I got on the roof of this condo tower, and it wasn't easy:

I'd been watching it for a few months. While it was still under construction, I found a gap in the fencing, and was promptly kicked off the premises on two previous visits. One evening last week I noticed that it was still dark, so I dropped in for a closer look. The fencing is down, but nothing is quite finished or open for business yet. I spotted a couple of security guards sitting in stairwells, and one in his car. When I passed by this guy a second time, he told me to go away. I waved and thanked him and wished him a good night and left.

I came back midday, midweek, wearing a reflective vest. I wanted to blend in, without being in disguise. That is, I wanted to be able to deny that I was dressed up like a construction worker if I got stopped or questioned. ("This reflective vest? I always wear it when biking. I just came in looking for a toilet.") It worked well. Right away, some passerby asked me if the grocery store was open yet. I said, knowingly, "No, sorry, not yet."

There are at least three parkade entrances. One, whose gate was closed last week, was now open. Another, gated, seemed to lead into a loading dock. I started with the third, which appeared to be public parking. I checked out several stairwells and elevators that went no higher than the 2nd floor. No surprise. I wasn't going to get inside the condo from here. After many twists and turns, I found myself in the loading dock. I gazed inside a freight elevator, but it also went no higher than 2. I turned around, and a few feet away was a security guard seated at a desk. "Just trying to get out of here," I said, and, pointing at the wide-open gate leading out into the sunshine, added, "I guess that's the way out. Thanks."

I finally walked down the ramp of the first parkade entrance, following a guy pushing a garbage bin, and passing a couple of other workers who paid me no mind, and found myself in a small parking lot of maybe twenty stalls. Where the hell did the residents park? (I still don't know where their parkade entrance is.) There was however a hallway, and an unlocked door to a fire-exit stairwell. It was locked from the stairwell side, though, so I stuck a bus ticket in the latch to keep it from shutting.

I went up, and found a locked door to the condo lobby. I went down two floors to P2, and found two doors electronically locked -- but rather loosely: the latch and deadlatch were both behind the electric strike, so, feeling more and more like a criminal, I tried shimming the door open with a credit card (actually an old hotel passcard cut diagonally). It worked! (It almost never works.) I was in an anteroom, with two unlocked doors leading out to the parking level (I saw one parked car), and another locked door leading to an elevator lobby. That's where I wanted to be! I spent a few seconds trying to shim that lock, but felt rather exposed. If someone came along and spotted me, I could probably no longer say I was just looking for the toilet. I thought maybe the door on the opposite side of the elevator lobby would be more secluded, so I went back in the stairwell and tried shimming the other door. No luck. I went down to P4 and tried both doors. Back up to P3, where I managed to get out to the more sheltered side of the elevator lobby, but could not get inside it. Back in the stairwell, I got out the other door, and then finally got inside the elevator lobby. Phew! (That's four doors I shimmed open!)

Called an elevator and got inside. I pressed 20 -- the highest floor. The button lit up, and I started moving. Luckily, no one else got on. The twentieth floor looked finished; nothing but a bland hallway and closed apartment doors. I got in the stairwell (putting another bus ticket in the latch behind me) and started climbing. A sign listing crossover floors mentioned 43, which surprised me, until I remembered how tall the building was. The elevator I got in must have been only for the lower floors.

Occasionally I heard voices, but not inside the stairwell. I went past the penthouse floor, 45, and found a door marked "Mechanical Room." This was locked. Went up another floor, where two more doors were also locked. I went down to 43, where I got in the elevator. It was the same elevator as before: the buttons for the higher floors were on the other side of the door! I rode it up to 45, got in the other stairwell, and went up. This only went to 46, and I could see through the locked door another (unlocked) door marked "Mechanical Room / Roof Access." I gave the door a little shove, and succeeded in getting the deadlatch to fall into the latch hole, but had no luck shimming it open. Back down to 43, where I heard someone jingling keys, and into the other stairwell and back up. I couldn't get into either of the doors on 47, but on 46 I had some luck.

In the mechanical room, there were two double doors leading to the roof. Dammit, they were both locked! Or were they? There was almost an inch gap between the doors, and there wasn't even a deadlatch. You could have shimmed open those doors with your finger.

Looking towards downtown.

Looking down on the sister tower being constructed next door.

The roof was a bit awkward, built to be stylish to look up at, not convenient to look down from. And there was not even so much as a railing in some places. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the view, feeling pretty good.

Finally, I climbed up onto a platform to get this view to the south, towards Metrotown.

There was also a dome security camera up here -- the first camera I'd seen all day -- which made me nervous. So, after another minute of rubbernecking, I went back inside. Time to get out of here.

At about the 44th floor, a couple of guys entered the stairwell. They were so close, I couldn't tell at first if they were below or above me. I expected someone to shout, "Hey, stop!" at any moment. One of them said something like, "The door is closed." I hurried down as quietly as I could.

To finish off the afternoon, I crossed the street and enjoyed a complimentary cappuccino and cupcake at another condo's presentation centre.