Ziplining

[johniam]

My family and I vacationed at Wisconsin Dells last week. My elder son and I went ziplining. This is where you get to an elevated platform, wear a harness, helmet, and thick gloves, attach a pulley to a thick cable, and, in an upright sitting position, ride down the cable to a lower station for up to 1000 feet and sometimes 40 feet in the air over trees and water. WOW, is that fun! The last time I'd done anything like that was 30 years ago (I rode the Scorpion roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa). Since then I figured I was too old for that kind of nonsense.

But my son really wanted to do it. I was surprised a bit. In 2005 we went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The plan was for me, my son, my brother and his wife to walk down into the canyon and back over a few days' time. My son took one look out over the expanse of the canyon and changed his mind. Then 2 years ago he flew in a plane for the first time. He had a window seat, but kept that sliding plastic thing down so he couldn't see out the window. He didn't show any nervousness ziplining.

Myself, on the other hand, very nervous. After paying for it, then signing waivers releasing them from all liability, I was waiting for it to happen and I saw a sign titled 'restrictions'. One of them I was guilty of. No heart conditions. I had a heart attack in January. They fixed what caused it, but I now have 6 stents, a pacemaker/defibrillator device, and several meds. I didn't miss much work and I feel good and the doctors have all given me a thumbs up when I see them, but I was concerned, although I didn't say anything.

This place has 7 ziplines. It was like playing golf; you just follow the course until you're done. The total time we were actually in the air riding the cable was less than 5 minutes for all 7 lines combined. There were 15 of us starting out plus 3 employees. Two of the employees always went first and they would catch every paying customer as they came down the line. Then the 3rd employee would make sure everybody's harness and pulley was safely set up, then she was always the last one down.

I was most nervous jumping off the first tower. I wasn't afraid to look down, but I had trouble not twirling around. The thick gloves were for braking and keeping yourself from twirling. There's a synthetic cable going vertical from the pulley to the harness at your midsection. As you ride down, you hold that cable with your non-dominant hand and grip the cable the pulley rides on with your other hand. About 3/4 of the way down you grip the cable the pulley rides on as hard as you can. This brakes you, slows you down. The rest of the time you use the same hand to keep you facing forward. By the 6th line I had mastered keeping myself facing forward. It may sound confusing but it isn't once you actually do it.

The ad for this place said it was for ages 4 to 80. I was the 2nd oldest. There was a 66 year old lady in our group. Three people did not finish. One was a 5 year old boy. His parents were in the group and he rode down one time, but he was just too scared so they drove him back to the starting point. Another guy was kind of large bodied (even more than me) and he rode once and no more. Another guy wasn't scared, but he'd had both knees replaced and couldn't walk up the stairs on each tower. So he left after the second ride. The stair climbing was the most strenuous part of the whole thing. It was 90 degrees out. The whole event took 2 and 1/2 hours.

I was concerned about the 'no heart conditions', but at no time did I feel vulnerable. I thought I'd want to take a nap after it was over, but I felt so charged up with adrenaline that I didn't want to sleep. I definitely give it a thumbs up. I wouldn't ride the Scorpion of even the Wild Mouse or Disney's Space Mountain anymore, but I'd do ziplining again.

[MRAP]

Ah yes: in one Army training adventure we called it the "Slide for Life"; it was a blast - you did have to drop into the water - what a rush and refreshing all at once.

At the Dells, that's in my back yard - did you ride the "Ducks"?

[johniam]

No, but I saw them at times. Other than ziplining we did all the boring stuff. Upper Dells boat tour. Daughter did Wizard Quest. We all spent a day at Noah's Ark water park. Brutal weather that day. My wife is disabled. Can't do a lot of things. We had fun. The place reminds me of Branson, MO.

[WordWolf]

No, but I saw them at times. Other than ziplining we did all the boring stuff. Upper Dells boat tour. Daughter did Wizard Quest. We all spent a day at Noah's Ark water park. Brutal weather that day. My wife is disabled. Can't do a lot of things. We had fun. The place reminds me of Branson, MO.

*looks it up*

Wizard Quest sounds COOL! That was some of the BORING stuff?

[johniam]

My daughter did that. She liked it. She said there were tasks that had to be performed and she had an hour and a half to do them and she didn't. Something like that.

[Twinky]

Sounds like fabulous fun, John.

[johniam]

There was an 8 year old girl in the group who was absolutely fearless. On one line they encouraged people to jump off the tower backwards and turn upside down if they wanted. This girl not only jumped off backwards, less than 50 feet from the start she leaned back with her arms and legs extended as if to say, "Hey, look at me!" and continued for most of the rest of that line like that. Those who didn't weigh much didn't even have to brake themselves. At the end of each line there was a 2 foot thick body sized pad plus a restraint on the line 20 feet away from the pad which slowed everybody down just in case. At times we were going up to 50 mph. Easy to get mesmerized and forget to brake yourself.

[T-Bone]

There was an 8 year old girl in the group who was absolutely fearless. On one line they encouraged people to jump off the tower backwards and turn upside down if they wanted. This girl not only jumped off backwards, less than 50 feet from the start she leaned back with her arms and legs extended as if to say, "Hey, look at me!" and continued for most of the rest of that line like that. Those who didn't weigh much didn't even have to brake themselves. At the end of each line there was a 2 foot thick body sized pad plus a restraint on the line 20 feet away from the pad which slowed everybody down just in case. At times we were going up to 50 mph. Easy to get mesmerized and forget to brake yourself.

Yikes - the only way i'm comfortable with going 50 mph is inside something that has a seat belt, airbags, crumple zones.........and ice cold air conditioning...anyway

I'm just too much of a scaredy cat. but it sounds like you had fun - and it sounds like a way cool experience; thanks for sharing.

[Twinky]

... she leaned back with her arms and legs extended as if to say, "Hey, look at me!" and continued for most of the rest of that line like that. ...

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could over-spiritualise this but - hey - what confidence!!!!!!!!!! The joy of simply trusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!