On the morning of July 13, 2015, Rich Sayre and his family arrived at the thatched-roof reception center of , a treetop adventure park outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand鈥檚 second-largest city. Sayre, who leads Nike鈥檚 footwear quality team, lived in the country in the late 1990s and was back for a vacation with his wife, Lisa, their two daughters, and a Thai exchange student they had hosted at their home in Oregon. This was to be the highlight of the girls鈥� trip: zooming from one canopy platform to the next along three miles of braided-metal cables suspended up to 100 feet above the forest floor.

In the past decade, zip-lining has become one of the most popular activities in Chiang Mai, which attracts more than 8 million tourists each year. Out of 14 local zip-line parks, Flight of the Gibbon is the oldest, most widely touted, and鈥攁t about $100 per person鈥攖he most expensive. The a half-mile cable that represents聽鈥渙ne of Asia鈥檚 longest single zip-line flights鈥� that its zip lines 鈥渆xceed qualifications for the highest safety standards in the world.鈥� At the time of the Sayres’ visit, the company鈥檚 website noted that 鈥渁ttention to every detail of this protocol has allowed us to fly hundreds of thousands of people on our zip lines without incident.鈥� The company runs two other zip-line parks in Thailand and a third located near Angkor Wat, Cambodia鈥檚 ancient temple complex. Trip Advisor awarded Flight of the Gibbon its Certificate of Excellence for earning high reviews five years in a row, from 2011 to 2015.

At the Chiang Mai reception center, the Sayre family donned helmets and harnesses and received a safety briefing in which they were instructed how to ride聽the lines. Then they headed into the fragrant tropical forest. They ascended a staircase to the first platform, where they watched as one of their guides, called Sky Rangers, clipped in to a short cable and glided over to the next platform. The guests followed one by one, with a second Sky Ranger bringing up the rear. They sailed across several lines and crossed a hanging bridge. Lisa was enjoying herself when, she says, a Sky Ranger instructed her to pick up the pace. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the rush?鈥� she thought. 鈥淚 wanted to wait and talk to my family.鈥�

A Zip Line Accident from Hell

After about an hour, the group arrived at a 980-foot cable that sagged across a wide valley. The setup was designed to use gravity to slow riders on approach so that guests need only raise their legs for a clean landing. Peering across, Rich couldn鈥檛 see the landing platform through the dense vegetation. 鈥淵ou are basically jumping blind,鈥� he says.

A Chinese woman in the group clipped in and disappeared into the greenery. The Sky Ranger radioed his partner at the other side to alert him that she was coming. Without waiting for a response, he signaled for Lisa to go, according to a criminal complaint against Flight of the Gibbon filed by the Chiang Mai public prosecutor. She took off with a running start. A moment later, Rich heard an awful smack, like a wooden bat hitting a baseball. 鈥淭he sound was horrible,鈥� he says. Lisa came back into view, dangling from the line in her harness, unconscious and limp. The Sayres’聽daughters began screaming. After 30 seconds, Lisa kicked. 鈥淲e knew she was alive,鈥� Rich says.

The Chinese woman, Zi Lei, who goes by Hazel, had stopped just short of the landing platform, according to a written statement she later provided to the Sayres. The Sky Ranger told her to seize the overhead cable while he tried to finagle her onto the platform with his legs. But the cable dug painfully into her hand and she let go, drifting backward to the low point in the line, out of sight of the launch platform. A moment later, Lisa came rocketing across. The collision knocked out both of them. When Hazel came to, the first thing she saw was Lisa鈥檚 bloody face, inches from her own.

Over the next half-hour, guides retrieved the women and laid them out on the landing platform. Hazel was disoriented. 鈥淚 felt a lot of headaches and a lot of pain in my body. I couldn鈥檛 move,鈥� she wrote in her statement. Lisa remembers nothing after the collision. She was having trouble breathing and couldn鈥檛 see out of her right eye, which was developing a nasty purple bruise.

Jessica Bienstock, a physician with the who was on another tour nearby, heard the commotion聽and hurried over to the platform. She was horrified to see the Sky Rangers encouraging Hazel and Lisa to get up. Lisa had broken six ribs, as well as her tailbone and pelvis, and had suffered a partially collapsed lung. Moving could have killed her. Bienstock asked the guides to bring a backboard and call the 鈥渁mbulance鈥濃�攁 Toyota pickup with a metal canopy on the back. Someone brought a first-aid kit, but, according to Bienstock, there was almost nothing in it except gauze, medical tape, and Band-Aids.

