"Zip" A Dee Doo Dah
My wife and I recently celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and we did what many married couples do on occasions such as this – we went sightseeing through the woods, by hurling ourselves off some very tall trees.
That’s right, we took a zip line tour through the Blue Ridge Mountains. I highly recommend it. If you’ve never heard about this recreational activity, a zip line is basically a long cable connecting two trees or poles. They put harnesses on you and you climb up the tree to a platform where they attach you to the cable using a very thin strip of material which appears to be the size and thickness of a strip of masking tape. Then they toss you off the platform, at which point you “zip” across the “line.” (Please pardon the technical jargon I am using here.)
You can reach speeds of up to 40 mph, and are several stories above the ground, so obviously safety is a concern. This is why they have you strap on a helmet, and go through a rigorous 10-minute training session where you learn important zip line safety techniques, such as “Self-Rescue” and “Not Slamming Into Something On The Other Side.”
In this training session they teach you how to steer. I’ll bet you have probably never considered steering to be a necessary skill for sliding along a straight length of cable on which the only direction you can go is “down.” You can swivel, though, and steering is what keeps you from spinning around backwards. You actually need to push in the direction you are swiveling in order to turn back in the opposite direction, which is counter-intuitive. Still, It is an important skill to learn unless you would prefer not to see the tree or platform that you are about to crash into.
Speaking of crashing into things, you also learn how to brake. The braking mechanism is very complex, so prepare to take notes. To slow down, or stop, you need to use the following procedure:
1. Reach behind your head
2. Grab the cable
You would be surprised at how effective this is, which I learned from grabbing too tight and lurching to an instantaneous halt halfway across the line. The specially designed gloves keep you from hurting yourself, unless you reach in forwards to grab the cable instead of backwards, which, of course, is your natural instinct. If you reach forwards instead of backwards, you put your hand directly in the path of the “trolley” which is the mechanism that allows you to roll down the line. “Not Chopping Off Your Fingers” is an important technique to learn during this portion of the training session.
As an added bonus, the zip line tour can boost your confidence and help you overcome your fears. There was a teenager in our group that was slightly nervous about heights, but who had wanted to experience the zip line anyway. He had done well, but almost balked at going across the final section of line, which was particularly high and long. To help him overcome his fear, the guides and other members of our group all gave him esteem-boosting words of encouragement, and when that did not work, one of the guides shoved him off the platform against his protests. They did warn us at the beginning that they would do this, but since they also said something about a six-foot penguin roaming the woods, I assumed they were kidding. Their sense of humor, while very entertaining, made you wonder if they had been wearing their helmets too tight, for too long.
To be fair, when we all finished the kid seemed very proud of himself, so they must know what they are doing. He just needed an emotional (and in this case, physical) nudge to take the first step.
You can see by now why this is such a popular activity. I do not, in any way, mean to discourage anyone from trying this. I am figuring that if you have a cautious or reserved kind of personality, you’re not going to try it anyway, and if you’re more of an adventurous type of person, you’re going to do it in spite of (and probably because of) what I have to say. The heights, speed, and remote possibility of crashing into a tree limb were all selling points for me. Then again, we have three kids, two of whom are twins, so the adrenaline from the fear of falling is nothing compared to turning your back for a split second, then finding that someone has managed to get outside and climb up to the very top rail on your second-story deck.
All joking aside, I very much enjoyed the experience, more so because I got to share it with my wife. It gives you a beautiful view and a unique experience. Our guides were very knowledgeable, experienced, friendly and funny. Plus, you’re really never in actual danger. Your main strap is made from Kevlar, and at all times you are secured by at least one extra safety line, (and most of the time two.) The lines and equipment are checked daily and repaired or adjusted as needed.
Everyone in our group made it back in one piece and the guides said that was great, since it “improved their average,” but I’m going to assume that was a joke, much like their tale of the guide who fell from the zip line due to three rabid squirrels ganging up and chewing through his harness.
I learned many things through this experience: 1. Anything where they make you sign a waiver absolving them of any responsibility for your demise is probably going to be fun; 2. Don’t be afraid to try new things; and 3. On a zip line, you have to override many of your natural instincts (the first of which is not jumping off of a tree,) but it is worth it.
