“I told my mom I wouldn’t do this again.”
But he did.
Joseph McGuire, who said he was done with high-risk climbs after a series of injuries and arrests in Vancouver and Calgary over the past two years, traversed the bottom of a train trestle last week in Vancouver Island.
“I’m in semi-retirement. I’m not fully climbing. But I don’t do cranes or anything…I try not to do climbing that’s illegal,” said McGuire, who lives in Calgary.
“I was back in B.C. for a little bit, and I met this guy. He was into it, and he wanted me to show him what it was about.”
WATCH: The full video from the Goldstream Trestle
The Goldstream Trestle Bridge is normally a leisurely hike on an abandoned rail line that crosses high above the Niagara Creek.
But occasionally, thrillseekers will walk along the tightrope steel beams under the track – including McGuire and Guy Montag last weekend.
“Joe has since quit climbing so this is a final farewell to the epinerein days for him,” wrote Montag in his description, alluding to McGuire’s YouTube channel that contains video of his climbs.
However, McGuire, who climbed Vancouver’s under construction-Trump Tower, and fell nearly nine metres trying to scale Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, says he’ll continue to do minor climbs.
“I used to do it every week. Now I keep it to once a year, maybe,” he said.
READ MORE: Free climber falls nearly 9 metres trying to scale Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
Bob Beckett, Langford Fire Chief, says the Goldstream Trestle is 365 feet above the ground, and that any fall would result in certain death.
“It’s sending the wrong message for the youth in our community and for visitors coming out there. It’s somewhat irresponsible,” he said.
“There’s lots of beautiful climbing opportunities in Langford, lots of provincial parks in that…without taking those types of risk. To do climbing on private property is first of all illegal, and to do it without any climbing devices is potentially suicidal.”
McGuire is unapologetic, even though he said just three months ago that he’d “like people to re-evaluate their reasons for what they do–especially if they’re going to risk their lives.”