O2 Climb 2016

The 23^rd February every year is Rotary Day, when Rotarians around the world celebrate the founding of the Rotary movement in 1905 (I think). Various activities take place on this day to raise the profile of Rotary and inevitably raise some money for Charity whilst doing so. Last year my regular reader may recall that I scaled the O2 building in London to raise money for Rotary’s campaign to end Polio in the world, and also for Roll Out The Barrel Trust. The second of these sounds like a pub song, but is actually a great charity which gets fresh water to remote communities around the world.

The O2

The IPDG accompanied me on that visit last year, and we were told that if we came again the following year, she could also get up there. Apparently they have special equipment (a couple of burly blokes, I assumed), to get wheelchair users up and over the building, and the organisers would book her in to the climb next year. So, as the 2016 climb drew near, I was in contact with Adrian Brewer, organiser extraordinaire of this event to remind him that the IPDG wanted to accompany me this time. I also persuaded some other members of my Rotary Club to join us on the climb. The cost was £30 each, which was discounted from the usual price of £45 to climb the dome.

Base Camp - The climb starts here

Several months of preparation for the event ensued, during which the IPDG and I did some altitude training in Rome and Barcelona, which have some steep streets, and we also tackled the highest peak to be found locally, St Ann’s Hill in Chertsey. It wasn’t too strenuous, in fact there is a car park at the top, but it is a nice place for a picnic  anyway. By the end of January the IPDG felt ready to face the challenge.

St Ann's Hill summit

It was about this time that we received the devastating news that she could not go up the O2 after all. Apparently, if she were to be allowed to climb, she would need a two-hour slot whilst special equipment was deployed, and this would mean that some 90 other people would be prevented from climbing. She magnanimously agreed to step down from the climb (a little too quickly I thought), because the main purpose of the event is of course to raise money. Although she had raised some via JustGiving.com, 90 other people would between them collect far more.

Our intrepid band

So it was, that a group of us, comprising myself, the IPDG, Sally Dick and Janet Matthews met at Shepperton Station early on the morning of 23^rd Feb to catch our train to London. We were to meet Pauline Hedges, Doreen and Tony Pipe and Karen Sutton at the O2.  The climbers among us were me, Pauline, Tony, Sally and Karen, with the rest travelling as supporters. We made good use of the Group Discounts available on South West Trains, which made the cost of an all zones Travelcard for the day just £11 each. At the station we chanced upon a former member of the Rotary Club, Melody Chick. She is a keen ballroom dancer, and was off to attend a competition somewhere.

Shepperton Station

Ramps on to the train were organised for the IPDG, and the ever helpful chap in the ticket office at Shepperton Station telephoned ahead for a ramp to be available when we arrived. All this worked like clockwork, and when we got to Waterloo, the 2 lifts needed to take us down to the Jubilee Line were thankfully working. Trains on the Jubilee line are fully accessible without ramps at Waterloo and at North Greenwich, and we arrived almost without incident.

Sally, I regret to say, did cause a bit of a stir when the train pulled away from one station a bit sharply, and she was propelled into the lap of a man sitting nearby. It took rather a long time to extricate herself much to her, and his, embarrassment, but as an icebreaker it was terrific. Everyone else in the carriage thought it was hilarious, and at least it got the usually reticent London commuters talking to each other. What they didn't know was this is fairly standard behaviour for Sally.

A last hot chocolate before we set off

The others were waiting for us at the O2, just a short walk from North Greenwich station. Doreen, who hosts a show on Brooklands Radio once a week called ‘Just Women’, had brought recording equipment with her, and wanted to create a piece for broadcasting at a later date, talking to organisers, climbers, and anyone else she could find connected with the event. Her recording got off to an inauspicious start. She was interviewing one of the organisers outside Base Camp (where anyone climbing the dome starts off) when she was approached by O2 Security personnel who told her she had no permission to make a recording at the venue, and warned her off. We think that there was a heightened state of alert due to the Brit Awards taking place there the following day. This setback did not deter Doreen for long, as once she was safely inside Base Camp she carried on interviewing anyone else who would speak to her.

The climbers - Pauline, Karen, me, Sally and Tony

Karen had come along with a friend, Ingrid Weel, who was to join us on the climb. It turned out that she was part-Scandinavian in ancestry, and she recognised Viking runes in the sweater I was wearing. I had bought it in Orkney several years ago, and is the warmest jumper I have, so ideal for this cold day. Vikings of course colonised the Orkneys 2,000 years ago, and runes were their means of writing. In fact, just to digress for a moment, I remember visiting Maes Howe, which is an ancient burial chamber on Orkney Mainland, and seeing Viking graffiti there. The strange, stick-like runes were scratched into the upper wall of this tomb, and our guide explained that the message said ‘There is no treasure here’ (probably because the writer had just taken it!). I asked Ingrid if she could translate my sweater, but she failed this test.

