Australia: Tourists climb Uluru ahead of ban

Hundreds of people flocked to Uluru, Australia's iconic sandstone rock formation on Friday, the final day before a full ban on climbing it goes into effect.

After a week of high temperatures that limited climbing, cooler temperatures on Friday cleared the way for a long queue of visitors to snake their way up the 348-meter (1,142-foot) UNESCO World Heritage site.

Starting Saturday, a permanent climbing ban will go into effect at the popular tourist destination in central Australia. The board of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, where the rock is located, voted unanimously in 2017 to ban people from climbing.

Read more: Visitors walk a delicate line at Australia's famous rock

The landmark, also known as Ayers Rock, has been highly sacred to the aboriginal Anangu people for thousands of years. Formal ownership of the formation and the surrounding land was returned to the Anangu people in 1985 when they began asking visitors to refrain from climbing the natural wonder.

One Anangu man told reporters it was a " "very sacred place, [it's] like our church."

Last chance

Park officials say the majority of visitors respect their wishes, choosing instead to enjoy it from the ground. When the ban was announced two years ago, less than 20% of tourism was from climbing.

But some have continued to scale the rock, and as the ban draws nearer, the number of climbers has skyrocketed.

Many came with personal reasons for the climb while others were motivated by the fact that it was closing. Local climbing groups are frustrated that they weren't consulted ahead of the ban.

A deadly climb

Climbing on Uluru has led to sanitation issues. Due to the lack of toilet facilities, human waste runs off the rock into water sources below. There are also problems with people camping illegally on protected land and leaving behind waste and litter.

Over the years, dozens of people have died climbing Uluru due to accidents or complications related to dehydration or heat. Temperatures at the rock can reach 47 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit) in the summer.

After the ban goes into effect, park officials will begin removing traces of the climb, like the metal chain that helps climbers up the rock.  The footpath worn in over the years by thousands of climbers may take centuries to fade.

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