Taking the hard way up the CN Tower: 7,000 take part in charity stair climb

More than 7,000 people are taking the hard way up the CN Tower this weekend as part of an annual fundraiser that is expected to raise in excess of $1 million for wildlife conservation efforts.

The WWF-Canada CN Tower Climb for Nature got underway at 6 a.m. on Saturday with the first wave of climbers beginning the 1,776-step trek to the top of the tower.

Thousands of people were expected to make the climb on Saturday with thousands more slated to do the same on Sunday.

Sunday will also see competitor climbers square off in a race to the top of the tower. The all-time record, set last year, is nine minutes and 54 seconds.

All told, the climbers will scale 148 flights of stairs.

“We are working to reverse the decline of wildlife. Wildlife loss is a huge problem in Canada. You would think it might not be – it is such a big country with all this space – but it really is an issue here,” WWF Canada President and CEO Megan Leslie told CP24. “Whether we are working on the barren-ground caribou up in the Arctic and looking at how we can stop that population from declining or little tiny guys like Mackerel and Herring on the east coast and west coast, all across the country we are working to show that people and nature can thrive together and these people (the climbers) are supporting it every step of the way.”

There is no registration fee for those participating in the tower climb but each individual is expected to raise at least $100.

This year the top individual fundraisers all collected more than $4,000 while the top group brought in more than $19,000.

Leslie, who was making the climb for the first time, said the event is the biggest fundraiser held at the CN Tower each year.

“You can see people coming off the top here and they are pretty tired and sweaty but they did it. 1,776 steps for nature,” she said.