Note the runes on my sweater

Maes Howe, Orkney

Our climb time was 12 noon, and so the 5 of us reported to Base Camp as instructed, at 11.30. We were given a very amusing safety talk (which I recognised from last year) and then went to get kitted up. First of all we had to put on a waterproof jacket covering our other clothes. This jacket had just one small pocket, big enough for a mobile phone or a small camera. We were not allowed to take anything else with us, for fear we might drop things onto the unsuspecting public below us. Over the top of this we had to put a harness with a heavy dangling thing on the front of it, which attached to the safety rope when we commenced climbing. Unsurprisingly, several people had trouble getting into their harnesses the right way round.

Our climbing kit

Finally we had to change shoes into trainers provided by Base Camp. This was not negotiable, and everyone had to change their shoes. Some protested, not understanding why one pair of trainers should be exchanged for another. It’s not as if people were wearing high heels, which would obviously have the potential to damage the fabric. I presumed the organisers were concerned about dirt from people’s shoes getting on to the roof. Last year I liked the Ecco shoes I’d been given so much that I bought a pair a couple of weeks later. In fact I was wearing them today.  Ironically, I now had to take them off and change them for the ones they wanted us to wear, which this time were Trojan shoes. Once again, I found them so comfortable I wanted to take them home with me, although to date I have resisted the urge to buy some.

Kitted up and ready to go

We all decided to do the climb as a team, so we stayed in a group and were actually at the front of the line of 20 or so people going up at 12.00. A pause for official photos, some instruction on how to keep your dangling thing (I’m sure there’s a technical word for it, but I’ve no idea what it is) attached to the safety rope, and we were off. We could see the IPDG, Doreen and Janet down on the ground and waved as we set off. After that we had to concentrate on what we were doing, with eyes, and both hands, on the safety rope. It seemed that I, as leader, constantly had to stop and wait for Sally, who was in second place, to catch up. I think the reason for this was not that she was having particular difficulty with the climb, but she didn’t stop chatting the whole time. Due to the nature of dome-shaped buildings, the ascent was steepest at the start, and the gradient improved as we climbed towards the top. Here there is a level platform, where we spent 20 minutes, during which time we were able to walk around admiring the views across London.

Ingrid models the climbing gear

We were fortunate that it was a very clear day, and were able to see long distances, including the arch of Wembley stadium, some 20 miles away, we were told. Nearer to us, the Olympic Stadium was easily visible, and the strange sculpture that went up at the time of the 2012 Olympics. Looking East, I could see the Excel Centre, and beyond it the Thames Flood Barrier.  From my vantage point It was apparent that the River Thames really does follow a very meandering course through London. We were at the O2, on the South Bank of the river, and looking directly North, I could see a couple of miles away the London Eye, which is also on the South Bank.

 

 Pauline at the top - her brother has a flat in the white building behind her

Team Leader

All too soon, it was time to make our descent down the other side of the dome. The downward journey of course was a mirror image of the ascent, in that the slope got steeper and steeper as we went down. Just like last year, my main concern here was staying on my feet, as I didn’t want to take out the person (s) in front of me if I slipped. Immediately in front on the descent was actually Karen, who was having enough trouble with her hips going down, and the last thing she needed was me crashing into her.

Ready to descend

Fortunately, we all got down safely, and we all felt quite good about our achievement. The climb was enough of a challenge to make you feel you had achieved something, but not so tough that anyone was frightened by it. Between us, I think we raised about £2,000 towards the twin beneficiaries of End Polio now and Roll Out The Barrel, and this will be increased to £3,000 with the matched funding for polio eradication agreed between Rotary and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

When we got back to Base Camp, we were each given a photo of our climb, and a medal, neither of which I remember getting last year. The only slight disappointment for me was that the event didn’t appear to be very well attended by Rotarians, in fact there seemed less people around  than last year, which was a surprise. The problem appeared to be due to insufficient publicity beforehand, which must have been disappointing to Adrian Brewer and the ever supportive Mukesh Malhotra.

Proudly wearing our medals

After we had been reunited with our belongings, which had been  stored in lockers whilst we climbed, we headed off into the O2 Arena for lunch, where most of us tackled the salad bar at a Harvester’s with relish (literally) and were favourably impressed with the excellent friendly service we received there. It's funny how we change as we get older. A few years ago I would have been searching the menu for a T-bone steak, these days I am happy with a salad. We managed to get back to Waterloo before rush hour got going, so we were home relatively comfortably.  

Harvester at the O2

That evening I attended an excellent talk at Staines Rotary Club by Commander James “Blackers” Blackmore, Commanding Officer of the Fixed Wing Force based at Royal Navy Air Station, Culdrose. Besides getting a terrific insight into flying Sea Harriers, I managed to obtain more sponsorship for my climb earlier that day.

Sea Harrier