We humans are always dreaming up new ways of almost killing ourselves without actually killing ourselves. That shot of adrenaline, when you seem to be staring in death’s face, reminds us we’re alive.
The new Edge Walk at the CN Tower in Toronto is like looking in death’s face through a magnifying glass.
Open as of this morning, thrill-seekers not only get to walk about on a 1.5m wide ledge that’s 356m off the ground, they get harnessed to a thin tether and then can lean way out over the edge. That’s putting a lot of faith in a single point of failure. Not only can you lean back like the incongruously grinning people above, but you can rotate so you’re facing down, as if you’re about to make your final bellyflop toward earth.
Sure, you’re not quite as high up as, say, the Empire State Building’s 102nd Floor Observatory (381m), and you’re not nearly as high up as you would be with the Grand Canyon’s Skywalk (1219m), but there’s something about leaning out like that, putting extra strain on your tether… it just gives me the willies. That said, if I find myself in Toronto with some cash to burn, I’ll probably do it. As Freddy Mercury said, “Who wants to live forever?”
$US175 will get you a 90-minute tour, including a 20-30 minute edge walk, a video, some photos, and a bunch of other stuff. Who’s coming with me?