In the 1992 film Medicine Man, actor Sean Connery, playing a scientist doing research for a pharmaceutical company in the Amazon jungle, ziplines through the rainforest on a quest for a cure for cancer. In 2011, the British Columbia Experience gave urban adventurers a chance to ride a zipline in Justin Herman Plaza, across from the Ferry Building on San Francisco’s Embarcadero. The flight was 600 feet long, and rides were free as part of a tourism campaign. When Jais Flight, a 1.75-mile-long zipline, opened at Jebel Jais Peak in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates in February 2018, it became the longest zipline in the world, earning it a Guinness World Record. Riders travel face down in a horizontal harness across mountain peaks and ravines over a mile above the Arabian Gulf at speeds up to 93 mph.— Judith Wilson 3 fascinating facts about ziplines
Challenge Sonoma stresses ropes-course participants work toward personal goals in overcoming their cautions over being suspended amidst the redwoods.
working on a platform. “It all depends on their skills,” she says, because they need to be able to work with all kinds of people who react to the activities in different ways. They also learn to do emotional and physical rescues, which they often anticipate. “The whole thing is about having butterflies. It’s not about waiting until you’re not afraid to try it,” she says, explaining that it’s better to take the leap while you’re frightened, and have faith, because you’ll go farther than you ever thought you could. Leading the way Guides at Sonoma Zipline Adventures also have a minimum of 40 hours training, and they tend to be young adults who are in college or have just graduated. “It’s very transient; there’s a lot of turnover,” says Ferguson. “We have a whole crew that comes back every summer.” Reece Phillips, who has been a course manager at Sonoma Zip Line Adventures for nearly five years and has 15 years’ experience in the zipline business, oversees training and inspections. He explains that guides must have one week of training to be a sweep guide, who helps riders get launched on the starting platform, and another week to be a lead guide, who works on the platform where riders land. In addition, a trainee follows a guide, and a guide follows a trainer, so those in training can observe and learn good practices as well as having their own performance evaluated. Guides have medical training and learn to perform CPR, and they are trained in rescues, because sometimes a person does one or two lines and doesn’t want to continue, so guides must lower them to the ground at strategic spots. Guides also need to learn soft skills, such as conflict resolution and how to talk to people in difficult situations. Phillips explains that the two most common issues are fear of heights and people who have been pressured
May 2024
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