This is the full transcript for Episode #309 of the Wild Business Growth podcast featuring Vitaliy Raskalov – Urban Explorer & Photographer, On The Roofs Founder. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Vitaliy Raskalov 0:00
Throw away your brilliant career and start living.
Max Branstetter 0:17
Hi, hello, welcome back to the Wild Business Growth podcast. This your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting, and you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is episode 309, and today’s guest is Vitaliy Raskalov, or V for short. Check out @Raskalov on Instagram or @OnTheRoofs on YouTube. These are from the mind of V, and he is the urban explorer and photographer who you’ve probably seen his content on top of the tallest buildings in the world, and notably back in 2014 the Shanghai Tower, which was at the time the second tallest building in the world. And the video him and his partner made changed everything for his career. In this episode, we talk his unbelievable story and unbelievable lessons about courage, social media, pursuing what you want to pursue. And it should go without saying that many of the adventures discussed in this episode are extremely dangerous and often illegal, and these things have resulted in death. They’ve resulted in going to jail, people getting shot. Please don’t take that lightly. Please Be smart. Be safe. If there are any of the lessons that you want to take from this episode, make it those to apply to your business and your personal brand, and enjoy the adventures from the mind of V in this rare interview. Enjoyyyyyyy the showwwwwwww!
Vitaliy Raskalov 2:20
Max! What’s up, man? V, what is up?
Max Branstetter 2:26
Alllllrightyyyyyyy we are here with V. I’m gonna try the full name once, and then we can just correct it. So, Vitaliy Raskalov, who you’ve probably seen all over the internet, Instagram, YouTube, etc, probably at the highest points of anybody you’ve ever seen on a skyscraper, just truly inspiring. Some of the coolest pictures videos ever. We’ll call you V for short, V. Thank you so much for joining. How you doing today?
Vitaliy Raskalov 2:50
I’m good. Just been busy with some of the stuff that’s it. Good, busy
Max Branstetter 2:56
with some of this stuff. And we’re not going to talk about any stuff today. No. Man, I
Vitaliy Raskalov 3:00
just get married. I need to post photographs.
Max Branstetter 3:05
Well, congrats on that. Thank you so much exciting stuff to talk about. What I want to touch on first is, when was the first time that you ever looked up at a skyscraper and was like, I want to climb that?
Vitaliy Raskalov 3:20
Maybe I was 16 or something. Yeah, 1617, I guess. But before there was a trees I had a tree house when I was nine years old in Ukraine. So a lot of things came from the childhood. Because we didn’t have any television or mobile phones. There was nothing to do except, you know, climbing trees, watching stars, explore things around. So it was pretty much from the very beginning. So from the very beginning, I knew that I’m gonna gonna do something interesting,
Max Branstetter 3:56
climbing trees, tree houses. That just gives me, like, a warm, fuzzy feeling. I think so many of us, no matter where you are in the world, if there’s trees around when you’re a kid, you want to climb it. Like, there’s something about that. What was it that you think spoke to you as a kid about why stay on the ground level? Like, let’s go up when we can. I
Vitaliy Raskalov 4:16
mean, when I was a kid, I didn’t think that I would be photographer, you know, I, and I didn’t think that I will climb things for a living. So it’s, it’s become more, you know, when I was 1819, I start to realize that I, I start to get paid for my photographs. So I quickly realized that, actually, this is, this is a great job. I love it very much. So, yeah, and then you start to make goals different place. And back in days, it was, was very different than now. What
Max Branstetter 4:48
was the first ever photograph that you got paid for?
Vitaliy Raskalov 4:53
I think it was a climb multiple buildings in Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. And I think one of the company paid me, like, $5 for one photo, but I saw, like, 300 photos. It’s a big money for 17 years old kid. And, yeah, I bought the camera, I bought a lot of stuff. And I like, Oh, this is cool. I can do more of that. And like, you know, I get him paid. So it’s pretty nice. And, you know, back in the days, in 2010 there was no Instagram, YouTube, just start to show up, and we did everything in Live Journal. So my first success came from there. You know, Live journal.com,
Max Branstetter 5:35
sounds familiar, yeah. So
Vitaliy Raskalov 5:37
we in Eastern Europe, it was like a main block thing.
Max Branstetter 5:41
When? When did you go from just kind of climbing these things for fun to like, well, we should take pictures while we’re there.
