Original Las Vegas Sphere Climber Gets Jail
Posted on: April 22, 2026, 01:31h.
Last updated on: April 22, 2026, 01:31h.
- Maison Des Champs, the self-described “Pro-Life Spiderman,” was sentenced to 45 days in jail and ordered to pay $77,270.32 in restitution for damaging the Las Vegas Sphere during an illegal 2024 climb
- Executives testified that Des Champ destroyed hundreds of custom-built LED pixels
- Des Champs’ sentencing comes a week after a sanctioned climb, filmed for an upcoming Sphere film, by a climber believed to be Alex Honnold
Maison Des Champs, the first person to scale the outside of the Las Vegas Sphere, was sentenced Monday to 45 days in the Clark County Detention Center. A free‑solo climber and political activist who calls himself the “pro‑life Spiderman,” Des Champs climbed the 366-foot venue on Feb. 7, 2024 without asking or receiving permission.
Judge Danielle Pieper also imposed a year of probation and ordered DesChamps to pay $77,270.32 in restitution to Sphere Entertainment for damage caused during his climb. The venue’s LED pixels were not designed to support the weight of humans hoisting themselves upward on them.
According to the arrest report, a Sphere engineer spotted Des Champs partway up the venue’s exterior on Feb. “Exosphere” and alerted police. Officers accessed the top of the building from the interior and arrested him as he completed the climb.
No Sphere of Heights
Des Champs, a resident of Las Vegas, has previous arrests for climbing the Aria Resort & Casino in August 2021, the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco in May 2022, and the Chase Tower in Phoenix in February 2023. Clark County prosecutors dismissed the Aria charges, and there is no evidence of a conviction in the other cases.
After his Sphere arrest, Des Champs reportedly told police that his attorneys would get him off the hook for this climb as well.
In court, Jay Cline, VP of event production for Sphere Entertainment, explained how the damage caused by Des Champ was assessed. He said the company reviewed security footage, exterior cameras, and publicly posted drone video to map Des Champs’ route. Rope‑access teams and drones were then deployed to inspect the affected areas. Cline testified that the total repair cost reached $107,686.32, including the replacement of 280 LED pucks at $150 each, two metal LED carriers, wiring, and labor for the rope teams.
Defense attorneys challenged the restitution amount, arguing that environmental factors such as wind, bird strikes, or unrelated impacts could have contributed to wear on the Exosphere. They also questioned the lack of photographs documenting each replaced component and referenced the recent second climb.
Des Champs previously agreed to plead guilty to a gross misdemeanor — performing an act or neglect of duty in willful or wanton disregard of safety. Three others arrested in connection with the incident — Lori Hurley, Aaron Hurley, and David Velasquez — had their cases dismissed on Oct. 28, 2025, after prosecutors declined to file charges.
Strange Timing
Des Champ’s sentencing came only a week after a second climber — widely believed to be free-climber professional free-claimber Alex Honnold, though his identity has not been confirmed — ascended the Sphere as part of a sanctioned shoot for the upcoming Sphere original film, From the Edge, scheduled to debut later this year.
Unlike Des Champs’ unauthorized protest, the sanctioned April 14 climb was a coordinated event involving a helicopter filming the climber with a camera pod. In preparation for sanctioned building climbs, engineers reinforce or brace specific panels, tighten mounting hardware, and route the climber along structural seams rather than fragile tiles.
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