Highest you've been in a building/structure

[PHLBOS]

1. One World Observatory - NYC (2017)
2. One Liberty Tower - Philadelphia (2016)
3. John Hancock Tower - Boston (when the observatory was still open, most recent visit, 1990)
4. Prudential Tower 'Sky-Walk' - Boston (most recent visit, 2003)
5. World Trade Center - Baltimore (most recent visit, 2007)
6. Space Needle - Seattle (2005)

[inkyatari]

2) Straits of Mackinac: South Tower of the Mackinac Bridge, 552 feet

Color me impressed!  How did you manage this?  How did you get up there?

[triplemultiplex]

Space Needle for me.

A distant second would be a hotel in Honolulu where I was 20-some floors up.

[Max Rockatansky]

I was in the original World Trade Center but I don't recall which one of the twin towers.  The other buildings I've been over 1,000 feet in are the Empire State Building, Sears Tower, and Stratosphere. 

Edit:  I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Hoover Dam which is 726 high at the very top.  Back in the old US 93 days that was an easy one to reach.

[Buck87]

3. Eiffel Tower Paris: 900 ft.

Nice, I was wondering how long it would take to see this turn up.

[1995hoo]

I was in the original World Trade Center but I don't recall which one of the twin towers.  The other buildings I've been over 1,000 feet in are the Empire State Building, Sears Tower, and Stratosphere. 

Edit:  I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Hoover Dam which is 726 high at the very top.  Back in the old US 93 days that was an easy one to reach.

See the second post in the thread!

[jeffandnicole]

I was in the original World Trade Center but I don’t recall which one of the twin towers.  The other buildings I’ve been over 1,000 feet in are the Empire State Building, Sears Tower, and Stratosphere. 

Edit:  I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the Hoover Dam which is 726 high at the very top.  Back in the old US 93 days that was an easy one to reach.

See the second post in the thread!

Yeah!  Seriously!!!

[Max Rockatansky]

I was in the original World Trade Center but I don't recall which one of the twin towers.  The other buildings I've been over 1,000 feet in are the Empire State Building, Sears Tower, and Stratosphere. 

Edit:  I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Hoover Dam which is 726 high at the very top.  Back in the old US 93 days that was an easy one to reach.

See the second post in the thread!

Yeah!  Seriously!!!

Shit, missed it on the iPhone. 

[plain]

Sears Tower skydeck when I was 16 (1994). I'll never forget that view!

[empirestate]

Possible interesting side topic: Buildings/structures you've been in that were also the highest point in a state/country, etc., because the tallest building is higher than the highpoint on land (Florida), or because the highest structure is located atop the highpoint (Massachusetts)

I've been in the second category, but not the first (as far as I know). And since I was also the tallest person inside the observation tower on Mt. Greylock, I was also temporarily the highest individual person in all of Massachusetts.

[Duke87]

I'm in the (seemingly sizable) club of people with the observation deck of the Sears Tower (which is not actually quite at the top of the building) as the highest point in a structure they've been.

However, I am probably the only person here who has been to the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. 

[pumpkineater2]

About 36,000 feet in an airplane. (an airplane counts as a structure, right?  )


But really the highest I've been was the observation deck of the Stratosphere in Vegas. That's the highest thing I've been in.

[empirestate]

However, I am probably the only person here who has been to the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. 

Are you King Kong?

[bulldog1979]

2) Straits of Mackinac: South Tower of the Mackinac Bridge, 552 feet

Color me impressed!  How did you manage this?  How did you get up there?

The Mackinac Bridge Authority has a raffle to give away tower tours to groups every year. The idea is that if your organization wins the raffle, you then turn around and auction or raffle the prize off as a fundraiser. Along with that, MDOT has sponsored a contest on social media the last few years connected with the Labor Day Bridge Walk. I won that contest in 2012 and took my tour a year later.

[inkyatari]

2) Straits of Mackinac: South Tower of the Mackinac Bridge, 552 feet

Color me impressed!  How did you manage this?  How did you get up there?