Vitaliy Raskalov 5:48
I mean, when I get my international passport, more before even that, we have some goals in Moscow, Kyiv, Liv Minsk, mostly Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. But when I get my international passport in the first year, I did 32 countries. I climbed the pyramids. I climbed many things, many, many things in first year. So it was like a first really big push. Are
Max Branstetter 6:12
you scared of heights? By the way, I
Vitaliy Raskalov 6:14
had to ask. I used to be yes, yes. I remember when I was like 16 or something. I climb very tall TV tower, like, 1000 feet or something, and it was abandoned, and it was shaken. And I remember in the middle, I was like, Oh, I don’t like that. So I just stepped through my fear. And after that, I didn’t have, like, real afraid of hearts, more like being a jail. You know, this is the most, like the legal issues. This is the most, biggest problem always, which bother me. The other things, you know, when you stop to climb, let’s say for six months, this feeling like scaring of hearts is coming back, but then you climb one two things, and then it’s everything the same.
Max Branstetter 7:03
They’re scared of heights when you’re, you know, 20 feet off the ground, and then they’re scared of heights when you’re, like, almost 2000 feet off the ground. So I think you
Vitaliy Raskalov 7:11
but 2000 feet, it’s nicer, you know, because you don’t see where you’re gonna land, in case if you fall. But 20 feet is not nice. You can be crippled, you know, you can be disabled. You can break your spine leg. So if you fall down, better to fall down from like 2000 3000 5000 feet, you know, like 500 meters is much better. You will think about your life while you you know, falling at least like five six seconds,
Max Branstetter 7:42
I want to hit on a particular climb that was a big kind of inflection point in your career. And now, if you look this up, it has like hundreds of millions of views on YouTube across the videos, but Shanghai Tower, yeah, so this was, it’s pretty cool. We’re recording this about 10 years after you did this, I think it was 2014 Yes, it was 2014 anybody tuning in? Check out the Shanghai Tower. Videos from V from, from Roscoe. Love, because Absolutely, like, bone chilling, as you were saying, you’re so high up, it’s like you don’t even know what to think about. But can you take us through, like, the planning for that? How did this idea to climb this, which, you know, second tallest building in the world. How did the idea come about for that a
Vitaliy Raskalov 8:24
Chinese New Year, I was living in Hong Kong, back in the days in 2014 for almost a year. So we went a lot of times in China, mainland, like Shanghai, Guangzhou, and one day I realized they have very long holiday, Chinese New Year. And basically no one that is instead of 10 security that could be only one. So successfully. I went in China every year for like, five years or four years, and hit the most of the interesting places, because security very weak, and the Chinese New Year is like perfect time in China to literally explore everything. But after COVID, a lot of things changed, so it’s not like that anymore. Yeah, and I
Max Branstetter 9:11
do want to hit on security a little bit not to get you in too much trouble.
Vitaliy Raskalov 9:15
Back in the days, they didn’t give you any troubles, but now they call the police, you know, oh,
Max Branstetter 9:20
man, the Shanghai Tower. So what? So, so there’s less security. How high up were you in this tower before you realize, like, I think we’re actually going to get to the top
Vitaliy Raskalov 9:31
today immediately. I mean, we check the area, everything, fine. We find the place where we’re going to infiltrate the construction side. And, yeah, the biggest issue was a low clouds. We slept maybe, like 14 hours on the construction side, because we were waiting until, you know, the clouds and gone. Yeah, this is, was there, and we didn’t have so much food. But it was worth it. You know, we got incredible views. It was very. Um, it was, uh, end of January, beginning of February, and, like, plus 23 degrees. It’s insane. It’s like 75 Fauci.
Max Branstetter 10:09
How high up was that? That you were sleeping? Five 500 meters for sure. Oh, my God. Nice little snooze there. So, so that’s a great example that. Like, how do you make sure when you’re at like, you know, literally, these tallest buildings in the world? How do you make sure that you capture such great content, great photographs, great videos, but also make sure that you know one step after another, you’re you’re staying safe as best you can
Vitaliy Raskalov 10:34
in them. You know, you never know. It’s a matter of the luck. But I’ve been lucky. A lot of people being unlucky or lucky, it’s, I think, in these things, it’s more about your courage, you know, to do something that no one did before, and eventually it’s pretty easy, you know. So you just need to have this courage to be the first so this is why we why we hit most of the interesting places around the world, because no one even think that you can climb them.
