Final few scramble to climb Uluru

A MAN in a Superman costume is trying to be the final tourist to come down from Uluru. The famous climb will close to the public forever at 4pm ACST

A man wearing a T-shirt saying “I chose not to climb” stands next to tourists lining up to climb Uluru on the last day it is allowed. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

• Climb comes up to a close
• The sign thousands of tourists ignore
• Hundreds of tourists rush to climb Uluru on last day
• Staggering new cost of climbing Uluru

A MAN in a Superman costume is trying to be the final tourist to come down from Uluru.

The famous climb will close to the public forever at 4pm ACST.

The wannabe superhero has been at the site all week and is attempting to be the final person to step off the rock.

Rangers have just left the base of Uluru to do a final sweep of the sacred site. About 50 people were still on Uluru at 3pm.

Only a smattering of climbers attempted the ascent today, after thousands made their way up in the previous few weeks.

Aboriginal ranger Tjiangu Thomas poses for photographs at Uluru. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Ashlea James from Melbourne made the climb with his three-year-old son.

“I think there are a lot of perspectives to visiting this place and we plan on staying as long as it takes to feel like we have an appreciation of it,” Mr James said.

Born and raised in Australia, Mr James said he was aware of the sacred status of the rock but felt it was still important to climb.

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“My little boy made up his own mind about climbing the rock. We never mentioned anything to him at all, and at three years of age he doesn’t understand any of the politics about it.”

“I understand that these people have a history here, but they’ve climbed the rock, they still climb the rock and I believe it’s more a political issue.”

Tourists pose on Uluru before then ban comes into force.

At one stage it appeared all of the wannabe climbers would miss out, when rangers put up a sign at 7am declaring it was closed due to strong winds. Regulations following numerous deaths at the rock require it to be closed when there’s strong heat, rain or wind above 25-30km per hour.

The Uluru-Kata Tjuta management board announced the closure in 2017.