Ziplining will feel like flying, right? I’ve always thought so and I’ve wanted to do it ever since I knew it was a thing that existed. It’s like skydiving, but slower and safer!
If you have read the post about staying somewhere haunted, you will have already read that one of the reasons I chose that particular inn was because it was near one of the country’s best zipline courses. Arbortrek Canopy Adventures at Smuggler’s Notch was located just 25 minutes away from Stowe, VT. The drive there was beautiful – we went right over where two mountains meet (apparently that is called a notch. This is one of the many facts shared along the zipline course) – and there were so many people hiking and mountain biking and just being active in general. I want to go back there and hike. I think that will go on my life’s bucket list. But I digress. It was a beautiful Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Not too hot, not too cold and just the right amount of overcast so that you didn’t have to bring sunglasses and worry about losing them while zipining. Husband and I had registered a few weeks before, so having ideal weather made it all the more better!
They brought a group of sixteen guests into a room with four guides to gear up. Lots of gear was required. Harnesses and helmets and gloves! (Did you know that you stop yourself on a zipline with just a gloved hand? I had no clue! I assumed there would be a brake.)
Then they split us into two groups. My group had 4 couples and we climbed into a van to the top of the mountain to the practice course – a zipline of no more than 20 feet only a few feet above ground. They gave us a demonstration. Basically you stand there, your guide attaches you to the zipline, you put your hands on the attachment, sit down, and let go! Then when you brake, you just put a gloved hand behind your head and apply pressure to the line. It slows you down and you stop! And they showed us how to turn and pull ourselves to the platform if we stopped short. Everyone practiced once. We all passed! Then our guides encouraged us to go quickly to the start of the real course to beat the other group that was climbing out of their van (their practice course was on the bottom of the mountain). We beat them! Ha ha, suckers! But then it was time for the real thing.
The first zipline was longer and higher up than the practice course, but the course is definitely designed to ease you into longer and faster runs. I was third up in line to go and the guide at the end of the line told me I was smiling ear-to-ear the whole time! I don’t remember that because I was trying to concentrate on watching the guide for the slow down motion. But it was fun! It did feel like flying and it wasn’t scary. There were two nervous people in our group, but by the end, they didn’t seem worried either! There was one line were I was really trying to take in the experience, so I wasn’t paying enough attention to the guide and didn’t stop as quickly as she would have liked so she used her body to help stop me. No one hit a tree, but the trees are padded just in case.
The course had some fun added bonuses like two suspended bridges and rappelling. The 6 year old does rock climbing at our YMCA so I will admit that my young child has infinite more experience rappelling that I do. And Son loves rappelling. I can tell because when he reaches the top of the rock wall, he basically just launches himself off the wall and glides down like he’s Superman landing, usually with a giant smile on his face.
However, the rappelling was the only scary part of the zipline course for me and only because as I descended the first time, the guide realized that he accidentally jumbled his line with mine and was attached to me and I was pulling him down with me. So I had to hold myself up while he corrected it. I was momentarily freaked out because I don’t have a lot of upper body strength and I was terrified that I wouldn’t be ale to hold myself up and would pull the guide off the platform with me. This is supposed to be fun! I didn’t think I would accidentally kill anyone! Is this why they had us sign that waiver?? I thought that the worst thing that would happen was that I would break an arm! Did I agree that I was strong enough to hold myself in suspension in case of an emergency? Can I go to jail for this?
All these thoughts occurred in the course of like two seconds. Then it was fixed and I lowered myself to the ground. I survived! The guide survived! Adrenaline was coursing through my veins! And the second time we rappelled, nothing scary happened at all. I loved rappelling!! It is like jumping off a building in a slow, controlled way like a superhero would.
The rest of the ziplining adventure was great!