Max Branstetter 11:07
Do you have any, any tricks for, for keeping that courage instead of having that, that fear that we talked about
Vitaliy Raskalov 11:17
Burning Man? It’s a good, good thing to to to, you know, to grow a confidence inside of you, especially if you for you, not from America, is a great place to actually, a lot of confidence, a lot of courage I got from there. But it’s not about climbing. Is more about life. You know, it’s like a life courage, a climate courage. Back in days, I just didn’t think about that. I was I Yeah, fuck it, we can do that. I mean, when you’re younger, you don’t think about consequences. And, you know, I went in jail a couple of times, and if I get there right now, for me, that will be much worse than it was in 25 when I get older, it’s different. You know, you start to think about a lot of things, about consequences, about jail. And I used to had a partner, the Vadim. He climbed with me on Shanghai Tower. We climbed most of the places together back in days, but he quit when he his wife get pregnant, you know. And a lot of people from very old school urban exploration community. Some of them quit because family, you know, you’re not able to risk, to put your life in such a risk when you have a kid who, like, won’t survive without you. You know, change a lot. I don’t have kids, but I got married, so now I got a thing, not only one right now, I have
Max Branstetter 12:43
my wife, yeah, yeah, oh, it’s all on the record. Now, they say that everything changes once, once you start having kids, and when you’re an urban explorer, it probably changes even more so big considerations. But you mentioned security and going to jail and kind of like the legal side of things. How does that factor into like? When you see a skyscraper you want to climb like, how do you prepare for like, the legal or security ramifications of each particular the
Vitaliy Raskalov 13:13
plans of the country? Every country has their own rules. They own specific let’s say you want to climb something in Brazil, right in Brazil, they shoot first and then ask. So you gotta keep it in the mind, if they see you sneaking somewhere in the night, they will shoot you. No question ask. In America, it’s more about social engineering. It’s difficult. The most difficult part get into the building. The rooftops are open, most of them, because of 911 all of that stuff in New York is a social engineering you don’t break any looks you like, you know, you just find your way to get there, let’s say, open a fake company somewhere in Cyprus. Pretend that you work in an import, export Corporation, and you looking for a new office in the building. They give you a pass in the office. They give you a tour. And then when you’re going back, you just sneak into the fire stairs and go on the roof. This is one of the ways, at least in America, every country, different, you know, somewhere you you can use like force, destroy things and get away with this. But for example, in America, no, you gotta be very smart. Gotta be very careful. There should be no any prints, marks, whatever. And you know, the craziest part, most of the cameras in America, no one look on them in let’s say in United Kingdom, in London, is completely opposite. So let’s say the most secure display, by my experience, it’s, it’s United Kingdom, it’s London. And the funniest part all this urban flourishing community basically came from there. So they’re very, you know, experienced. If you can
Max Branstetter 14:51
get around there, where there’s cameras constantly being watched, then, uh, then you can get around anywhere, yeah, they
Vitaliy Raskalov 14:56
have more street clothes. And if you, if they get you, you. In bad position, but I’ve been chosen. I’ve been arrested many times, but to a jail i i went only twice, because most of the time you can get away just to talk to people you know, with the charisma This is the most powerful pool. It’s your language. It’s your basically mouth you can I’ve been once I get arrested in Bogota, and somehow I, like, on English and bad Spanish, I convinced them to let me go. But they were, like, premium. We were on the way to a jail, you know, but they just let me go. Wow. It depends how you talk, so if you root and you know, because in most of the places, if you get caught, this is your problem. This is like you fucked up, you know, and the people mad, and they have a reason to be mad. And you know, some of the people could be fired, for example. This is why I never show anything that I climb immediately, maybe after six months, maybe after years, sometimes after three years. For example, I climb the tallest building in South Korea, and so, and they called me and asked me, Can you tell me a specific day where it was? You know, like, we want to find out. We want to, like, fire a security I said, No, I’m not going to tell you