Zip Lines

Technocrat

Zip Lines

zogger

Fri Oct 17 19:47:00 -0700 2008

Space+Flight.

manage

As a way to offer more services at ski resorts during the non snow season, several Zip Line Canopy Tours are now in operation. What they consist of is a high speed gravity fed tour while you ride in tunnels carved through the treetops suspended by a climbing harness and attached to a series of strung out lines, and the ride is pretty zippy, hence the name.

ed.z.: way cool! I've ridden much shorter versions of this way back when at boy sprout camp, and yes, it was just sliding down a long line and mashing into a stack of old mattresses and springs. I really didn't know they had gone commercial. Anyone here ever tried any of these zip lines?

Zip Lines

Michael Smith

Fri Oct 17 20:41:33 -0700 2008
manage

A guy I work with lives in a hilly area outside Melbourne. His driveway winds through trees down a hill to the road. I keep telling him he should build something like this but it seems he is afraid of heights.

Zip Lines

Bruce Perens

Fri Oct 17 21:05:31 -0700 2008
manage

Berkeley even has a zipline in a children's playground. This is one of only three adventure playgrounds in the U.S.

Moaning Cavern has a 1500-foot one that looks really impressive.

I saw one at the top of the Jungfrau in Switzerland a few weeks ago that didn't look nearly as good. But up there, it's guilding the lily, since the rest of the experience is excellent. I'd been in Winterthur for Hackontest/OpenExpo, and decided to ride the Jungfraubannen on the weekend before heading to Norway for another conference. If you're in Zurich or Bern, it's definitely worth taking a weekend to do this.

Zip Lines

John Dalton

Fri Oct 17 21:31:49 -0700 2008
manage

Known as a "flying fox" in Australia/NZ, named after a type of tree dwelling bat. New Zealand claims to have the world's longest at 1km long, located in Mokai Canyon. I've never been on it or seen it, but like zogger rode them in cubs/scouts. The 1970s scouting version had the added thrill of no harness, the rider having a literal white knuckle ride while hanging onto hand grips or a bit of rope.

Zip Lines

Eric Howe

Sat Oct 18 08:15:29 -0700 2008
manage

We have Ziptrek Ecotours up here in Whistler but I've never done it. I know people that have done it and they had a good time. Downhill mountain biking is another popular summer activity in ski areas.

Zip Lines

Bhima

Sat Oct 18 09:04:52 -0700 2008
manage

Last year I tried one down in South Africa... which also claimed to be the longest / fastest in the world.

Great fun.

DIMS

zogger

Sat Oct 18 11:04:10 -0700 2008
manage

do it my self... heh. need to build one. Got plenty of hills and trees here to make a decent run. They just look like too much fun! Putting that one my "todo" list, number...lost track, got a ton of projects. I think I can scrounge some old heavy stout cable, I have a harness, just need to make the sliding thing and get the line strung out through the trees. What did that look like with the one you tried, a single pulley, a double one linear, etc? thanks in advance!

DIMS

Bhima

Sat Oct 18 13:13:21 -0700 2008
manage

I think building one yourself would be expensive. The cable was nearly as thick as my finger... 2km of such cable has got to be pricey.

The truck which held the harness had 2 pullies about 20 cm in diameter.

Outside of the length of the cable, foofy slides aren't high tech and you could make the rest.

DIMS

Michael Smith

Sat Oct 18 13:17:36 -0700 2008
manage

My uncle built a flying fox over a dam in his place here in Melbourne. It goes about 100 metres from a tree at one end of the dam to an anchor point on the ground at the other end. If you don't make it to dry land you get dunked.

My cousins were getting dunked pretty much every time they used it and the concensus is that it should have been built with steel cable rather than rope.

I think with rope you would need a lot of fall to compensate for the extra slack.

DIMS

John Dalton

Sat Oct 18 20:06:29 -0700 2008
manage

If DIYing some attention needs to be paid to how you are going to stop yourself from crashing into the tree at the end, without throwing yourself off. The simplest way is to rely on the sag of the line but I suspect that will limit the speed and distance of your run. Others have mentioned mattresses. The one I rode (30+ years ago, so my memory is hazy) used a technique whereby you attach a rope to the main rope and tie it off centre, so forming a "v" shape. The point of the V is uphill. The join has to be smooth enough so the pulley can run over it. The extra rope acts as a brake which brings you to a gradual stop, provided it is adjusted properly. Make sure there is no way the pulleys can come off the wire, even if they go inverted.

Zip Lines

Paul Jackson

Sat Oct 18 21:28:15 -0700 2008
manage

My boss just inherited a coffee plantation in El Salvador which has a mountain in the center, they were thinking of making a zip line tour down threw the cloud and rain forests on the sides of the mountain.

Zip Lines

Michael Smith

Sat Oct 18 23:53:23 -0700 2008
manage

Wow. For long distances and going around corners it would seem difficult to keep the cable correctly aligned. But I wonder if you could slot the cable into U shaped fittings which push the cable down. It would be held together by tension, and metal fatigue might be an issue in the longer term.

Then I am thinking about the little kite-like parasails people tow behind ski boats, and the current craze in base jumping with baggy clothing to make a kind of ultra low LD parachute.

So my idea is to make a fast flying fox/tethered parasailing course. Nothing remotely safe about the idea though.

Zip Lines

Edward S. Marshall

Mon Oct 20 08:55:11 -0700 2008
manage

Just for a bit of perspective on what being on one of these is like, here's a video of someone riding a 2km zip line in South Africa. Very nifty stuff, but I'd much rather ride one through treetops as described in the article.