Vid goes inside the world’s tallest AND fastest elevator scaling mountain…& glass walls mean it’s not for faint-hearted

SCALING a gargantuan mountain sits the world's tallest and fastest elevator - decked out with glass walls for fearless tourists.

Standing over 1,000 feet tall, heart-stopping footage shows just how high the terrifying elevator goes, surrounded by sandstone pillars three times its size.

The Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in the Hunan Province of China is home to the world's tallest outdoor lift that looms over the natural landscape - dubbed the Bailong Elevator.

Aerial footage shows one of the double decker elevator cars scaling the mountain edge - filled with brave tourists peering through the glass walls.

Another clip captured inside one of the cars looks out onto the lush green forestry view where sandstone pillars emerge from the forest floor and tower over the elevator.

The tallest pillar stands three times the size of the elevator at over an unbelievable 3,000 feet.

Sticking out of nature as its own pillar is the Bailong Elevator - built out of steel and glass.

Construction for the gargantuan elevator began back in 1999, and after receiving a $20 million investment, opened to the public in 2002.

The elevator was carefully built into a quartz sandstone cliff face - with tunnels and shafts dug to accommodate all three glass double-deck cars.

In total, the cars reaches heights of 1,070 feet - with the lower 505 feet embedded inside the mountain wall and the upper 565 feet made up of exposed steel derrick.

Like clockwork the three elevators run in parallel - which may distract from the views of the stunning sandstone pillars and the surrounding natural landscape.

After undergoing a speed upgrade in 2015, the cars make the terrifying ascent in a mere one minute and 32 seconds.

And for those fearless daredevils, it takes 68 minutes and 26 seconds to free-climb the upper exposed section of the elevator - according to French climbing legend Jean-Michel Casanova.

Each elevator has a carrying capacity of a whopping 4,900kg, with 50 passengers in each car.

This makes Bailong not only the world's tallest outdoor elevator but also the world's tallest double-deck sightseeing elevator.

On top of this, it is the world's fastest passenger traffic elevator with the largest carrying capacity.

Despite its impressive scale and world records, the gargantuan elevator has been at the front of controversy.

For 10 months between 2002 and 2003, it was shut due to safety concerns - potentially due to the fact it is sat in an earthquake-prone area.

And there were cries from environmentalists after the massive steel mobile was built in a UNESCO World Heritage Site and protected national park.

They claimed that it drew more tourists to the already-popular site - but the elevator's fans slammed the claim, saying that it had reduced the damage to mountain trails due to the ease of the lift for tourists.

Despite criticisms, the Bailong continues to be a vastly popular site for tourists and locals alike - especially as a ticket costs around a mere £7.90 each way.

Similarly, nestled in the middle of a forest, a towering structure almost as tall as London’s iconic Shard rises dramatically above the trees.

But instead of being a luxury skyscraper full of offices or apartments, no one lives there — because the giant tower is dedicated entirely to testing lifts.

The TK Elevator Testturm, standing at an impressive 807ft, is a cutting-edge facility designed to push elevator technology to new heights.

Built in 2017 by engineering giant TK Elevator, the structure houses 12 shafts where next-generation lifts are tested, including high-speed models and groundbreaking “MULTI” systems that can move both vertically and horizontally.