Conquering The World By Climbing The O2 Arena
The climb over the O2 Arena is something I have been itching to do for ages and when the opportunity came up I grabbed it with both hands. For me, the O2 Arena holds a special place as I remember many a school trip there in 2000 when it was just the Millennium Dome, and over the years I have seen a lot of live shows here from Spice Girls and Girls Aloud to Bring Me The Horizon and Foo Fighters.
The O2 Arena in itself is really interesting; did you know that there are 12 spikes to represent the 12 month’s of the year, it is 52m tall to represent the 52 weeks in a year and it is 365m in diameter to represent the 365 day’s in a year. This planning behind the building in itself is pretty impressive and anyone whose been here will know how big it feels with loads of bars and restaurants inside alongside a cinema, bowling alley and of course the huge arena holding around 20,000 people.
Prepping for our walk over the O2
When we first arrived it was time for all the safety side including signing a waiver and watching a video about what to expect, then it was time to kit up. You’re provided with shoes which have a good grip on them which is good as I was only wearing vans when I arrived. During the colder months, you’ll get an overall and in the warmer month’s it’s a gillet which is what we got. If you have longer hair you will need to tie this up as it can get pretty windy up the top.
Next up it was time to don our harness’ and head up the stairs to the start of the walk. Our guide Nathan was great at explaining how everything worked and it seemed like it would be a breeze going up (literally). We managed to take a few photos before we started the walk although this isn’t usually the case, you are permitted to take a phone or camera up to use at the viewing point at the top providing it’s sealed away in your jackets pocket.
Embarking on the walk over the O2
The walkway itself is made of the same material as the main dome and feels a little bouncy underfoot so we had to resist such urges to jump on it like a trampoline *oops*. There are no steps up to the top it’s just a slanted walkway and the walk up didn’t really feel that steep even when it got more vertical which is good as I’m not at my fittest at the moment and I didn’t struggle with the walk. When we reached the top we were greeted with stunning views out over London and were lucky to have full viability with views out as far as Wembley and Alexandra Palace which was pretty special.
Our guide did a rundown of what everything was that you can see which was really nice as it added a bit of context especially for those visiting London. After a 15 minute stop at the top, we started to make our way down and I have to admit this did feel a lot steeper than going up and did make my knees hurt a little due to the angle but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. The whole thing took over 90 minutes which was a lot longer experience than I was expecting and it was so much fun.
Thanks to Love Pop Ups London for organising the event, Regina and Luisia for being such fun to spend time with, and to Up At The O2 for hosting us.
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19 responses to “Conquering The World By Climbing The O2 Arena”
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Rhian Westbury
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Oh wow what an incredible experience I didn’t even know you could climb the 02 what an amazing sense of achievement that must have been!
It really was a fun experience and was lovely to meet you. Here is to many more exciting adventures.
Oh wow what an experience – so brave and I bet the views were stunning 🙂
I am so jealous! I’ve been wanting to do this for ages myself! What an experience and what a view!!!
Enjoyed your blog and was nice to meet you too. The views were spectacular and was a great expierence
Oh wow what an amazing thing to be able to do! I bet it was incredible looking out from the top of the 02 Arena as well!
Now this is an amazing experience! I would love this for us. I know hubby would totally love to try this. Will share the info to him and friends.
Oh wow, what an incredible experience! there’s nothing like an adrenaline rush to make one appreciate life 🙂
I bet this was an amazing experience, I bet the views were worth the climb. I don’t think I would be brave enough to do this x
Oh gosh what an experience for you and so lovely that it’s special to you too. I had no idea about those facts around how it’s built, that’s so interesting. X
Oh my life. You are WAY braver than me. I didn’t even realise you could climb the O2 arena! Wow – what an experience. Really interesting facts surrounding the building, too.
What a fun experience, I didn’t even realised you could climb it! What a view!
What an incredible experience – the view from the top looks incredible! Personally, as I’m scared of heights, I’d have to give this a miss ha!
Thanks for sharing your experience in the post. I’ve always wondering how it will be like to climb up the O2 and now I know. I plan to do this once our kids are bigger.
Oh wow!!! What an amazing experience! I am terrified of heights and I dont think I’d be able to manage this at all, well done you for doing it!
I saw that the last time we went to Greenwich. It looks so cool!!!! I want to go, I might get a ticket for my partner
What a wonderful opportunity to do something like this. I was not aware of the history behind the spikes etc so today I have learnt something new.
How amazing! Well done for doing that, I bet the spectacular views made it well worth it
I was supposed to be doing this today for my birthday as never got to do it when Hubby took Kian last year, sadly our plans have had to change but hopefully we get it done soon