The 10th annual Tunnel to Towers climb is underway at One World Trade Center, drawing participants to the lower Manhattan tower to honor the heroes of 9/11. Climbers from all walks of life turned out for the event, paying tribute to first responders who saved lives, those who survived, and those who perished in the attacks.
The physical challenge at the heart of the event is a steep one. Participants make their way up 104 flights of steps to the top of the building, a punishing climb that recalls the ascent firefighters once made. By the time the races were still ongoing, the fastest climber had already completed the route in about 16 minutes.
The climb pulled in people from far beyond New York. One group, calling itself Team Sanibel, traveled from southwest Florida, near Fort Myers, to take part, and all of them completed the climb. The team included both the local police chief and the fire chief, who made the trip together to mark the day.
Among them was John Henshaw, the former director of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, who is now the vice mayor of Sanibel, Florida. Henshaw was on Ground Zero the day after the attacks and took part in the rescue and recovery efforts, giving him a personal connection to the site that few of the other climbers shared.
Recalling his arrival, Henshaw described an eerie and surreal scene. Everything was dark, he said, and as they drove up the only light was on the pile itself, with the rest of the area dark from Varick Street all the way down Manhattan. He remembered New Yorkers coming out to welcome the fire and rescue crews and the volunteers who had arrived to help, a moment he said he would never forget.
He also explained the role his agency played once the immediate chaos had passed. Nobody from OSHA was present when the towers came down, he noted, because people were running for their lives, but teams moved in afterward to make the site as safe as they could. Four primary contractors and their subcontractors worked at the location alongside the fire department, police and port authority during the search and rescue.
That work stretched across the long cleanup that followed. For the roughly 10-month recovery period, Henshaw said, his agency kept 70 people on the ground 24 hours a day, advising workers, contractors and municipal employees, including the fire department, police and port authority, to wear respiratory protection and the right equipment to avoid long-term injuries and ill health. For him, returning to climb is ultimately about honoring those heroes, from police and firefighters to the many individuals and military personnel who gave so much.