After a pit stop at a nearby clinic to drain fluid from her right lung, Lisa finally made it to the hospital two hours later. Doctors there discovered damage to her optic nerve. In hopes of saving her vision, the family paid $20,000 to have her flown to in Bangkok, about 300 miles to the south. Lisa was in the intensive care unit for three days while Rich debated whether to approve a risky surgery to save her vision that would involve cutting open her skull. 鈥淯ltimately, we decided not to do it,鈥� he says.

Gary Searle, Flight of the Gibbon鈥檚 current managing director, disputes the Sayres鈥� account but declined to comment in detail because of pending litigation. The Sayres have filed a $1.4 million lawsuit against the company.

Rising Injuries and Deaths

Before they were tourism attractions, zip lines were used to ferry people, goods, and livestock across remote jungle ravines. American biologist Donald 鈥淢onkey Man鈥� Perry the first canopy zip line for research in 1979 using 1,200 feet of polyester rope that connected three tree crowns high in the Costa Rican rainforest, where he was studying primates.

In 1996, Canadian entrepreneur Darren Hreniuk adapted Perry鈥檚 concept to launch the self-proclaimed in the cloud forests of Monteverde in northern Costa Rica. As an aerial alternative to familiar attractions like whitewater rafting or nature hikes, zip-line parks exploded in popularity. Today, there are dozens in Costa Rica alone, and hundreds, if not thousands, strung up in tropical destinations around the world. , the longest zip line on earth is the 8,300-foot Monster at Puerto Rico鈥檚 , which sends riders careening at 93 miles per hour.

Now they鈥檙e coming to a city near you. In the past five years, hundreds of commercial zip-line parks have opened in the United States. At least 400 are open nationwide, and more are on the way. You can in New York . In Paso Robles, California, you can ride the zip line over the Santa Margarita Ranch vineyard. You can even zip-line in your own backyard using DIY kits from companies like Slackers and Ripline.

It may seem straightforward to send one person at a time over a fixed line, but the risks of zip-lining are more in line with whitewater rafting than riding a roller coaster. A found that the number of zip-line injuries in the United States has increased from a few hundred per year in the late 1990s to more than 3,600 in 2012. (Unfortunately, no one tracks total participation, so it鈥檚 impossible to determine an injury rate per capita.) Researchers at Ohio State University found that almost 12 percent of zip-line injuries resulted in fractures or other injuries requiring hospitalization, making zip-lining mishaps at least .

There is no central repository of fatalities, but more than a dozen news reports describe people dying on zip lines in the United States since 2006. In 2015, a after her tether snapped over a 40-foot canyon. The same year, an after a gruesome fall when his neck became entangled in the safety harness. Last May, a woman after colliding with a falling tree. In August 2016, a woman fell to her death in Delaware. By comparison, more than 300 million people visit amusement parks each year, and only 3.8 deaths occur annually, from the .

The relatively high rate of injuries and deaths from zip lines may be due to the fact that and haven鈥檛 kept pace with the growing industry. 鈥淩ight now, it鈥檚 kind of a patchwork of regulation that varies from state to state,鈥� says Shawn Tierney, executive director of the (ACCT), one of three industry organizations that publishes voluntary standards. 鈥淢ost zip-line regulations come from amusement rides, and that doesn鈥檛 quite fit,鈥� he says.

How Are Zip Lines Regulated in the U.S.?

In about half of all U.S. states, primarily those in the Midwest and on the East Coast, commercial zip lines are overseen by state agencies responsible for oversight of roller coasters or elevators. In most places, including Illinois and Georgia, the state labor department oversees zip lines. In Florida, the task falls to the Department of Agriculture. In Connecticut and Maine, it鈥檚 the state fire marshal. And in states like Arizona or Virginia that lack state oversight, zip lines may be subject only to city or county regulations. In Shenandoah County, Virginia, for example, building inspectors are responsible for vetting zip-line platforms.

However, regulators don鈥檛 typically inspect individual zip lines in person. According to a compiled by zip-line vendor Experiential Systems, officials often review only engineering plans and operation manuals for permit approval and licensing and simply require operators to undergo annual third-party engineering inspections. Zip line accidents in North Carolina and Hawaii have spurred calls for in those states, but such measures are unlikely to include state inspectors on the ground. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have enough manpower,鈥� an official told .