anything. So, like, it’s your fault. You haven’t seen as but, and also for the security, it’s like, I mean, you’re not supposed to fight them. We I’m professional. So if I get in the places, you know, just you need after me put some extra measurements. But as I said, usually it takes years to show the content, so people won’t be able to repeat that. Or, let’s say, you discover new place, and it’s pretty easy to climb, but no one knows about that when you post it, there will be like a line of urban explorers next day. So have your own specific rules. Some some people follow do this rule. Some of people don’t follow the rules. Most of the people in America don’t follow these rules. They’re pretty young kids. You know, when I was starting doing that, there was like 30 of us around the world, and
Max Branstetter 17:19
now your online communities are crazy big and the coolest pictures ever, 1000, 1000, 1000s of people. That’s fascinating the part, and really, really clever on your part, of not posting things immediately because, and it’s a total shift, because, I feel like in today’s world of social media, so many people are put you know, they’re live streaming, or they’re posting on their stories right away, and you have to be very different and strategic with that. But on the flip side of that, like the preparation for like, something like Shanghai Tower, or like a skyscraper in Manhattan or Seoul, like, how far, how long advanced Do you start to plan whatever your James Bond approach
Vitaliy Raskalov 18:01
one day, up to one year depends how close to I’m to location. The easiest way, just fly there and check the side by yourself. You know, just walk around see how many cameras the entrances. And it’s like, if you do that online without a person on the ground, that will be very complicated, so you gotta fly there always. You can do some research before, like, what’s gonna happen to you if they get caught or something? Or you can ask, look like explorers from the community who’ve been in this country before. And for example, they get called, what they, what consequences they, they faced. And, you know, so very different, like, but honestly, most of the clients is like, one, two day preparation. It’s very fast. You just go on a spot, okay, yeah, I can do this.
Max Branstetter 18:52
You mentioned these, sharing it on social media. And for anybody who follows you, you know you’ve got hundreds of 1000s of followers, like subscribers YouTube, like you have your own social media pages, but then you’ve also built this on the roofs community.
Vitaliy Raskalov 19:05
Now, it’s more like a legacy, you know, I’m still doing videos. It’s maybe one video per year, but it’s nice. Is this channel is 14 years old, you know, it’s gonna be my channel until and I, you know? And, yeah, it’s basically everyone who I met, let’s say New York City, they all grow up on my videos. And that’s so for me, I feel like I’m old. Sometimes I’m only 31 you take that back, 28 but they, they’ve been telling me, like, Oh, I was in the school, you know, in eighth grade or seventh grade, and I show you I saw your video on the YouTube. I’m like, Bucha, that’s insane, and this is the reason why they start to explore. The guy who I explore with right now. He also live in New York. He from Sweden. He basically start to explore because of of my content. He saw some of my photos, and he was back in days, heavily. Addicted to very strong substances, and this is help help him to quit his addiction. You know, like his addiction become photography and exploring. I know a couple of people who actually was very addicted, and they find out photography and exploring for themselves. And, you know, they’re clean. Now, sometimes people die, fortunately, not from my circle, the one guy got shot in that in a lag. But, you know, it’s a long story, and he’s fine now.
Max Branstetter 20:27
Oh my god, just a flesh wound. Oh, my God, he
Vitaliy Raskalov 20:31
he deserve it. He’s not supposed to go in the place where he lands.
Max Branstetter 20:37
Oh, wow. And your partner, it’s uh, emit. Is that how you say yes, yes.
Vitaliy Raskalov 20:42
With this guy, we most of the climb past years. We climbed together. We went to Mexico, some other places. He’s also, like, he’s older than me, maybe, like, 10 years or something. And it’s impressive, you know? And he’s easy, he’s a good climber, and his age, it’s impressive. Most of the people in Eastern Europe, most of the men in Eastern Europe die by 5560,
Max Branstetter 21:11
oh, my God. What? So you mentioned this, especially with your partner there, like how urban exploration, or urban exploring, whatever you want to call it, can add something to your life, and there’s just some sort of thrill, or, like, a healthy addiction that comes with it, or healthy, safe Can you talk about, like, what it’s, what it’s provided for you?
