A telescopically extendable and collapsible ladder assembly having at a top ladder section, a bottom ladder section, and one or more intermediate ladder sections, wherein the top ladder section and each of the one or more intermediate ladder sections have two tubular stile members arranged parallel to each other and interconnected at a top end by a ladder rung to form a U-shaped ladder section, and wherein the bottom ladder section has two tubular stile members arranged parallel to each other and interconnected by an top ladder rung and a bottom ladder rung (106"), wherein the ladder rungs are made from an aluminium tubular profile, the profile including a top wall, a bottom wall, as well as a front wall and a back wall extending between the top wall and the bottom wall, wherein the stile members of the top ladder section and the one or more intermediate ladder sections are telescopically inserted into the stile members of an adjacent lower ladder section, so that the one or more intermediate ladder sections and the top ladder section can be collapsed in a collapsing direction towards the bottom ladder section, wherein the top rung of the bottom ladder section and the rung of each of the one or more intermediate ladder sections are provided at each end with an automatic latch mechanism, said automatic latch mechanisms being adapted for automatically locking the stile members of the adjacent higher ladder section in a fully extended position of said adjacent higher ladder section, wherein the automatic latch mechanisms of the intermediate ladder sections are each associated with a release actuator for unlocking the stile members of an adjacent higher ladder section in order to allow for automatic release and collapsing of the ladder assembly, wherein the automatic latch mechanisms of the bottom ladder section are each associated with a manually operable release actuator for unlocking of the stile members of the adjacent higher ladder section by a user in order to allow for a manually release and collapsing of the ladder assembly, wherein the top rung of the bottom ladder section is at its bottom side provided with an centrally arranged grip element, the grip element including a front wall, a back wall, as well as a bottom wall extending between a bottom end of the front wall and a bottom end of the back wall, wherein the bottom wall of the grip element extends substantially parallel to the bottom wall of the top rung and provides a grip surface at a distance from the bottom wall of the top rung, which grip surface allows for engaging the collapsed ladder by hand using said grip surface; wherein the grip element forms a housing for the manually operable release actuators of the bottom ladder section. wherein said manually operable release actuators extend through a slot in the bottom wall of the ladder rung into the interior of the ladder rung, each of said manually operable release actuators being connected to a linkage member, e.g. a linkage rod, which extends inside the rung to a latch mechanism at the outer end of the rung, characterized in that said manually operable release actuators are accessible at lateral sides of the grip element, preferably such that the two manually operable release actuators are operable simultaneously with a single hand of the user, and which manually operable release actuators are each movable, parallel to the front wall and the back wall of the grip element and along the bottom wall of the rung, between a rest position and an actuated positon, to allow for manually operating the latch mechanisms and unlocking the stile members of the adjacent higher ladder section by pushing the manually operable release actuators towards each other and into the grip element.