Category Archives: CN Tower

Construction views from Roundhouse Park

 

Constantly changing scenery: The Rogers Centre, the CN Tower and the skyscrapers of the Financial District once dominated the north and east views from Roundhouse Park on Bremner Boulevard. But a slew of nearby construction projects is giving park visitors new views that change by the day. Above is a video I shot from the park yesterday, showing building activity at five major construction sites nearby: Infinity3, the final phase of the Infinity condo complex between Bremner and Lake Shore Boulevard; the two ICE Condos towers at York Centre on the east side of the Infinity buildings; the Delta Toronto hotel and Bremner office tower at Southcore Financial Centre; the Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada approaching the end of construction at the foot of the CN Tower; and the Three Hundred Front Street West condo tower to the northwest.

 

 

CN Tower puts thrill seekers on edge…1,168 feet up

CN Tower EdgeWalk

August 1 2011: Thrillseekers on the CN Tower observation deck roof

 

CN Tower EdgeWalk

Eight daredevils walking along the north side of the deck’s roof

 

CN Tower EdgeWalk

An EdgeWalker takes a hands-free backward lean over downtown Toronto

 

On edge: The CN Tower literally put people on edge today, the first day its new EdgeWalk attraction was open to members of the public eager to pay $175 for the privilege of walking on a ledge 1,168 feet above downtown Toronto.

I was at John & Adelaide Streets around 3 o’clock this afternoon when I looked up and saw one group of eight daredevils walking along the edge of the tower’s observation deck rooftop, securely tethered to the tower by safety harnesses attached to their red jumpsuits. The walkers paused a few times so some of the participants could take turns doing “Look ma, no hands!” backward leans off the EdgeWalk platform.

Below are several more photos and one brief videoclip of this particular group of EdgeWalkers. Further details about the CN Tower’s spine-tingling new feature are available in my May 12 2011 post as well as in this Toronto Star story by reporter Katie Daubs.

 

CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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 CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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CN Tower EdgeWalk thrillseekers

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Toronto finally gets a “wow factor” attraction with CN Tower’s EdgeWalk for extreme thrillseekers

EdgeWalk at the CN Tower

CN Tower’s new EdgeWalk thrill attraction opens August 1

 

EdgeWalk at the CN Tower

Harnessed to overhead safety rails, thrill seekers will be able to lean over the edge of the CN Tower roof for the ultimate bird’s eye view of Toronto — from 116 stories (1,168 feet) above the ground

 

EdgeWalk at the CN Tower

May 8 2011: EdgeWalk safety structure being installed on CN Tower

 

On the edge: I knew something big was in the works when I saw something I had never noticed before on the roof the main CN Tower observation deck pod last weekend. I was walking along Wellington Street West when a glint of sunshine off dozens of white metal posts protruding from the pod roof caught my eye. My camera’s zoom lens confirmed that something was being constructed on the roof, but what was it? A new window cleaning platform? Probably not. A new addition to the tower’s night-time exterior light show? I doubted that, too. Roof repairs? Perhaps — I could see what appeared to be blue tarps hanging over the edge of the pod. When I got back home, I double-checked other CN Tower photos I had taken recently to see how long the posts had been up there. They didn’t appear in any of my pics from late March, so I figured that construction had started during April so whatever was being done could be finished before Toronto’s summer tourist season gets into full swing. The CN Tower website didn’t mention anything new, so on Monday morning I emailed the tower one of my pics to ask what was going on. I got my answer when I returned home a few hours later and logged into facebook, where my news feed was filled with links friends had provided to an online Toronto Star report about the CN Tower’s new EdgeWalk extreme thrill attraction.

Opening August 1, EdgeWalk at the CN Tower will offer Toronto adventure seekers the ultimate adrenaline rush. Securely harnessed to an overhead safety rail, groups of six to eight daredevils will get to spend nearly half an hour taking a “hands-free” walk along a 5-foot-wide, 492-foot-long ledge circling the roof of the tower’s revolving restaurant, the 360.The harness system will let them lean perilously over the roof edge to see how far they can push their personal thrill boundaries while testing the limits of their anxious loved ones (It puts a whole new spin on the expression, “Look ma, no hands!”).

Though I noticed the EdgeWalk support structure only this past weekend, the project has been in the works for nearly 10 months. Design took four months, while fabrication took another three. Installation is expected to take around two months.  Comprised of 36,000 pounds of steelwork, the EdgeWalk structure includes 112 pieces of 5-by-4-foot galvanized steel grated floor and 36 support arms. These arms are linked to two side-by-side 450-foot rails plus two 50-foot rails leading outside; one will be used for the tour group leader, while the other is for each group of EdgeWalkers.

The walks will last 20 to 30 minutes, but with pre-walk safety briefing, the whole EdgeWalk experience will take about 1.5 hours. The tower will offer two to three walks per hour, with up to 30 walks per day. The attraction will operate roughly from May or Otober, and the number of actual walks conducted will vary depending upon weather and sunrise/sunset times. Tickets will cost $175 and will go on sale beginning June 1.

Though this is an adventure I don’t have the guts to try myself, I think it’s a great new feature for the 35-year-old CN Tower — and a long-overdue new tourist attraction for Toronto.  For years, I’ve seen newspaper and international travel magazine articles raving about Sydney, Australia’s famous Harbour Bridge Climb, and last year I saw a television program that profiled the SkyWalk and SkyJump at the Sky Tower in Aukland, New Zealand. Toronto didn’t have anything even remotely comparable, and I thought the city needed a new drawing-card with a tremendous “wow factor” to put itself on the map. The best “wows” the city had to offer were already at the CN Tower — the Glass Floor, which was installed in 1994, and the world’s highest glass floor-panelled elevator, which opened in 2008. I checked out the TripAdvisor.com Toronto forums to see what local residents were recommending to visiting tourists, and thought the list was pretty sad. It included the Eaton Centre and the St. Lawrence Market, both of which might wow shopping enthusiasts and foodies, along with Casa Loma, Harbourfront and the Toronto Islands. The only attractions I’ve seen mentioned favourably in international travel publications have been the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Though the ROM’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal was named as one of “The new seven wonders of the world” in the April 2008 issue of Condé Nast Traveler magazine, I thought the city still needed something more — something really big and exciting — to catch international attention. EdgeWalk ought to do it.

Below is a CN Tower ad for EdgeWalk, along with some of my recent pics of the tower.

CN Tower EdgeWalk ad

From the CN Tower website, an advertisement for EdgeWalk at the CN Tower

 

CN Tower

March 29 2011: Installation of the EdgeWalk structure hasn’t yet started, as this photo of the CN Tower — shot from Concord CityPlace to its west — indicates

 

CN Tower and the Ritz-Carlton Toronto

March 29 2011: No signs of any EdgeWalk structure on the northeast side of the CN Tower, either, seen here peeking from behind The Ritz-Carlton Toronto

 

CN Tower

May 8 2011: EdgeWalk’s newly-installed steel support arms caught my attention

 

EdgeWalk steel support arms on the CN Tower pod roof

May 8 2011: A closer look at the EdgeWalk steel support arms

 

CN Tower viewed from corner of King & Bay Streets

May 8 2011: CN Tower viewed from the corner of King & Bay Streets