Vitaliy Raskalov 21:34
I mean, man, I I’ve been over 100 countries. You know, I been like, in incredible places. I never had a real job, by the way. I mean, I never went in the office to work five you climbed on top of the office, yeah. But yeah, this, yeah. Basically, this is my life, you know. Like, excuse me, everything, the passion to exploration and photography. And, you know, I found myself in that, and back in this, I was the first one who started to post these things in internet. Because internet was very small. I remember when I started doing YouTube in 2010 like 1000 11,012, there was like five people who was doing, like, really cool stuff. You know, one dodge guys with their drug slabs channel, really good one. There’s a lot of Russians. Back in days, they made really good content for YouTube. But yeah, now it’s insane. Now it’s a tick tock. I miss this one. Also the bad thing, a lot of kids get into internet right now. So let’s say you do any urban exploration video, you won’t be able to monitor monetize that on the YouTube anymore, since 2019 No, like, they change rules completely. Back then days, I used to make, like, $3,000 just from the YouTube views every month. Not anymore, because, yeah, they they change the rules a lot. And tick tock also doesn’t work. So all these activities, they more like everything was always for myself, that the followers, all these like the YouTube, Instagram, I’m just too that’s too much, moving more to the way where I can, like, you know, just forget about these things. Don’t don’t go to my telephone, don’t check stories or something like that. And I barely do that, you know. And a lot of people tell me, like, oh man, you have so many followers, you know, you got to do something with that. But honestly, I don’t want to do and I have my channel. I have my schedule to post at least one video per year. I have my climbs, and I’m very happy with that. You know,
Max Branstetter 23:45
that’s great. I mean, there’s something beautiful that comes from finding out what actually matters the most to you, and also realizing that, like you, you’re doing this out of a passion. You’re doing this because, like you love doing it, and you’ve inspired so many others along the way. By no means do you have to? Do you have to spend all the time on social media or anything like that? Like, it’s totally up to
Vitaliy Raskalov 24:05
you. Yeah. And the great thing about social media that I met so many people, so many friends, everything through the Instagram or Facebook, and I got so many, like, unique opportunities because of that. Like, all the money, let’s say which I make from influencer doesn’t worth connection which I get. It’s a great social thing. And you know, when you have a lot of followers, especially in America, people really like, holy shit. You have so many. In Eastern Europe, it’s like, much easier, you know? And people not very think about that a lot. Yeah. Sometimes I’ve been showing my like, like YouTube channel to the guy, he’s like, start to freak out. You have over a million Oh, my God, that’s insane. It
Max Branstetter 24:48
is crazy. I think people get get star struck for when they see a number next to a name like that.
Vitaliy Raskalov 24:53
Yeah, actually, I have two explorers. They recently just made their move. Movie on Netflix, and they moved to America, and I feel like the girl, Angela, she’s, she had a star in her head. That’s, we took a photo together, and she said, and I said, like, Oh, nice. She said, like, oh yeah, you’ve taken a photo with a celebrity. And the funniest part, I remember these two guys, where they were younger than me, they were like, next generation or after next generation. So I’ve been already exploring and traveling worldwide, and they just start to do that. And, you know, saying that to a person who saw how you grow up from the very beginning, say that you celebrity and, like, appreciate that you take a photo with that that’s kind of crazy. It’s like, some, yeah, some, some stuff gets in her hat. And that’s I’ve been working a lot with different influencers. I never like this, this, this community, especially in your opinion, because it’s for people, mostly it’s like about likes, amount of followers and all this social
Max Branstetter 26:07
media, there’s a lot of good on it. There’s a lot of bad on it. There’s a lot of annoying parts about it, but in terms of the actual content that you make, the videos are outstanding. And the more recent one was looking at was the, I think you called it New York High Times,
Vitaliy Raskalov 26:23
yes, yes, it’s
Max Branstetter 26:24
a New York Times, yeah, New York Times building, which is just an absolute, absolutely amazing quality, just such a cool video. You’re watching it, and you’re like, is this guy really climbing this in a lightning storm? So anyway, what goes into making sure that you have such, like, high quality content when you do post a video, oh,
Vitaliy Raskalov 26:42
this is like, first of all shout out to dream search as because he did all the drum shirting. And in the frame that there’s a me and a me, nowadays it’s easier back in this, it was just GoPro. Now you have a DJI Mini Drone. Like, it’s so wise, so small you can find have 4k amazing. Back in days, it was unbelievable, you know, to even think that you have a drone you can fly. And right now, a lot of people think like, why should clients somewhere I have a drone?
Max Branstetter 27:15
I mean, you know, from experience, what’s the difference in seeing something, just like a video of something versus seeing it with your own eyes, the view from up there.
