Scaling an Unleaning Tower of Pastry

Twelve climbers scrambled up a 42-foot steel tower covered in more than 1,000 sweet buns today in Hong Kong, reviving a ritual banned 26 years ago when the British colonial government declared it too dangerous.

A similar tower made of bamboo collapsed in 1978, injuring more than 100 people, but the government allowed the tradition to be resurrected this year.

The event commemorates people who died in a bubonic plague in the 1800s; the buns were supposed to cure illnesses. Climbers had three minutes to collect as many as they could, with buns at the top worth more points than those lower down.