Feet are seen in a view from the catwalk during the media preview for the "Edgewalk" on top of the CN Tower in Toronto, July 27, 2011.Mark Blinch/Reuters
You can see Niagara Falls, Rochester, N.Y. and the full shadow of the CN Tower from base to tip from the EdgeWalk, the tower's latest attraction.
Strapped into a bright yellow harness in a siren red jumpsuit, Mark Laroche, CEO of Canada Lands, inches to the edge of the grated metal platform looking down 356 metres (1,168 feet) at the ground below. He leans into the light breeze and then lets go of his anchor – a gun-metal black rope that holds him up.
It took 10 months to complete the construction of the attraction that really does take you the edge; of your fear, capabilities and the literal edge of a four-foot platform that circles the concrete bulb at the top of the CN Tower.
"My legs were shaking," said Mr. Laroche about his first time out there when the Edge was still under construction. A YouTube video he shot of the experience immediately went viral.
Now walkie-talkies blare and safety is top of mind among CN Tower staff at the ride they expect will bring up to 12,000 tourists to the city each year. The attraction is a third-generation import from New Zealand where the have something similar but on a building that's not as tall.
"Most first timers are exactly the same," said Rob Ng, our enthusiastic and ever-encouraging guide. Fear leaves you tingling during parts of the experience, like leaning out over the open expanse and looking down 1,168 feet to the base of the tower.
Legs shaking, adrenaline gets you through it.
The walk lasts 30 minutes and costs $175 and includes a keepsake video, which your guide films, photos and a campy certificate on a piece of paper preprinted with a view of the city from the walk.
EdgeWalk at the CN tower opens to the public on Aug. 1. It'll be open seasonally from May through October – weather permitting (no one goes up if there's lightning within 12 kilometres). It opens each day at 9:00 a.m. And will close when the sun goes down until Labour Day weekend.
You have to be 13 or older to go on the walk – "up to any age," said one of the red-shirted staff.
Mr. Laroche has been up four times since that first encounter. You wouldn't know 10 months ago when the EdgeWalk was just an idea that the CEO was afraid of heights.