bridgeclimb - The Twilight Report

BridgeClimb is unique to Sydney. It is a far more intimate and adventurous way to see the city skyline than the Centrepoint tower, with the added bonus that you get to see the Harbour Bridge up close. It is pricy, but given the attention and care paid to safety and entertainment I think it is worth the price of admission. I recommend it to people when they visit. There is only one short portion of the climb that might be a little scary if one is afraid of heights. I’ve never seen anyone on any of the climbs that I went on that had any trouble in my groups or any adjacent groups. I’ve been up three times myself. The first was a birthday present from my grandma. When Joe and Cicely and Brian came out to visit, they went without me—it is expensive and they had each other to keep them company. The second time I went was on one of Lena’s trips down under. I hadn’t done the climb of the lower arch (called the “Explorer Climb”), so we did that. I find the lower arch to be more interesting because you get to see the innards of the bridge super structure up close. The third time was just this week with Tyler—I figured it wouldn’t be fun for him to do by himself. We opted for the climb of the lower arch.

Usually someone asks how many people were killed in the construction of the bridge. Morbid curiosity I guess? For some reason this last time nobody asked to my surprise. It says here that the number is sixteen. It is a remarkably low total given the technology and safety standards of the time. The guide usually tells the story of how they installed the rivets in the spanning connections without harnesses and it makes me a bit dizzy to think about! The other favourite story is about how the pylons on either end of the bridge are entirely decorative. This time the guide told us about the people out of work at the bottom of the bridge hoping somebody would fall to their death so they could take their job. The bridge was built in the depression, and I think it puts the GFC into perspective a little.

The guide takes four personalized pictures of your subgroup (the people you are going with), and one picture of the whole group. You get the group photo for free, but you have to pay for the personal pictures. Depending on the sun you can get some dark/light contrast issues with the photograph. It wouldn’t hurt for the guides to learn how to use fill flash. The prints are reasonably priced, being a little more than what you’d expect to pay at the drug store photo lab. They also sell digital copies of the photographs for exorbitant prices. I understand as the photographer, they hold the copyright to the photos, but given that they are not taken by professional photographers and are often documents that you were there rather than pieces of art, I think the prices for the digital copies are outrageous. You aren’t allowed to bring a camera on the climb so that is the only way you are going to get any pictures of the event. This is disappointing because I’d like to take photos of the bridge itself. The architecture of the bridge is wonderful and I love rusty old things.

One of the groups doing the upper arch climb while we were doing the lower arch climb this last time had a guy proposing to his girlfriend. I can think of tackier places to propose than that I suppose. She said yes, and everyone from three climbing groups who were there at the time clapped. Our guide said that locals don’t go for that sort of thing that it is mostly tourists proposing. Of course most of the groups are probably mostly tourists, but there are definitely locals as well. He also told the story of one guy who paid for his folks, her folks, himself and his girl (at $198 a head). He proposed at the top, which is standard procedure (at least 3000 proposals on the bridge so far). She didn’t say anything for a while. Then finally she said “we’ll talk about it later.” Guide suggested that maybe that wasn’t a yes. It was apparently a very quiet climb back down the bridge!

They also have wedding packages. You can’t wear a white dress or black tux; you have to wear the standard BridgeClimb jumpsuit. Apparently you can get your own photographers. This got me to thinking it would be great to go along as a photographer so I could take my own pictures of the bridge. The bride and groom might be a little disappointed (“where are the pictures of us and the guests?!”).

This last time Tyler and I were in the tail of the group. It was not by choice really, but on reflection, I think this is the best spot to be in, unless you want to ask questions. If you want to ask questions, you should be right behind the guide in the front. I’m not really a questions sort of guy though. Being in the tail means that you can take your time a little bit more, and enjoy. Climbing down the lower arch this time I realized it would probably be my last climb of the bridge. It got a bit nostalgic. I’m werid.

You can walk across the bridge for free. There are pedestrian crossings on either side. I want to do this at least once before I leave. I’ve already crossed the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges in New York. The Brooklyn Bridge is more iconic, but the Manhattan Bridge has the advantage that you can see the Brooklyn Bridge from it. I also crossed the Anzac Bridge here in Sydney when I went to take pictures of the former HMAS Adelaide.

My grandma was one of the first people to cross the bridge, having been pushed by her parents in a pram when the bridge opened. For the 75th anniversary, I got to walk across the bridge myself when they closed the bridge for traffic for only the fourth time in its entire history to celebrate its birthday. The bridge is a great Australian icon, a cultural and engineering marvel along with the Opera House.