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Zippin'
 |
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| Lean, mean, flyin'
machine |
Deb, our guide, showin'
how it's done |
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Two words - Zip lines. Holy
S**t, what an incredible rush. The company we went with had
just opened their canopy tour (the zip lines), and I mean that
literally. The day we went was their fourth day being open.
This lady, Deb, who used to lead canopy tours is telling us how
awesome it is, that it has a tarzan swing that made her lose her
breath - so, naturally, we've got to give it a go.
Poor Laurie was a wee bit scared,
couldn't sleep the night before, all that jazz. So in the
morning before we go, we talk with Deb (who we coaxed into going
with us - that wasn't too hard) about the safety concerns.
It's a new company, all that jazz. Well, they were accredited
had insurance all that good stuff, so we're in. After we
arrive, they give you the how-to talk and demonstration, then strap
you into a harness that goes around the waist, and around both legs.
Fellas, you will feel a bit of pressure in the goods if you do this,
but it's well worth it.
We started out on an easy zip line,
to get the feel of it all that good stuff. Next one, you're hauling
the mail about fifty feet up. The zip lines keep
getting higher, and higher. Or, I guess more accurately, the
mountain below you keeps getting lower and lower. We end up
about half way through looking at this line that seems to be ten
miles up, and twice as long. It was probably about 50 meters
high, and 400 meters long, but quite scary.
|
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| Laurie at 230 feet over
a gorge |
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| John and the long haul |
Swingin'
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Then
we get to the tarzan swing, the one that made Deb lose her breath,
and Laurie lose her sleep. You start on a platform about ten
or fifteen feet high, drop off it and swing. Here's the hitch,
the mountain keeps dropping below you. At the top of the swing
you're about 200 feet in the air. Quite a rush. We all
(including Laurie the bad-a**) went for another swing it was so fun.
Matt made some larger motion
graphics of my swing... click below to load, but note that it
might take a minute or two because of the size of the files.
.gif file
- 913k (any browser, but a bit jumpy)
.avi file
- 1,218k (specific to microsoft, a little larger, but a little
smoother) |
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| John in motion |
Matt at the top of the arc, 200 feet up |
Deb
tells us the rest is all gravy, that the last zip line was the longest but
the one we had just done was the highest. She lied...
The
last line is 700 meters long (just shy of half a mile - look at the
picture with the white dot in the air, it's Laurie), and it's 70 meters
high (230 feet). I'm not at all ashamed to admit that when you're
standing there looking at it, it is scary as hell. But then you get
out there, and what a rush, just zipping all the way to the other side.
Unless you're me, then you somehow manage to come to a stop with about 100
feet to go, and you get to swing around and pull your fat butt to the
platform (see picture above).
Repellin'
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This
was fun, but not as adrenaline laden as the other rides.
Here's a few shots of us repelling from 30 or 40 feet up in the
canopy.
Bar none, these few hours were the
most exhilarating part of the trip... good for getting the
adrenaline going and the endorphins popping.
|
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| The platform |
No fear... |
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