The Mackinac Bridge Authority has a raffle to give away tower tours to groups every year. The idea is that if your organization wins the raffle, you then turn around and auction or raffle the prize off as a fundraiser. Along with that, MDOT has sponsored a contest on social media the last few years connected with the Labor Day Bridge Walk. I won that contest in 2012 and took my tour a year later.

So how did you get up there?  I'm assuming they had stairs inside the towers, and didn't have you walk on the cables?

[triplemultiplex]

So how did you get up there?  I'm assuming they had stairs inside the towers, and didn't have you walk on the cables?

There's a tiny elevator.

[Hurricane Rex]

So how did you get up there?  I'm assuming they had stairs inside the towers and didn't have you walk on the cables?

There's a tiny elevator.

Define tiny, I've seen a few tiny elevators. I'm asking for a comparison.

[triplemultiplex]

Big enough for two workers and some gear.
Or a guide, a TV host and a cameraman.

[inkyatari]

Big enough for two workers and some gear.
Or a guide, a TV host and a cameraman.

That's the most awesome thing I've heard in a long time.

[PHLBOS]

I was in the original World Trade Center but I don't recall which one of the twin towers.

The Observatory (both indoors & outdoors) was in the South Tower (aka WTC-2).  The North Tower (WTC-1) had the Windows of the World restaurant near/on the top floor.

[Buck87]

I'm in the (seemingly sizable) club of people with the observation deck of the Sears Tower (which is not actually quite at the top of the building) as the highest point in a structure they've been.

Correct. The 1,353 ft I listed is the height of the 103rd floor Skydeck. The architectural top of the building is 1,450 ft.
On my list I tried to list the height of where I actually was in the building if I could find that info.

Edit:  I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Hoover Dam which is 726 high at the very top.  Back in the old US 93 days that was an easy one to reach.

This should technically be on my list too, moving into the #4 spot. Didn't even cross my mind, since with the 3 of the 4 sides being either higher canyon walls or water it felt more like looking over a cliff than being up high in a building/structure.

[1995hoo]

About 36,000 feet in an airplane. (an airplane counts as a structure, right?  )

....

If we're counting aircraft, I've been to about 60,000 feet on the aircraft seen in my avatar.

[roadman]

World Trade Center south tower (original) external observation deck - 1976
Prudential Tower sky walk - multiple times in the 1980s
Hancock Tower observation deck - 1989
Empire State Building observation deck - 1982

[bulldog1979]

So how did you get up there?  I'm assuming they had stairs inside the towers, and didn't have you walk on the cables?

There's a small door in each tower just above the railing on either side of the roadway. It's not that dissimilar to a doorway on a submarine. You have to use the railing like rungs on a ladder to climb up into the door and enter the bridge structure itself. Once inside, it feels like a submarine as you pass through openings to get to the elevator, which is on the east/Lake Huron side of the South Tower.

As others have said, the cab is quite small; three people can fit inside, and if you're not friends at the bottom, you will be at the top. The elevator has 6 "floors". One is the bottom of the tower, two is the crossover underneath the road deck, three is the road deck level and then four through six are the upper crossovers in the tower. For safety reasons, there is a button on the control panel to ring a bell to alert others that the elevator is moving.

Once we got to the top, we had to immediately climb up a ladder to enter a large room. The floor underneath us was at a slant; that slant part of the arch shape to the underside of the crossover. From there, we climbed another 40 feet of ladders, transitioning from ladder to ladder as they passed through different horizontal levels within the structure. At the top of the ladder, there's a hatch that opens out onto the top. From there, you could ascent a few steps to reach the top of the cables.

Fun factoid, even with all of the metal surrounding us, I had better cell phone reception inside that room at the top of the tower than I did at the level of the road deck.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Chicago - Willis Tower Skydeck (1,353 ft)
St. Louis - Gateway Arch (630 ft)
Columbus - Rhodes State Office Tower 40th floor (41 floors, 629 ft tall building)
Baton Rouge - Louisiana State Capital 27th floor (34 floors, 450 ft tall building)