The ACCT鈥檚 goal has been, in part, to fill that gap by laying out uniform safety standards. In January 2016, the , an umbrella organization that oversees voluntary standards for everything from chairlifts at ski resorts to carabiners for climbing, accredited the ACCT鈥檚 zip-line-specific standard, which lays out specifications for things like braking systems and staff training. Several states have already begun to incorporate it into law. , which passed in 2011, requires operators to 鈥渃onstruct, install, maintain, and operate all ziplines and canopy tours in accordance with ACCT [standards].鈥�

But without official safety statistics聽and consistent聽regulations, it鈥檚 not easy for consumers to know whether a zip line is safe to ride. The ACCT does not vet zip-line courses directly, but it does for inspectors and maintains a list of accredited vendors that design and consult with zip-line parks. Tierney recommends that potential riders ask operators whether they鈥檝e had accidents, whether the zip line was built and inspected by an accredited vendor, and whether they are licensed by the government. 鈥淭his is where the 鈥榖uyer beware鈥� adage comes into play,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople have to do their homework.鈥�

Done safely, zip-lining can be a family-friendly activity, but it鈥檚 not necessarily something that should be undertaken on a whim where information may be scant and regulations lacking. Ken Jacquot, president of in North Carolina, an ACCT-accredited vendor that has inspected zip lines in the United States and Central and South America, says the industry is improving overall, but he鈥檚 seen plenty of shoddy designs. 鈥淲hen you have people flying at certain high rates of speed, you want to make sure you slow them down in time,鈥� Jacquot says. 鈥淭here are people putting stuff up that doesn鈥檛 necessarily do that.鈥�

Zip Lines Abroad

If regulations and oversight are inconsistent domestically, they鈥檙e almost nonexistent internationally. Flight of the Gibbon, with its stellar online reviews and polished English website, appears to be a safe, well-oiled operation. Yet its complicated history is enough to engender concerns about nascent zip-line enterprises around the world.

Flight of the Gibbon was the brainchild of New Zealander David Allardice, an adventurer with first descents on rivers in Myanmar and Tibet under his belt. In 1999, he co-founded a that offered bungee jumping, canyoneering, and a high ropes course. Chiang Mai, Allardice thought, would be the perfect place for a zip line. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the best ways that kids and people of all ages can experience the jungle,鈥� says Eric Southwick, who worked closely with Allardice as the operations manager at Flight of the Gibbon鈥檚 Chonburi location, which opened in 2009.

In 2007, according to former employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Allardice joined up with an American businessman named Steven McWhorter, whom he met through the expat network in southeast Asia, and Steve Saunders, a Brit who owns the Sanctuary spa resort in Koh Phangan, in southern Thailand. The men identified a site for a zip line just north of Chiang Mai. Over the next year, the three men erected more than a dozen zip lines in the forest, along with hanging bridges and abseil stations, former employees say.

The names of McWhorter, Allardice, or Saunders do not appear on company documents filed with the Thai Department of Business Development. Flight of the Gibbon’s Gary Searle claims that McWhorter was a consultant and denies聽that he has been a partner or manager. Saunders, Searle says, advised the company but is currently not a shareholder.聽(McWhorter did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Saunders could not be reached for comment.) McWhorter鈥檚 wife, Supaporn 鈥淣ina鈥� Chumsri, registered a company called Tree Top 国产吃瓜黑料 Co. Ltd. in 2007 to obtain a tourism license for Flight of the Gibbon and remains listed as a principal shareholder of Tree Top. Her Thai relatives also established Fire Fly Services Co. Ltd. and, later, Sky Walk 国产吃瓜黑料s Co. to pay foreign employees of Flight of the Gibbon, including managers and safety officers, who required work permits, according to former employees.

Allardice took safety seriously鈥攖raining employees, requiring drug tests, and making them sign a strict protocol鈥攁ccording to Southwick and another zip line expert who worked at Flight of the Gibbon and asked to remain anonymous. He was also fastidious about pruning trees to ensure that Sky Rangers had clear line of sight between platforms. On longer lines, Sky Rangers were required to provide radio confirmation that the line was vacant before sending riders down. Allardice had test customers secretly ride the zip lines to make sure standards stayed high. But according to several former employees, without constant oversight, Sky Rangers were often lax about safety, lowering customers too quickly during abseils and clipping a second rider onto a line before the first one had been properly transferred to the platform, according to several former employees. In response to these accusations, Searle told 国产吃瓜黑料, 鈥淲e work with people, and people are not perfect. They never are.鈥� He also noted that safety has been a priority since he became part of the company’s board last year.

