abandoned properties.
"All the time I'm calculating the risk," he said. "But as I move forward through the roof or abandoned building, I don't feel scared. I know that I'm alone there and there's no monsters, except those shouting people."
As with many people into urbex, Altair is adept at scaling structures.
"That's crazy because some people are stronger than me, but hardly can climb," he said. "They trained on the ground with weights, but we on the vertical site."
Altair ascends the roof ledge of a structure.
Altair began his adventures with another urban explorer.
"Everything started when I met Desmond at school, in 5th grade - that was born of true friendship," he said. "We started exploring, climbing and doing other stuff. After some years, he wrote to (fellow urban explorer) Shiey and he agreed to climb with him. That's how he and I started exploring and even recording videos."
Altair initially used a less elaborate camera, but switched to a GoPro, using it until the lens broke.
He ended up with his pseudonym after his friend started calling him by the name of a video game character.
"When we knew each other for like three years, Desmond gave me Ezio's name because I climbed like Ezio from Assassin's Creed," Altair said. "But I liked the Altair name more, so he gave me the surname Scorpio. And I liked it. Now if you google Altair Scorpio in Google, it will be just one individual person - me."
Altair checks out the night view atop a roof.
After Altair's fellow urbex travelers started YouTube channels, he followed suit.
"Honestly, I started posting videos because Desmond and Shiey were doing that," Altair said. "It was fun doing that, because we could share where we climbed and how we edited those videos. Now, I have 1,000 subs, which I didn't expect in those days."
He recalled having only 20 subscribers at one point.
"Sometimes, I feel bad that I don't post new videos (regularly) like Shiey," Altair said. "But that's life, it's hard to find time when you reach this age. I was in middle school when I started doing that. After that, college, and now I'm working and moving in a flat with my girlfriend. I'm a little bit sad right now that I couldn't find time for this. But half a year ago, I was working at a job which I didn't like so much and I was going back home exhausted, so it was no joy to sit in front of the computer and edit new videos. Now there's a bright side. I found a new job. Now I am more free, because I can include my other hobby with electronics in my work place and starting to have more and more time for other stuff like editing and exploring.”
In addition to exploring abandoned areas, Altair likes tinkering with invention. He created numerous electronics prototypes since 8th grade, including a remote car control guided by a phone, food and drink vending machines, and starting a car with a phone app.
“I like new ideas and I like to make them,” Altair said.
He also strums guitar and enjoys camping.
Altair wants to keep making content.
“I want viewers to just enjoy what I’m sharing,” he said. “Also experience what I’m experiencing.”
The link to Altair's YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/c/AltairScorpio