From Ottawa to the CN Tower Two teachers, 1,776 stairs and one goal BY DEIRDRE MCKIE We all have that bucket list – things we’ve always wanted to do but have yet to pull off. They are posted on our fridges, tacked to our bulletin boards, or lurking in the crevices of our mind. Longstanding on my list has been climbing the stairs to the top of the CN Tower. I love a good mountain scramble and that concrete tower somehow seemed to be a summit waiting to be conquered. Jenny and I teach together at Richard Pfaff Alternate School. One day last September I floated the idea across the room: “Jenny, interested in climbing the CN Tower with me?” Pause. “Jenny?” That was about as long as it took before she had Googled it on her iPhone and had the dates when the tower is open for climbers. Coming up in October was the Enbridge CN Tower Climb for United Way. Most of our students have benefitted in one way or another from United Way funded services, so decision made: We would climb the tower and raise money for the United Way. We are teachers, with planning in our DNA, so we planned our approach. How do you climb 1,776 steps? Easy, you train first. How long should it take? How long do we want it to take? All these questions were answered on our bi-weekly treks to Carleton University’s Dunton Tower. We met before school, wound our way through the www.ottawaoutdoors.ca
doing the required 1,776 stairs. We were ready. With registration online, people could sponsor us by donating via the website or with cash or cheques. The climb is open for three days to accommodate the 11,000
Ottawa teachers, Jenny Shields and Deirdre McKie, after climbing the CN Tower in 24 minutes
construction sites at Carleton, and hit the tower by 7 a.m. Progressing up the flights, we discussed work, family and solved many of the world’s problems. Twenty-two storeys of stairs leaves time for chitchat. We became a fixture in the tower for the professors who were there early. We would climb up, take the elevator down, and climb up again. Soon enough we knew what floor we were at by the graffiti in the stairwell. We had set what seemed like a reasonable goal for our age frame – 30 minutes or less to climb the CN Tower. Our rules were no rail-grabbing, no huffing and puffing, and above all no vomiting in the stairwell (this has happened for the unprepared on the CN Tower climb). By early October we were easily
participants, divided into a corporate event, a student climb and a public climb. It’s run like a well-oiled machine as a throng of people move from the holding area to the tower itself. The fastest climber was Jeremy Hatt who reached the top in 10 minutes and 56 seconds. And if you are interested in beating the top fund-raiser, aim for more than $34,000. Kudos to Howard MacIntyre of Suncor Energy Inc. corporate team for his commitment to the United Way. For Jenny and I, we climbed the tower in 24 minutes at a steady pace and had the pleasure of seeing the sunrise from the observation deck when we got there. We returned to the Intercontinental Hotel for a wonderful breakfast. Would I go again? Absolutely! /OO
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