Ellen was determined to go ziplining. She worked hard at locating a location and saving time in the trip to experience the adventure. The “adventure” it turns out, requires tethered participants to jump or step off of nine platforms that are 60-80 feet in the air and then rappel to the ground from the final tree. Afterwards Ellen said, “If I had known what they were going to make me do, I would have never gone up that first tree.” That being said, she did start and finish the course, with some occasional encouragement from our wonderful guides.
Ziplining tour guides can make or break the experience. In this “sport” the guides take on the additional roles of cheerleaders and lifesavers. We had two guides, one to get you off of one platform, and the other to help you land at the next platform. They literally are responsible for keeping you from falling from as high as 80 feet, clipping your safety cables from line to line and from safety ring to safety ring. It is important that the guides stay focused to assure you are never un-tethered. Our guides did a great job. We were lucky to have one of our guides being one of the people who train other guides. He was very competent, and had the perfect personality for his job. Our guides were so good, they were able to convince Ellen to be the first one to jump off the first platform. If you ever go ziplining and your guide looks like he is hung-over or stressing over a lost love, you might want to wait for the next tour.
No comments:
Post a Comment