New Mexico Tech has its own version of this one, here linked on the late John Shipman’s page (dunno how long it’ll be up; John died early this year.) Everyone suspects who did it, but that tower is decidedly not a free climb so … yeah, impressive.
Personally I suspect that the culprit is not so much concerned over legal [1] or reputational [2] consequences, but for fear that the Administration will revoke his PhD.
[1] The statute of limitations ran out a while ago.
[2[ Considering what else he’s known for, I really don’t see his reputation suffering.
Gutsy yes, the biggest danger of whipping off of that is the factor 2 fall. Getting down (with a rope) would be quite easy if you know how to rig a slightly more complicated 2 strand rap line.
That looks pretty straightforward for a rock climber. Pre-drill a big hole in the bottom of the pumpkin to make placement fast and easy. Maybe hollow it out to make it lighter. Run a rope through the pumpkin and tie the rope to your climbing harness to haul the pumpkin up when you reach the top. From the huge windows at the top level, run a rope around the tower. Use poles to lift the rope over the roof and tighten it. The tower itself has lots of easy holds to get up over the roof, with a safety line tied to the rope. The roof part has lots of great hand holds criss-crossing the surface for easy climbing. Every 10 feet or so grab both ends of the line running all the way around and saw it back and forth bringing the line higher to your current position. A quick clove hitch will keep it tight at the new height. Once you reach the top and have the safety line tight around the spire you can pull up the pumpkin and place it over the spire. Rappel down the safety line that is around the spire so you can pull one end and remove all evidence of your techniques.
