Page 105 - AGC-Journal-2016

AGC JOURNAL 2016

Dome Climb

By Lance Corporal Purna Gurung

The SPS Detachment of
On the top of the O2 Dome.
42 Engineer Regiment Top row, left to right: Purna Gurung, Margaret Forde, Mark
(Geographic) headed for Taberner-Stokes and Lee Arnold. Bottom row, left to right:
Barbara Gill, Katie Mercer and Stephen Osei
London to take on the
challenge of climbing over the
top of the O2 Dome. as, harness, climbing suits and shoes prior metres in diameter representing the days
to climbing. On completion of climbing
of the year. Isn’t it an interesting fact that
preparation, we headed to starting point many people don’t know. After taking in
The O2 Arena where everyone was looking up and seeing all the view and snapping lots of pictures,
the steep blue long strips getting higher
it was time to make our way down the
and higher. The guide started leading us steep slope to the bottom.
The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor from bottom to the top of the Dome. With
arena located in the centre of a large a steep and steady climb and extremely Endnote
entertainment complex on the Greenwich bouncy floor, it was a challenging and
Peninsula in London. It is named after its interesting climb. Before you knew it we Our journey to the O2 dome was completed
main sponsor, the telecommunications had reached the top ready to take in the around 1530hrs so we decided to go into a
company O2. The closest underground breathtaking London scenery. There’s a restaurant to get some meal before heading
station to the venue is the North large observation deck at the top. The view back. With conquered top of the O2 dome
Greenwich station on the Jubilee line, from the top of the O2 Dome is absolutely and had a fantastic meal, our time in the
therefore our journey begun from the amazing, a 360 degree view of London. London had come to an end. It was now
Huntingdon train station to the Waterloo Taking in the sights of the Thames Barrier, back to RAF Wyton via 2 hour train. What
station and then through underground Emirates Cable Cars, the sleek sky scrapers a fabulous day. A 90 minute climb scaling
stations up to the North Greenwich. of the Canary Wharf, The Shard and the roof was really worthy to participate.
the edge of the Excel Centre, it is such a Hope we will have more opportunity like
Preparing for the Climb beautiful city. this.

Upon arrival, we were introduced to our History of the Dome
Tour Guide who guided us to a room
ready to watch a safety video, which The guide did tell us about the history of
was so amusing as well as informative. the O2 Dome; I never realised that the 12
After the safety video, we moved to the yellow spikes are for each month of the
kit store to get our safety gears. It was year, the height is 52 metres, which is the
compulsory to put on climbing kit such weeks of the year and the structure is 365

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