Often when I’m chatting with visitors to Sydney or even just having a brag down at the pub, people ask me if I’ve ever climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. My answer is “three times, twice legally”.
Everyone knows the famous - ‘iconic’ even - Sydney attraction known as ‘BridgeClimb’ launched in 1998. It was a big deal because the founder, Paul Cave, had taken 10 years to overcome a wall of bureaucracy to make it happen and at the time, it was the first such attraction on a bridge anywhere in the world.
Cave would certainly have known about the ‘informal’ (read: illegal) Sydney Harbour Social Climbers Association which used to regularly climb the bridge before any sort of commercialisation took place. They even had a ‘guestbook’ at the top for summiters to sign. Cave may well have been a member. I have no idea about that.
Better known were the pylon lookouts, which were accessible to the general public and were perfectly satisfactory for any normal person to get a bird’s eye view of the famous harbour, Circular Quay and the Sydney city skyline.
One lazy Saturday afternoon back in the mid-1980s, I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald and came across an article about the informal climbers’ club and that’s when the idea struck me. At the time I was sharing a big house with a bunch of blokes. We likened ourselves to the then-popular TV show, ‘The Young Ones’, but that’s another story.
One balmy January night we resolved to form a crew and conquer the bridge, closely following the handy instructions I’d found in the SMH. At the time, it was possible to scale the fence and enter the bulkhead-like box sections and climb inside the bridge to the top of the first arch where there was a ‘tank drivers’ style hatch at the top. You could then exit and (carefully) climb the exposed stairway to the red beacon at the top.
I should point out that we were all stone-cold sober and being very careful. Any clumsy fool could have come a nasty cropper if they were careless. So, feat achieved and photos taken, we scurried back down the way we’d come.
In 2002, I was asked to come back on assignment for BridgeClimb to photograph the launch of their new ‘dawn’ product and then again in 2006 for a new ‘explorers’ route using some gangways under the roadway. That was every bit as scary as my midnight climb ten years prior. On that last event, I actually climbed with Paul Cave and shared my story with him.
Below is a contemporary short film of a 1979 'social climb'.
As a footnote, I should point out that any attempt to replicate an independent climb as described is impossible with new, hi-tech security measures in place since 9-11 - and tightened even further since. Should you attempt such silliness, be prepared for a $20,000 fine and/or two years jail like this idiot. So, just don’t. It’s a different world today.
All material (c) Copyright Traveloscopy.com unless noted otherwise.
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The first dawn climb, December 2002. My first legal climb (Roderick Eime) |
Everyone knows the famous - ‘iconic’ even - Sydney attraction known as ‘BridgeClimb’ launched in 1998. It was a big deal because the founder, Paul Cave, had taken 10 years to overcome a wall of bureaucracy to make it happen and at the time, it was the first such attraction on a bridge anywhere in the world.
Cave would certainly have known about the ‘informal’ (read: illegal) Sydney Harbour Social Climbers Association which used to regularly climb the bridge before any sort of commercialisation took place. They even had a ‘guestbook’ at the top for summiters to sign. Cave may well have been a member. I have no idea about that.
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With Paul Cave, BridgeClimb founder, in 2006. (Roderick Eime) |
Better known were the pylon lookouts, which were accessible to the general public and were perfectly satisfactory for any normal person to get a bird’s eye view of the famous harbour, Circular Quay and the Sydney city skyline.
One lazy Saturday afternoon back in the mid-1980s, I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald and came across an article about the informal climbers’ club and that’s when the idea struck me. At the time I was sharing a big house with a bunch of blokes. We likened ourselves to the then-popular TV show, ‘The Young Ones’, but that’s another story.
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View SW over Millers Point from pylon lookout 1958 (Fred Rasmussen) |
One balmy January night we resolved to form a crew and conquer the bridge, closely following the handy instructions I’d found in the SMH. At the time, it was possible to scale the fence and enter the bulkhead-like box sections and climb inside the bridge to the top of the first arch where there was a ‘tank drivers’ style hatch at the top. You could then exit and (carefully) climb the exposed stairway to the red beacon at the top.
I should point out that we were all stone-cold sober and being very careful. Any clumsy fool could have come a nasty cropper if they were careless. So, feat achieved and photos taken, we scurried back down the way we’d come.
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1986: Inside the tightest box sections at the top of the arch |
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Shaky image of us at the top |
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On the topmost beacon mast - the summit. |
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Shaky image of Circular Quay |
In 2002, I was asked to come back on assignment for BridgeClimb to photograph the launch of their new ‘dawn’ product and then again in 2006 for a new ‘explorers’ route using some gangways under the roadway. That was every bit as scary as my midnight climb ten years prior. On that last event, I actually climbed with Paul Cave and shared my story with him.
Below is a contemporary short film of a 1979 'social climb'.
As a footnote, I should point out that any attempt to replicate an independent climb as described is impossible with new, hi-tech security measures in place since 9-11 - and tightened even further since. Should you attempt such silliness, be prepared for a $20,000 fine and/or two years jail like this idiot. So, just don’t. It’s a different world today.
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- You may also be interested in this article in Mirror Sydney.
All material (c) Copyright Traveloscopy.com unless noted otherwise.
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