Narrow Minds

Several months ago, the lieutenant who heads our Hostage Negotiation Team asked me to come up with a team building training we could do in July. Me being me, paying no thought to anyone else's phobias, immediately seized upon climbing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The team attended a conference in Bellingham a few months ago where the sergeant of Tacoma PD's HNT spoke about the criteria their applicants must meet in order to make their team. One of these criteria is to successfully complete a climb of the bridge. This is necessary of course, because they have so many jumpers and it does you no good to have to talk two people down instead of one.

So I fired off an email to their team and asked if we could do a climb with them. They were more than happy to lead us off (or up as the case may be) into oblivion! So on July 31st, we met at TPD headquarters to be outfitted with harnesses, hard hats and the required safety vests. Three of us couldn't wait to get on the bridge. The remaining four would happily have waited til doomsday I think!

Here are a few stats before I throw out the photos. The bridge is 510 feet high. It weighs 53 million pounds, is 5400 feet long and cost $735 million to construct. For more info', this website gives all the structural engineering stuff that puts me to sleep.

We started out on the Jackson St. side. It's actually quite simple. Your harness has two huge carabiner type clips that you clip into each side of the cable. When you reach a vertical suspender, you unclip on one side and clip in on the other with the same carabiner, repeating the process on your other side. This way you are always connected to the bridge by at least one carabiner. A good, sturdy pair of gloves are required for those that have a death grip as the cable produces so much friction, it eats through fabric very quickly. Rubber soled shoes are required since your ability to stick to that pipe you will be climbing comes from the friction between your shoe and the scored pipe surface. It's a lot like smearing when rock climbing.

The bridge starts off at a fairly gradual slope but increases significantly as you get higher. Once you reach the top of the tower, there is a small platform to stand on and enjoy the view. We had good weather and it was a perfect day for it. We all made it, in various degrees of composure! The trick, as my title refers to, is to keep your mind narrow and focus on your feet, the person in front of you etc. and not the height if you have a phobia of heights. While none of the climb bothered me, I will freely admit that the idea of going down in the available elevator which is tiny and pitch black, horrified me and I was more than happy to walk back down the pipe!

The start; deceptively gradual!

My Lt. No doubt regretting asking me to come up with this training!

A birdseye view from the top.

The old bridge which now handles west bound traffic.

Looking across to the opposite tower.

Our tower with the Sound in the background.

The "summit" view.