Urban Climbing
Red Bull Bridge Bars: Stay updated with Thomas van Tonder's challenge
Thomas van Tonder will attempt over 600 monkey bars beneath Africa’s highest bridge. Follow Red Bull Bridge Bars: the build, the training, the attempt.
Africa’s highest bridge spans a gorge on South Africa’s south coast, 216 metres above the Bloukrans River, and it already draws people who want to test their nerve. Soon it will host a very different kind of test. South African obstacle course racing (OCR) world champion Thomas van Tonder will attempt to cross more than 600 monkey bars suspended beneath the arch of the Bloukrans Bridge, by hand, without setting foot on the bridge. The arch climbs, flattens and falls away, and Thomas says he does not know if he can do it. This is Red Bull Bridge Bars. Follow the build, the training and the attempt here as the story unfolds.
01
The Challenge (and the reasons behind the attempt)
Thomas could have taken the easy line, straight across the top of the bridge. He chose the arch: a climb, a flat crown and a descent, each asking for something different. “This is by no means something I know I can do,” he says, “which means it’s the right challenge.” Becoming a father sharpened that, because for Thomas “the process is where the value is.” Read the full story here.
Understanding just how big the challenge is
Richard Lievaart, head of rigging and safety, with Thomas
© Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool
02
What it takes to train for this unique challenge
Climbing, swinging and braking. The arch of the Bloukrans Bridge asks three different things of Thomas van Tonder’s body, and it asks them all in one unbroken crossing, 216 metres above the river. There’s a steep backwards climb, a swing across the crown on arms that are already spent, and a descent where every bar threatens to rip out of his hands. Read how he’s training for a bridge that keeps changing the question, and why even he isn’t sure where it will end. Click through to get to grips with what this unique challenge entails.
Thomas Van Tonder sizes up the climb
© Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool
03
Engineering the impossible - a look at the rigging
The Bloukrans Bridge set the rules. No bolts, no drilling, no marks. So how do you hang around 600 monkey bars and five tonnes of steel beneath its arch, 216 metres above the gorge? Richard Lievaart’s answer is a hundred straight sections of truss bent into a curve, 240 straps wrapped right around the concrete, and one-metre rungs that use the bridge’s own cantilever trick to hold Thomas van Tonder tight. Read how his team built the impossible without leaving a trace.
How The Rigging Works
