Traveller crowns Rio climb with a selfie

Lee Thompson takes the selfie from the top of Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. Photo / Snapper Media

High above Rio de Janeiro, travel boss Lee Thompson became the first man to take a selfie atop Brazil's iconic 40m statue Christ the Redeemer.

In Brazil to document the preparations for the Fifa World Cup, the boss of the Flash Pack travel company decided to try his luck and asked to climb the statue.

On his blog, Mr Thompson explained the idea came to him on the beach far below. Two hours later he was on top of Christ's head.

"Even though I had been to Rio many times and admired the iconic statue from afar, I had never had the time to visit the Christ the Redeemer statue in person.

"A severe lightning storm had damaged the statue in January and I knew that workers were busy with repairs, so decided to take a stab in the dark and ... managed to convince the Brazil tourist board to allow us to climb to the top and take some seriously vertigo-inducing photographs."

Accompanied by workmen, Mr Thompson and his cameraman entered the feet of the statue and climbed for 20 minutes up narrow staircases to "the heart of Christ made from beautiful mosaics".

After climbing through the shoulder, they reached the head and came out on top.

"As I popped my head out of the hole in Jesus' crown, I was in total and utter awe as my eyes met with a vast panorama that quite literally took my breath away."

The pic is considered the first "selfie" taken from the regal perspective, and the travel writer was proud of the achievement.