1 About 450 kilometers (280 miles) to the southwest of Alice Springs you'll find Ayers Rock, the world's biggest monolith. To the locals it's known as simply "The Rock".
2 The climb doesn't look daunting until you get to the bottom of "The Rock".
3 At the top of the rocky outcrop is a place called "Chicken" rock. This is where most people bail out of the climb.
4 And this is why they bail, it's straight up. The end of the chain is only 1/3 of the way, but from the end of the chain, it does get easier.
5 "The Rock" is located in the World Heritage listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
6 Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is 132,566 hectares (512 square miles) in size.
7 The Rock is about 345 metres (1132 feet) high if you climb it
8 It's 3.6 kilometers (2.2 miles) long, 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) wide, and is roughly oval in shape.
9 This is the end of the chain and approximately 1/3 of the way to the top.
10 Ok move along, nothing to see.
11 The climb takes about an hour if you just plug along at a steady pace.
12 You have to take in some breath taking views. Oh really, I thought it was the near vertical climb that caused that.
13 Your calves literally burn all the way up until the end of the chain, which is only a third of the way to the top.
14 This point is approximately half way to the top.
15 "The Rock" is 9.4 kilometers (5.8 miles) if you walk around it.
16 Ayers Rock was named by European explorer Ernest Giles who sighted it 1872.
17 Giles named Ayers Rock after the South Australian premier of the time, Sir Henry Ayers.
18 Ayers Rock is the homeland of the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people (also known as Anangu).
19 Ayers Rock was renamed Uluru when it was returned to the care and ownership of the Anangu in 1985.
20 You'll know when you've reached the summit, you'll find this geographical marker.
21 This marker has been at the top since '56.
22 The views and constantly changing colors seems to make it all the effort worthwhil
23 As you can see by the rock pools, there had been a fair amount of rain in the preceding weeks. In fact there had been widespread flooding throughout Central Australia the preceding months.
24 This was the second time I'd climbed "The Rock" even though I'd lived and worked out there for months at a time.
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28 That's the Olga's you see there in the distance. It's about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from "The Rock".
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31 OK ..... time to get the show on the road and head on down.
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36 The first time I climbed this thing was back in June 1993 and it literally pissed down rain. It took over 3 hours to get down, where as on this day it took me only 22 minutes.
37 We're out in the middle of nowhere when this drongo pulls out his phone and rings his mates in Germany from "The Rock". What a wanker!!! A couple of people offered to push him off.
38 KW after doing his 6 mile "victory lap" of the worlds largest monolith.
39 68 people have died on "The Rock". The two biggest killers: Heart attack and chasing after stuff they've dropped.
