Ropes courses were first introduced in the United States in 1963 at the Colorado Outward Bound School at the Marble base camp and were modeled after military obstacle courses. From that time forward, ropes courses became an integral part of Outward Bound (OB). Since there were no standards, precedents, or budgets for ropes courses, they were constructed by interested staff with found materials. Belay systems were not a consideration on the original courses. The primary uses of a ropes course during that time was to assess students before embarking on the traditional 26-day OB course. The use of the circuit course was usually no more than a three-hour experience.
Belay systems for challenge courses were introduced at the North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS) around 1968. The "system" consisted of a single section of goldline rope strung between two trees with another short length of goldline that traveled from the student's waist (single bowline) to a single non-locking carabiner clipped onto the overhead section of goldline. Classic.
Cable was introduced around 1971 on some of the original Project Adventure (PA) courses. The introduction of challenge course elements to fit within a 55-minute classroom schedule impacted the style and type of courses PA built. PA used separated elements and began dynamically belaying events to provide a focused and process oriented experience.
The original cable terminations were cable wraps around trees with blocks of wood judiciously placed to reduce the chance of tree girdling. Single carabiners were still being used on the cable. Tree health was the primary consideration for through-bolting, which began at PA around 1975. The original throughbolt belay systems did not include a backup.
Wear and tear on cable and carabiner brought on the innovation of the cable pulley and, simultaneously, the shear reduction device. This innovation came into use around 1979.
Strandvises were introduced around 1976 as a result of a casual working encounter with a telephone lineman. Strandvises were also originally used without backups. Because of liability issues, strandvises were soon backed-up, establishing a system that still meets current installation standards.
Over the years there have been predominately two different styles of belaying on high challenge courses – the dynamically belayed Project Adventure course and the circuit lobster claw-style course favored by Outward Bound. Both systems rely on overhead cable systems. However, the management and facilitation of these two styles differ considerably. (I need more space to address this issue sufficiently – read more in subsequent articles.) The philosophical perspective around the initial ropes courses to the current belay systems demonstrates the impact that risk, liability, learning, and continual improvement have played out in the systems and designs we employ today and will use in the future.
I look forward to presenting a more thorough presentation on the history, current status, and possible future directions for challenge course safety systems.