Vitaliy Raskalov 27:22
So, you know, it’s like eating burger without real meat and eating burger with real meat. So it’s pretty much
Max Branstetter 27:34
that’s a good one. I like it. Shout out my college roommate, Tyrek, who used to say, like on vacation. Like, why do you take so many pictures? Like you could just Google it? I’m like, Yeah, well, it’s not the same of just Googling pictures of things versus actually doing it yourself. Well,
Vitaliy Raskalov 27:49
pictures are great. This is, this is usually only proof that you actually did that and you’re not bullshitting people. Sometimes people listen to my stories and they’re like, No, it’s not true, but the best part, I always can back it up with articles or photographs, videos, whatever. Yeah, but you know, through the years, I realized that I start to take less and less photographs. But you know, back in this I can take 20, and now I can take two. So two of these photos are good. 20 was like from 20, maybe two bags or one.
Max Branstetter 28:26
What’s your favorite type of picture to take? I
Vitaliy Raskalov 28:31
think some like, you know, fructose, symmetry in architecture. I have a big amount of favorite architectures. For example, Ricardo, both, Oscar nimera, basically any of their buildings are very, you know, photo, Instagram about how people say that photo, I don’t know how to say that. Word of English is very difficult for the gigini. Photo, photogenic, yes, yes, exactly. So, yeah, the architecture one of my probably favorite thing, and the person in front of the big city, or like, become out of the skyline, something like that. This is, yeah, I like this. Usually photos which I like the most people don’t like, and photos which I don’t like the most people like the moment that’s pretty interesting. I have very different, different tastes with my audience. You know, why
Max Branstetter 29:27
do you think that is that there’s such a difference there and expectation? I
Vitaliy Raskalov 29:31
don’t know. Sometimes I do photos specifically like I know that people will like it and people like it.
Max Branstetter 29:36
You’re a man of many adventures, and another one that you did in recent years that, you know, it’s quite different from climbing a skyscraper is your motorcycle journey around India. I’ve been
Vitaliy Raskalov 29:47
doing that for 12 years. Man, it’s like 12 years. Yes, every I’ve been Mongolia. I traveled through the Mongolia for a month to the COVID all the way from back. Lake down to the border with China and all the way up to Siberia. Also, I did the motorcycle on a rural Soviet bike with a side car on a bike called frozen lake for three weeks. Man, we slept in a tent. It was negative 30 degrees. There we go. Yeah, on motorcycle, I’ve been riding them for over 12 years, and I went 30 countries only by bike. India was nice. I mean, it’s very exhausting, very difficult. And I kind of was sitting in Berlin and thinking like, I’m not appreciate my life enough. So I went to India to see how people live. I’ve been there many times, but I never like travel for months across all the country, all the way north and all the way to South. And I learned a lot of things about religion, about food, everything. Would I miss back in the days? Because I was mostly exploring, like climbing things this time I was just enjoying, you know, India manages. This is a harsh place. If you have a weak stomach, don’t go. You won’t like it. The people with big stomach, India is prohibited otherwise, guys, food poisoning immediately. For me, that’s totally fine. I can handle these things. But right? American people that will be
Max Branstetter 31:21
difficult. I love Indian food, but I don’t love food poisoning. So
Vitaliy Raskalov 31:25
we’ll see. You have different you have different from them, this cool concept
Max Branstetter 31:29
of exploring so like you’ve done it in so many different ways. What do you think motivates you to kind of keep exploring and keep kind of uncovering more of this world in first person,
Vitaliy Raskalov 31:39
first I’m very curious. Second I have a free time. I have a lot of free time to spend them on researching or going somewhere. And you know, for most of the people, they need the company they need some I just go. Can go by myself. This is the best part, you know, like, I never got bored with myself in the first place. So this is why, you know, I’m always like, oh, let’s go there. Let’s go there. If I board in the city, I immediately find something else for myself. Yesterday, I bought motorcycle, you know, because I moved to America. Gonna leave here for at least, like, a couple of years? Yeah, I can go to Alaska right now. Bye, bye. You know, I have a map of over 500 abandoned places all around United States. It’s pretty incredible there. My friend did incredible job. Job like three years he was collecting this map and with the motorcycle. You know, I can hit so many.
