Zip lining: Berkshire East Canopy Tours

[MR. evil]

Not exactly skiing, but it took place at a ski resort and I didn't know where else to put this TR

Yesterday Randi and I took a drive up to Berkshire East to do some zip lining with the crew at Berkshire East Canopy Tours. We did the mountain top tour which consisted of 8 zip lines ranging from 200 to 800 feet long. We booked this trip in advance and little did we know that earlier in the week the opened up 2 new extreme zip lines each about 2300 feet long and several hundred feet above the valley floor. These new lines are part of the Valley Tour which is basically the Mountain Tour plus the 2 extreme lines. Needless to say we had a blast and will be heading back once the leave turn for the Valley tour and the Extreme lines.

The trip started off by filling out a waiver and then meeting out guides Emma & Emily. Both of them were very friendly and cool to hang out with for the afternoon. They suited us up with harnesses and helmets and we headed off to the chair lift. The view from the lift was awesome! Once at the top our guides equipt us with our ‘hardware’ and we then took a short hike through the woods to the first line which was about 200 feet long. We started from the ground and finished on a elevated platform. From there we spent the next hour plus zipping from platform to platform. The 6th zip line started from a platform and ended on the ground. You are going so fast that you need to start running in the air to prepare for the landing. This was one of my favorite lines of the day. We then took another hike to the last two lines of the afternoon, each one about 800 feet long. From these lines we could see the new extreme lines (2300 feet ling) that are F’g crazy. We were told that at the highest point you are over 200 feet above the valley floor and reach speeds of 60mph. We watch a group come down these lines and it was so cool. I can’t wait to get back and try these things. Anyway, after the last two lines we took a lift ride down to the base area. This was the first time that either Randi or I rode a lift down, it was kind of weird!

Back when I was a kid my father was an instructor on a confidence course at the college he works at. Basically a crazy obstacle course 80 feet up in the trees that ended with a zip line ride. He used to take my brother, sister and I up there all the time while he was an instructor. I now realize one of the reasons he did this was to shame the college kids taking the course to grow a pair. It’s kind of hard for a college kid to act like a wuss when some kids (10, 11 and 13 years old) are all having a ball up in the trees. My father used to love teaching that course but stopped doing it years ago. Randi and I are planning on asking him to join us the next time we go.


MrEvil

MRGisEvil

More images in my gallery (I was to lazy to post more in the thread)
http://forums.alpinezone.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1135

 

[severine]

Lift rides down are pretty weird.

You guys are a lot ballsier than I am! Sounds like fun--if you can get over the heights.

 

[bvibert]

Sounds like a lot of fun! And as an added bonus you get to hang out at BEast in the summer.

 

[MR. evil]

Lift rides down are pretty weird.

You guys are a lot ballsier than I am! Sounds like fun--if you can get over the heights.

Well I grew up doing this sort of thing, and I have also been rock clmibing a bunch of times. As far as ballsy goes, this was a blast not nearly as extreme as ski diving which we did for Randi's b-day years ago. But those two extreme Zip lines are another matter. I imagine I may even be a little scared on those things when we go back. Anyone have a helmet cam I can borrow for that trip?

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

nice I am gonna try that sometime at Hunter..

 

[MR. evil]

nice I am gonna try that sometime at Hunter..

It's a great time, you will love it!

 

[billski]

As far as ballsy goes, this was a blast not nearly as extreme as ski diving

I did a set of zips in the rain forest of Antigua a few years ago and have to agree, especially after hang-gliding. The thing that surprises me about these pictures is that there doesn't seem to be any redundancy in the hanging system, or I have bad eyes. In the zip I was on, there was a double harness, double hangars, double carabiners and double trolley (wheels) all independent. Additionally, I believe there was a second cable which held no weight, but which we clipped a safety strap onto. Given the Heavenly accident, I think a redundant system while slightly more costly, is prudent.

The other difference I see is that we were given honking heavy leather gloves, to hold around but not gripping the cable. This prevented rotational spin, but more importantly, we could use it to check our speed. Gloves also make self-rescue much easier (hand-over hand) if you don't make it to the landing platform / slow down too much.

 

[Glenn]

Cool pics! I always wondered how they had it set up. Bromley has a few of those too. Although, I think there's is one long zip, rather than a few stages. I'm not 100% on that. Looks like a blast though!