Climbers to touch the sky on tower climb

By SIMON HENDERY

The trip up the Sky Tower is heading higher.

Auckland company To The Top has won city council planning approval to take small groups up the mast's internal ladders to an outdoor crow's-nest about 270m up the 328m tower.

Climbers would be breath-tested before embarking on the 2h 10m round trip, which would involve climbing eight sets of ladders 40m above the tower's upper observation deck.

The harness-clad climbers would emerge on to the open crow's-nest through a hatch door and spend 15 minutes taking photographs and admiring the view before climbing down.

Sky City spokeswoman Sonya Haggie said council planning approval was one of the early hurdles for the project.

"We're still some way away from confirming that this is going to go ahead but it is a project that Sky City has been working on for some time."

She could not say when the climb would be launched or how much it would cost.

Climbers who suffered an attack of vertigo would be helped to deal with it. "If someone freezes I'm sure we'll be able to get them down without too much bother."

To The Top's directors include David Cam, chief executive of information technology company Owlcentral, and lawyer Phil Creagh. Mr Cam is overseas and Mr Creagh did not return calls yesterday.

From October, thrill-seekers will be able to leap 188m from the Sky Tower's 192m outdoor observation deck in a cable-controlled fall. It will cost $195.