Excelsior

Registration is now open for the ninth annual Tunnel to Towers Tower Climb NYC at One World Trade Center, in which a maximum of 1,000 participants will hike up 104 stories (that’s 2,226 steps) to arrive at the highest vantage point in New York City—One World Observatory, the three-level viewing deck situated 1,268 feet above ground.

The event celebrates the life and sacrifice of a pantheon of September 11, 2001 heroes, including firefighter Stephen Siller and Fire Department Captain Billy Burke, both of whom perished on that day.

Mr. Siller, assigned to Squad 1 in Park Slope, was just going off duty and driving home to Staten Island when he heard news reports about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. Turning his car around, he drove to the closest point he could reach, the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Once he could drive no farther, the 34-year-old Mr. Siller abandoned his car, grabbed the equipment he had with him, and sprinted through the tunnel into Lower Manhattan, where he joined rescue efforts. Mr. Siller was killed when the towers fell (no trace of his remains have ever been found), leaving behind a wife and five children.

Capt. Burke was leading his team up a stairwell in the North Tower on the same morning when he encountered a wheelchair-bound man he realized could not be evacuated before the building collapsed. Ordering his men out of the building, Burke chose to remain by the side of Ed Beyea, the man in the wheelchair, knowing this would seal his own fate.

Mr. Siller’s family went on to found the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which now hosts not only the annual September run through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (which attracts more participants than any race other than the New York City Marathon), but dozens of similar events around the nation, including the Tower Climb.

Proceeds from the Tower Climb go to support the charitable work of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which receives a perfect score of 100 for accountability and transparency from highly-regarded Charity Navigator rating service. Among the Tunnel to Towers programs is its Building for America’s Bravest project, which builds high-tech “smart homes” for military veterans who have been disabled in combat. (The Foundation has also helped to build or rebuild more than 200 homes in New York for Hurricane Sandy relief, while providing building materials for another 800.)

The Foundation additionally pays down mortgages on homes owned by police officers killed in the line of duty. In 2015, the group satisfied the loans on homes owned by two slain New York City police officers. Last December, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation paid the mortgage on home owned by Branden Sisca, a Pennsylvania state trooper who was killed in March, 2022, when a drunk driver rammed into him as he assisted a stranded pedestrian.

This year’s stair climb is scheduled for 5am on Sunday, June 4. Tickets are priced at $100 (this fee increases after May 21), and each participant is asked to raise an additional $250 through sponsorships. After reaching the finish line (and enjoying the view) at One World Observatory, climbers are invited for a complimentary breakfast at Epicerie Boulud, in the Oculus.