Max Branstetter 32:35
A motorcycle ride from New York to Alaska would be quite the journey, let’s hope you take man, that’s easy. Bathroom Breaks, well,
Vitaliy Raskalov 32:43
that’s easy peasy. I mean, there’s nothing you have roads like, I mean, wow, there’s no difficulty to travel across United States. It’s like you just drive on the asphalt road all the time. Imagine Mongolia. There’s no navigation, no roads, no people, no water, only desert. And forget about your Google Maps, or maps me, whatever you, you, you know about navigate. Just forget about that. We used Soviet military maps from 1980s if you don’t, if you don’t read Russian, goodbye. Like, I don’t know, maybe things change right now. I heard they build the road somewhere in the COVID desert. I went there in 2019 it’s like time machine back in 500 years. You know, there’s nothing change. Let’s say it’s a 15 or 14th century. And the thing which I saw in Mongolia, Mongolia, how people lives there, is the same how it was five years ago or 600 years ago, during the Chinggis Khan time. You know, nothing changed at all. So this is like, Mongolia is very difficult. I bought a motorcycle from the guy who actually followed me. And in the middle of the conversation, he like, Hold on, let me see your Instagram. I show my Instagram. He’s like, Oh, you the guy who went in Mongolia. I followed you since 2018 So, yeah, the Mongolia is difficult. Not so many people went there. You need the satellite phone. You need so many things there. Mongolia trip is way more dangerous than any climb I ever did in my life, way more dangerous, you know, like, there’s a during this month, it was so many times when we almost get die, you know, something really bad happened on we run. I’m we lost with my friend, with Vadim, who climbed Shan Han tower, because we went together. I remember once we lost and I only had gasoline and only he had only water. You know, just nearly impossible to find ourselves. And, you know this air tax, they didn’t exist back in the day. So, yeah, it’s a lot of like, trust me, my trip in India also, I guess, very easy. The climbing is very simple. You know, you you need control of everything, like you climb, let’s say crane or. Or a building, you have things to hold. You know, they solid. You you realize everything by yourself. But with motorcycle, there’s usually bad things. It’s not because of you, because someone else you know. So, yeah, motorcycle is more dangerous than any kind of exploring, at least what kind of trips I did, you can die that easily.
Max Branstetter 35:27
So that actually takes us perfectly. I have a few more random ones to wrap up with. And I think the first rapid fire I wanted to ask you was the time that you’ve been most scared for your life. And it sounds like it might be Mongolia, but maybe outside. Yeah, go ahead.
Vitaliy Raskalov 35:47
I think I was in Central Asia. I was in the border with Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and I was staying in this very small like gas house on a high altitude, like 4500 meters, man and I got, like, a very strong Gallagher reaction. I thought, I’m gonna die. This is scary. Just a lot of stress, enormous amount of stress. Very big change of the water from like, plus 20 immediately minus two, you know, Celsius. So, yeah, I had, like, not anaphylactic shock, but pretty close, you know, I start to feel that I’m breathing like, heavily, like, and, yeah, I just drink one antigustamin pills. And, you know, just did that stuff. I had this couple of times. So every time I this is not because of the climate or something or writing it, just it with the motorcycle. Sometimes there’s a moments when all your life, you know, flash in front of your eyes that this, I had so many these moments, you know, like, Holy damn, a lot, many. That’s pretty impressive that I only broke my collarbone on a motorcycle, but yeah, nothing else. What caused that? Oh, man, I it was in Indonesia. I was drunk, and I don’t remember how I get on a motorcycle, but I found out myself on an asphalt, and then I went to a hospital with a broken collarbone, and they told me the surgery is going to cost $15,000 and I said, Okay, I’m not going to pay. So I flew from next day. I flew from with a broken collarbone. I flew from Bali to Moscow. Then I stayed there for two days, and then I took a train and took a train from Moscow to Kyiv, back in days before the big war it was possible to do and then my friend did me surgery. I stayed three days in the hospital, then I flew back to Bali. So I brought my collarbone on first January, on 21st January, I was already on a motorcycle somewhere, like riding on volcano. They put me in a titanium plate for one and a half year. And in Ukraine, it’s in Kyiv, it cost me $600 because my friend, he made me in surgery. He also, we used to explore together. Back in days in Kyiv, when I was a teenager, you know, when I was 17, 1819, he was explorer, but, yeah, he’s, he’s finished at his Institute, and he’s become one of the best surgeon in Ukraine. He’s like, fix football players, you know? I mean, it’s like, big people, yeah, you know. And then I went back to Bali, but now, right now, I won’t do that. First of all, I don’t drink anymore after this situation, because I’m very like, I’m surprised how I stayed alive. I didn’t have a helmet, you know, like, I got very lucky. So, yeah, after after that, no drinking. More responsible life. So I learned lessons.
