Ziplines - awesome or lame?

[hammer]

Gunstock just opened up a zip line last month...all the way from the summit, sounds like fun.

http://www.boston.com/travel/explor...2/put_some_zip_in.html?p1=Well_On_Blogs_links

 

[billski]

I don't care if they are lame or brilliant if it pays the bills to keep the lifts turning, well, I'm for it. Except for illegal activities!

 

[HD333]

Did the Gunstock Zipline this weekend. Not super extreme but pretty fun. You go from the summit to the peak of Pistol, then down to the base from Pistol. Probably hit high 50's. For $70 i'd like to be able to go up again, it is a quick $70 but I'd say it was worth it.

 

[deadheadskier]

Did the Gunstock Zipline this weekend. Not super extreme but pretty fun. You go from the summit to the peak of Pistol, then down to the base from Pistol. Probably hit high 50's. For $70 i'd like to be able to go up again, it is a quick $70 but I'd say it was worth it.

How crowded was it? How long was the wait in line to get on at the top and then again at Pistol? Were people using the Panorama for other purposes outside of accessing the Zipline? People enjoying the Panorama Pub?

 

[HD333]

How crowded was it? How long was the wait in line to get on at the top and then again at Pistol? Were people using the Panorama for other purposes outside of accessing the Zipline? People enjoying the Panorama Pub?

We had an early reservation , 9:30, probably a 5 minute wait at each line. You take a short one off of Panorama to Recoil. It was steady all day and seemed to be busier in the afternoon. You do a few training runs on the lower mt where the Air Bag is in the winter, that looked backed up in the afternoon.
You can ride up on Panorama for $10 saw a few people with little kids doing that. Panorama pub was closed but I did enjoy a beer on the deck after hiking up.
The tree top adventure looked cool and the kids one was good for younger kids. Overall they do a pretty good job keeping people busy with the Adventure Park stuff. Kids loved it, rock wall, kayaks, bikes, mini golf, etc.

 

[deadheadskier]

Regarding being able to ride the zip a second time for the initial purchase price; I'm sure most people feel that way. I understand why the price is so high for 1 ride. The construction and insurance costs must be huge for that zip line and there's limited capacity to make up the revenue in volume. However, at $70 a whack, I doubt they get many repeat customers each season. When you think about it from a value perspective, someone can get a Season Pass to Six Flags New England for $75.

Not that I'd want to see an amusement park at the base of a ski area, but I'm kind of surprised we haven't seen a big amusement park operator like Six Flags partner with a ski area close to a metro area. It's the perfect marriage for year round revenue. I know some ski resorts have outdoor water parks such as Camelback and Mountain Creek, but water parks are a bit more weather dependent than amusement parks.

 

[HD333]

Regarding being able to ride the zip a second time for the initial purchase price; I'm sure most people feel that way. I understand why the price is so high for 1 ride. The construction and insurance costs must be huge for that zip line and there's limited capacity to make up the revenue in volume. However, at $70 a whack, I doubt they get many repeat customers each season. When you think about it from a value perspective, someone can get a Season Pass to Six Flags New England for $75.

Forgot to mention you can go up again same day for half price. I used a 2 for 1 from my ski pass and treated a friend.

 

[MR. evil]

One ride for $70 seems like a rip off. We did the big zip line tour at Berkshire East for about $100 per person which consistented of 8 or 9 individual zip lines scattered all over the top of the mountain with some short but enjoyable hikes between them. The whole tour took about 3 hours and was quite enjoyable

 

[deadheadskier]

The reason the cost is so high for the Gunstock zip lines I'm sure has to do with construction costs. The figure I heard was $1.5M. They are the two longest zip lines in North America. 1 line half way down the mountain and then 1 more to the base. 1300 vert over two lines. More of an adrenline ride than a "tour". Though I do agree that $70 seems like a lot for such a short time period of entertainment.

 

[ScottySkis]

bump world coolest ziplines

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/25/travel/worlds-coolest-zip-lines/index.html?hpt=tr_c1

 

[Nick]

I was in Vegas in December and saw that zip line.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[bigbog]

As far as what they ARE? OK for anyone if they carefully examined from time to time.
Just my $.01 but I really like being in control to some degree while playing with steepness, whether it's skiing steep chutes, boofing big drops, parachuting(freefalling these days;-)) or flying..... I mean it's a hitch and some rope tied/knotted by someone else... ...separating you from fatal freefall...
That Vegas pic is wussy stuff compared to things I've seen in other pics. Hope the other pics between some peaks were PhotoShopped cuz they were scary... But...I get uneasy in some high chairlifts...so..

 

[legalskier]

Mountain Creek added one this summer- it's called the "Zoom Zipline:"

Zoom is comprised of a series of dual zip lines connected to each other by a network of trails and suspension bridge. The largest zip line is over 1500 feet in length, 200 feet above the ground and offers 350 ft of vertical drop from launch to landing, reaching speeds of up to 50 mph.
http://www.mountaincreek.com/adventures/zoom/

Also added a mountain coaster: http://summer.mountaincreek.com/

Looks safer than the old "Traction Park" rides.