That’s right, we took a zip line tour through the Blue Ridge Mountains. I highly recommend it. If you’ve never heard about this recreational activity, a zip line is basically a long cable connecting two trees or poles. They put harnesses on you and you climb up the tree to a platform where they attach you to the cable using a very thin strip of material which appears to be the size and thickness of a strip of masking tape. Then they toss you off the platform, at which point you “zip” across the “line.” (Please pardon the technical jargon I am using here.)
You can reach speeds of up to 40 mph, and are several stories above the ground, so obviously safety is a concern. This is why they have you strap on a helmet, and go through a rigorous 10-minute training session where you learn important zip line safety techniques, such as “Self-Rescue” and “Not Slamming Into Something On The Other Side.”
In this training session they teach you how to steer. I’ll bet you have probably never considered steering to be a necessary skill for sliding along a straight length of cable on which the only direction you can go is “down.” You can swivel, though, and steering is what keeps you from spinning around backwards. You actually need to push in the direction you are swiveling in order to turn back in the opposite direction, which is counter-intuitive. Still, It is an important skill to learn unless you would prefer not to see the tree or platform that you are about to crash into.
Speaking of crashing into things, you also learn how to brake. The braking mechanism is very complex, so prepare to take notes. To slow down, or stop, you need to use the following procedure:
1. Reach behind your head
2. Grab the cable
You would be surprised at how effective this is, which I learned from grabbing too tight and lurching to an instantaneous halt halfway across the line. The specially designed gloves keep you from hurting yourself, unless you reach in forwards to grab the cable instead of backwards, which, of course, is your natural instinct. If you reach forwards instead of backwards, you put your hand directly in the path of the “trolley” which is the mechanism that allows you to roll down the line. “Not Chopping Off Your Fingers” is an important technique to learn during this portion of the training session.
As an added bonus, the zip line tour can boost your confidence and help you overcome your fears. There was a teenager in our group that was slightly nervous about heights, but who had wanted to experience the zip line anyway. He had done well, but almost balked at going across the final section of line, which was particularly high and long. To help him overcome his fear, the guides and other members of our group all gave him esteem-boosting words of encouragement, and when that did not work, one of the guides shoved him off the platform against his protests. They did warn us at the beginning that they would do this, but since they also said something about a six-foot penguin roaming the woods, I assumed they were kidding. Their sense of humor, while very entertaining, made you wonder if they had been wearing their helmets too tight, for too long.
To be fair, when we all finished the kid seemed very proud of himself, so they must know what they are doing. He just needed an emotional (and in this case, physical) nudge to take the first step.
You can see by now why this is such a popular activity. I do not, in any way, mean to discourage anyone from trying this. I am figuring that if you have a cautious or reserved kind of personality, you’re not going to try it anyway, and if you’re more of an adventurous type of person, you’re going to do it in spite of (and probably because of) what I have to say. The heights, speed, and remote possibility of crashing into a tree limb were all selling points for me. Then again, we have three kids, two of whom are twins, so the adrenaline from the fear of falling is nothing compared to turning your back for a split second, then finding that someone has managed to get outside and climb up to the very top rail on your second-story deck.
All joking aside, I very much enjoyed the experience, more so because I got to share it with my wife. It gives you a beautiful view and a unique experience. Our guides were very knowledgeable, experienced, friendly and funny. Plus, you’re really never in actual danger. Your main strap is made from Kevlar, and at all times you are secured by at least one extra safety line, (and most of the time two.) The lines and equipment are checked daily and repaired or adjusted as needed.
Everyone in our group made it back in one piece and the guides said that was great, since it “improved their average,” but I’m going to assume that was a joke, much like their tale of the guide who fell from the zip line due to three rabid squirrels ganging up and chewing through his harness.
I learned many things through this experience: 1. Anything where they make you sign a waiver absolving them of any responsibility for your demise is probably going to be fun; 2. Don’t be afraid to try new things; and 3. On a zip line, you have to override many of your natural instincts (the first of which is not jumping off of a tree,) but it is worth it.
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