Tourists climb Uluru on the final day before the official ban comes in
Hundreds of Australians and international tourists have climbed Uluru before the ban to protect Australia’s world famous sacred rock kicked in. SEE THE PHOTOS
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The last climbers to scale Uluru came off the rock at sunset on Friday evening local time and were greeted with both jeers and cheers to end an era for travellers to the Red Centre.
There was not a single last climber, instead, a group of eight, all male, decided to hold hands and step off together at about 7pm. Two rangers were with them.
While they might have been smiling and some family members clapped, there were jeers and derogatory comments such as “get off the rock” and “enjoy your 15 minutes of fame” from the crowd.
The climb was closed for good at 4pm on Friday as hundreds of tourists flocked to the red centre to be among the last to climb the ancient, and sacred, monolith.
Among the final eight climbers on Uluru was Las Vegas pilot Jayson Dudas, 36, who has climbed the rock before, but came to do it again when he heard of the ban.
He said he had travelled to 195 countries because he wants to visit everyone. “I know there’s a big controversy about the hike, I respect the first nations here but since it was an optional thing to do I decided to do it,” he told reporters after finishing the climb.
“Now it is officially closed I won’t be hiking it anymore.” Climbers had lined up since 4am at the base of the iconic 348-metre high sandstone rock, but it appeared they would miss out when rangers put up a sign declaring it was closed due to strong winds.
They opened the rock at 10am, with a lone young man running ahead of the pack to be the first on to Uluru on the last day climbs were allowed. Shortly after ranger in charge Greg Elliot led other rangers in dismantling signage about tackling the climb and a sign was displayed declaring it “permanently closed”.
All evidence of climbing being allowed will immediately be removed, including all signage associated with the climb.
The chain handhold built in 1964 and later extended, enabling visitors to get up and down what used to be known as Ayers Rock, will also be removed.
Many were left waiting for hours early Friday due to safety concerns over heavy winds, before rangers allowed climbers to head up the rock at 10am local time.
Parks Australia said they would reassess the weather conditions throughout the day to determine if climbers could continue to mount the rock.
More than 395,000 people visited the Uluru-Kata National Park in the 12 months to June 2019, according to Parks Australia, about 20 per cent more than the previous year.
The rush to beat the ban on climbing the rock from Saturday, or crazy “climb fever” as the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park ranger in charge Greg Elliot calls it, has continued right to the end.
Extreme heat this week including a 40 degree top on Thursday restricted the climb to between 7am and 8am.
Around 13 per cent of those who visited during that period made the climb, park authorities said.
Uluru has great spiritual and cultural significance to indigenous Australians, with their connection to the site dating back tens of thousands of years.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt likened the surge of people rushing to climb Uluru with “a rush of people wanting to climb over the Australian War Memorial”.
“Our sacred objects, community by community, are absolutely important in the story and the history of that nation of people,” he told national broadcaster ABC.
Saturday marks 34 years since that the park’s title was handed back to the traditional owners.
The scarring from millions of pairs of feet scrambling up the rock for decades will take a long time to erode, possibly hundreds of years or even longer.
The National Park board decided in 2017 to ban the climb from Saturday, which marks 35 years since the land title to the Anangu was given back on October 26, 1985.
There has been a great surge in visitors, particularly in the past six months with hotels and the campground at Yulara’s Ayers Rock Resort full, leading to people camping illegally on private land.
Uluru is a sacred site and of great spiritual significance to local Aboriginal groups, including the Pitjantjatjara Anangu traditional owners who live in nearby Mutitjulu.
Aboriginal people have been in Australia for tens of thousands of years, so the brief time tourists have climbed Uluru is tiny, Mutitjulu resident and Central Land Council chair Sammy Wilson said.
“It is just a blip in the middle, this whole climb thing, it is going back to normal by banning the climb.” The Anangu people will celebrate with a ceremony at the rock on Sunday night.
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