"Those were the days." the wizened, aging granola type said. His knarled, and callused hands showed the proof needed to affirm him as a true Ropes Course Builder. "Back then we had one rope and we tied it right up to 'em." Being young and new to adventure education I didn't think I would ever be in the same tree someday.
Well it is now someday and I can truthfully say, "I remember when....." It is not so bad really, because most of the changes in the ropes course industry have been for the good of all. For examples we can look at accessible courses, single element courses and the excellent safety records of many programs. Is there a trend in these changes? Are they pointed in one direction or many? Who or what organizations are setting the pace? Well, not knowing all the answers to these questions we can take a look at what some construction changes have been and maybe what they mean.
Speaking from the perspective of working on our Ihduhapi Adventure Learning Center courses in Minnesota, which have been in operation for about nine years, and several other ropes courses around the country since 1986, there seem to be many more different types of ropes courses now than there were ten years ago. The first course I worked at was an in-line, one-event-at-a-time, sequential course which was perfect for the camp application it was in. The camp built a pamper pole that used trees for the canopy, cables and trapeeze, and a locust pole for the belay, driven into the ground with two angled holes for one dynamic rope to be woven through. We would tie the person in from the rear of the seat harness and the instructor would be the sole belayer. Our pamper poles now are a three rope (two dynamic, one static) design using two 50' poles and a 30' jump pole. There is enough friction in the system to allow belaying by the participants without special friction devices that are very hard on the ropes. The instructor handles a "pull line" which ensures the climber an open space in which to fall into, and prevents him/her from swinging back into the jump pole; very slick and very safe.
Our original multi-element ropes course was built in 1989 and used cables wrapped around the trees with garden hose over the cable where it contacted the tree, and two cable clips. Since then we have seen courses with everything from through-bolts with back up cables, to strand vises, to wraps with swages. All of these have seemed to depend on the builder for their use and preference. Would I start any discussions if I said, "Wrapping with swages is better than strand vises man!"
It is important to keep in mind that each of these belay attachment systems is required to do one thing, hold the load people give it! After that we can look at ease of maintenance, simplicity, tree friendliness, ease of installation etc. Coming from a program director's perspective, all of these are important factors to me except ease of installation. I want it built strong and built to last, I don't care how easy it is for you to build, sorry! Overall, we at our Adventure Learning Center are happy with the many different courses and designs we have because they are strong, have been kept relatively simple, serve the objectives of our programs and are built to be effectively managed by one or two staff persons. They each use some different form of accepted cable attachments, but most are now swaged. I like swages, they are simple, clean, and require no maintenance. Being non-adjustable though, they do not fulfill the need to tweak every now and then.
Design is another area where there have been many changes. If you think of it, the sky is the limit for ropes course design. Who wouldn't want to dream up the ultimate course and then build it, like an Adventure Architect! From the commando obstacle course I remember at camp in the '70s (20' high with no belays!) to the use of fall blocks and industrial equipment for belays, to giant swings, and other monsters, challenge courses have come far. "Yep and 'ya tell kids that these days and they just won't believe 'ya!" Courses are built now to serve one specific organization's goals for just one program. There are multi-level and multi-purpose courses now. We have a new high ropes course designed to be used as either a one-element course - a Giant's Ladder as part of a large group program with other high events - or as a multi-obstacle high course for one group of 12 people. Flexibility, serving the program objectives and simple set-up/takedown are now becoming important design requirements. That a ropes course is safe is a given.
So where is it all going? One person who brings many fine students into our program requested an 80' pamper pole once. Another would like to see a bungy jump exit! Think about that for a second! That would not fit with our program philosophy but maybe it could somewhere. When the Ihduhapi staff sit around and chinwag we usually come up with some wacko ropes course, like a tree house with outlying initiatives, a web of things for groups to challenge themselves, or a course that goes up into the tree to down under the ground and then back. Weird stuff! Why not? I do not know where things are going exactly, but courses are being built safely, programs are being run with purpose and staff are becoming used to working with different sorts of gear and techniques. I think all this is good. The getting together of people like ACCT and AEE are good things. The collaboration with schools, human service organizations like the YMCA, scouts and community education agencies is even better.
Construction standards, though changing, are adding new components as they develop and are consistent with the overall goals of safety and reliability.
I suppose then that if some young, hot shot, punk instructor with a cool, colorful harness came up to me and said, "What was it like back then?" Maybe I'd say, "Well, things were good then son, heh, heh, but now it's even better."
