The Climbing of the Bridge

On May 7, I ascended the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and surveyed my domain (Sydney).

The experience began with my arrival at the home base for BridgeClimb Sydney at about 4:30pm. It was sort of built into one of the supports of the bridge so that when we were ready to climb, we walked out a door and we were on the underside of the bridge.

First, I waited in the gift shop for a few minutes before my appointed time, and the best part of this was they were playing a slideshow of all the celebrities who have climbed the bridge. My conclusion is that basically any famous person who visits Sydney does it. These were some of my favorites and the most significant to me:

Fun fact: When Ben Stiller climbed the bridge, he had a photoshoot at the top in character as Derek Zoolander. Apparently, it was part of a larger press tour he was doing to advertise for Zoolander 2, where he visited a several world landmarks in character. They also let him wear a specially designed suit just for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcuuCzo-ldg&ab_channel=BridgeClimbSydney

When I got called to go get ready, they first brought us into a little briefing room, where we watched a safety video and then they breathalyzed us. New experience for me! They always want to make sure no one is climbing the bridge with anything but ZERO alcohol in their system.

Once that was taken care of, we suited up! Here's me in the changing room right before I stored my phone in a locker for the rest of the evening.

Before this, I had thought the suit was to somehow keep anything on your person from falling off and onto the road below, but now I know they actually don't let you take anything up there that could fall off. No watches, hair bands, or bracelets on your wrist, no necklaces. The suit is actually so they can clip stuff to you! There are little loops around the shoulder area for this purpose. In my case, I had a warm hat, a headlamp, and headphones attached to me, all provided by BridgeClimb. The sun was setting at about 5:30 at that point, so the headlamp was necessary. And the headphones were so that I could hear the guide as he told us facts about what we were seeing. I was also given a rag to tie around my wrist - I guess to wipe my face off if I got sweaty? Plus something that became very important later: a rain jacket, all balled up in a little pouch.

Once I got my suit, all my gear, and the harness, it was time to practice climbing the bridge. They had a system of ladders and platforms set up for us to climb one by one so we could get a feel of what we would be dealing with on the actual bridge. This allowed us to practice ladder etiquette (one person per ladder) and get to know the apparatus attaching us to the bridge for the duration of our climb. Along the entire climb route, there is a metal wire, and attached to my harness was a tube that went around the wire at the beginning and didn't come off until the very end. Supposedly it could withstand a TON of force in case I were to somehow fall off the bridge - although that would be VERY hard to do.

After that, we started the climb! I was in a group of 10 people, and the order we started the climb in was the order we had to stay in the entire time because of the whole wire-tube system. So of course I got myself first in line behind the guide! The climb starts on a catwalk under the train-road-pedestrian-bike level of the bridge. Then, a series of ladders (like 5 or 6) must be ascended to reach the arch. The ladders were by far the scariest part, especially when it started to rain. Once the ladders were completed, the path up to the top of the bridge is just gradual stairs. Not too steep, but still stairs. During one of our breaks, someone asked our guide if he had ever met any famous people doing the climb, which I thought was a brilliant question because the odds were pretty high, but unfortunately he hadn't.

We stopped to snap some pics with the Opera House, a few at the top, and one on the way back down to capture the roadway and view of the city.

The whole journey lasted about three hours. Back down at the home base, we were given a free baseball cap (and the opportunity to buy more souvenirs at the gift shop).

Overall, I do not think this is a must-do Sydney experience, like it won't make or break a visit to this wonderful city - but I sure am glad I got to do it!