Max Branstetter 38:58
Oh, glad you’re doing better. How painful was that, by the way, that traveling for a few days with a broken collarbone before you got treated?
Vitaliy Raskalov 39:06
No, I didn’t, I didn’t have any painkillers. I mean, it’s painful in the beginning, but then you’re like, let’s just embrace it. That’s it. Holy cow.
Max Branstetter 39:16
What’s like a a dream structure or skyscraper that you haven’t climbed, but you think would be really cool one day. It’s not
Vitaliy Raskalov 39:25
the skyscraper, it’s a different place. But I hope I will be able to witness when Russia collapsed like it was with Soviet Union. So the when the Soviet Union collapsed from 1991 until 2001 it was a gold era of exploring. So I hope this gold era will be again, maybe in five, maybe in 10, maybe in 15 years, and then finally, I will have a chance to explore a metro two some nuclear underground bunkers, which is a lot. Interested in stuff in Russia, trust me, man. And the second thing, North Korea. I hope one day I will be able to go there and we’ll have a freedom of movement. That’s mean, imagine you go in a country where people haven’t seen foreigners for generations. That’s pretty wild. It’s like, this is two place. I would like to go Russia in the first place, because back in this when I lived there in 2010 11 and 12, I explore a lot of like underground stuff. It’s called diggers. So you cannot imagine how many insane Cold War system they have. Some people went in jail for infiltration, infiltration in these places, they still active, though
Max Branstetter 40:45
Oh my god, there’s so much like you don’t think about it on the daily basis. Well, maybe you do, but how much of the world is just kind of forgotten about or abandoned and forbidden?
Vitaliy Raskalov 40:55
No man a lot of things. But you know, even this Soviet Union echo still, you can, like, find a lot of insane locations in Central Asia or Mongolia or Russia. You know, in Europe, it’s less, but on the east is more, the whole cities. And actually, in America, you have a lot. You have a lot of man, like, I found some abandoned cities, some big, big fields with the airplanes. You have a lot of interesting stuff.
Max Branstetter 41:29
One more for you, bit of a different one. What is your favorite memory all time from burning? Man,
Vitaliy Raskalov 41:36
every, every memory. I’ve been six times, you know, I be like, this year, it was my sixth time. And I’m kind of like, I seen a lot. I was more like, building less drugs, a little bit less parties, more like, you know, contribute. I was a camp leader, yeah. Like, when you go there multiple times. You after like, third time, you start to think that, oh, I actually wanna, you know, make something really good for this place. Some people do that from the beginning. For me, it was, yeah, three years, three years, I would just party non stop. But then I start to, like, build things, help people. And the memories the people, like all the people I met in Burning Man eventually gave me incredible opportunities, or I had, like, some insane interesting things to explore, to see.
Max Branstetter 42:32
Well, you have some just amazing photographs of that, as always and so Vitaly, thank you so much for doing this. Just love everything that you’re creating and such a cool, inspiring story. I know people, if they want to follow you on Instagram, it’s at roska Love anywhere else that you want to direct
Vitaliy Raskalov 42:53
people to YouTube channel @OnTheRoofs. Should watch YouTube channel is a good one. There’s a lot of good stuff perfect
Max Branstetter 43:00
at on the roofs. And then last thing, final thoughts, it could just be like a quote or one line words to live by whatever you want. Send us home here,
Vitaliy Raskalov 43:08
Throw away your brilliant career and start living.
Max Branstetter 43:15
What a mind blowing everything they thank you, Vitaliy, for sharing your unbelievable story, for being so vulnerable and open with everything, and thank you, Wild Listeners, for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to Follow the Wild Business Growth podcast on your favorite podcast platform and Subscribe on YouTube for the videos. YouTube is @MaxBranstetter. You can also find us on Goodpods, and for any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com and sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. That is where podcasting meets entrepreneurship meets terrible puns. And you can sign up at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter Until next time, let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
