So, in preparation for summer,  I’ve been checking into places to take our high school camp. So I went up to the Asheville Adventure Center, and looked at what they have to offer. For our camp, or maybe at least for now, we’ll just be using their Tree Tops Adventure Park. It’s essentially 6 different self guided high ropes coursea, each with different difficulty levels. So you can pick what you’re comfortable with, and do that, or push yourself to try something a bit outside your comfort zone.

I’ve got a few pictures from the course, but it’s hard to represent without being there yourself.

If you’ve worked with ropes courses before, the words “self guided” may sound kind of scary to you. Just saying that, it could seem like the safety is then all on the participant. That’s not the case here though. They have some really cool clips, similar looking to basic crab claws, and the clips are designed in a way that one clip is always locked onto a cable once you start a track. The cables have a special button that when pressed by the appropriate tool place on the course, locks that clip, and unlocks the other, ensuring that you’re never unclipped. Also, a screw tightening carabiner hooks onto your full body harness and is then tightened with a wrench ensuring you can come unhooked that way either.

I wanted to get a good feel for the course and what it had to offer, so I tried the level 2, level 5, and level 6. The courses are actually color coated, not numbered, but just saying a color might be kind of confusing.

Anyway, I would say that, overall, it could appeal to almost anyone. Having worked on our own zipline for years now, I’m well aware of the amount safety and checks that go into the kind of equipment used, so I wasn’t really afraid of falling from any of the elements, but some were definitely taxing physically. I wish I had gotten better pictures of the higher elements, but with how high up they were and with the other elements below them, it was hard to get a picture. I has thought about bringing my phone with me, but I’m glad I didn’t. I’m about 80% sure I would have crushed it.  I almost fell 3 times on the hardest course, but was able to pull myself back up when I slipped.

But everyone is different,  so maybe some of that isn’t your cup of tea, but with the varied levels, I feel comfortable saying that you would still enjoy yourself.

The trip itself was nice too. It’s always nice to be able to drive through the mountains.

I should have a few more posts about some other places that I’ll be visiting soon. Currently I’m at the Christian Camp and Conference Association south East Super sectional Conference. Or the CCCASESC for short. Just kidding, no one calls it that. After that in a week or two, I’ll also be traveling up to Gray, Tennessee to get certified to teach archery.