Zip Line Accidents and Lawsuits (or Lack Thereof)

In 2012, disaster struck. A woman from Bangkok named Khun Poo stalled out on a 2,600-foot line during a heavy rainstorm and was struck by a second customer. She broke her hip, requiring two operations. She still needs a cane to walk. The same year, a Taiwanese businessman named Parry Lin also failed to reach the landing platform on an 980-foot line鈥攖he very same where Lisa Sayre would have her zip line accident. A Sky Ranger careening down the line crashed into him, feet-first. Lin suffered seven broken ribs and two broken vertebrae, according to a report filed with the Chiang Mai Tourist Police. The company paid his Thai hospital bills, according to Lin鈥檚 wife, Christine Liaw, but it took Lin a year to recover in Taiwan, and he still has trouble working a full day. 鈥淚t is like a nightmare in our mind,鈥� Liaw told 国产吃瓜黑料.

Following that zip line accident, Allardice emailed Liaw. He wrote that he wanted to gather as much information as possible to 鈥渕ake sure it does not happen again.鈥� But she didn鈥檛 respond, and he never followed up with her. On April 25, 2013, at age 56, Allardice died of melanoma on his visit to a zip line he was building in Cambodia. Flight of the Gibbon posted a glowing remembrance of him on the website, praising him for 鈥渕aking our company the best it could be.鈥�

If an accident like this happened on U.S. soil, we might expect a lawsuit, negative publicity, and a flurry of new regulations from local authorities. But when tourists are far from home, in a place like Thailand or Ecuador, typically they don鈥檛 take the time to file lawsuits or campaign for change, which would involve navigating foreign bureaucracy. And since there isn鈥檛 direct oversight of zip-line parks in many developing countries, it鈥檚 easier for accidents to occur without consequences.

Southwick stopped working for Flight of the Gibbon after Allardice鈥檚 death. The current safety manager, Bryan Schwartz, who previously worked under Allardice, said in an email to 国产吃瓜黑料 that Flight of the Gibbon has kept up the late co-founder鈥檚 high standards. 鈥淭he basics of all our safety procedures were designed by him, and they have been continually updated to meet international standards.鈥� Schwartz wrote. 鈥淚 take considerable pride in our operation, particularly in our safety.鈥�

The Consequences

On March 29, 2016, the two Sky Rangers who led the Sayres鈥櫬爐our turned themselves in to the police during a criminal inquiry into Lisa Sayre鈥檚 accident. In October, they pled guilty in court to charges of 鈥渘egligence and causing grievous bodily harm鈥� by failing to properly communicate with each other using their radios. The moment was bittersweet for Rich and Lisa, who traveled back to Thailand to testify at the Sky Rangers鈥� trial. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter which guide is guiding the trip,鈥� Rich says. 鈥淭hese horrific collisions keep occurring.鈥�

That鈥檚 one reason the Sayres filed a $1.4 million civil lawsuit against Flight of the Gibbon in Buriram Provincial Court in September. They allege that the company is liable for the negligence of its employees, and they鈥檙e seeking $85,000 for medical expenses paid in Thailand plus $560,000 in future expenses they anticipate in the United States. The聽Sayres are also seeking $560,000 for disability and loss of work, along with $140,000 for the company鈥檚 failure to take responsibility for the accident. A civil trial against the company and one of its main agents, a relative of McWhorter鈥檚 wife, is scheduled for March.

Lisa, who is 58, remains blind in her right eye. She can walk and has started taking dance classes again, but she still suffers from back pain. Her CT scans indicate that she had two strokes shortly after the accident. Lisa stumbles over words and has trouble following conversations. 鈥淟ife is more challenging than it used to be,鈥� Rich says of Lisa鈥檚 disabilities. 鈥淪he鈥檚 58. What鈥檚 life at 68 or 78?鈥�

Flight of the Gibbon isn鈥檛 the only Chiang Mai outfitter having trouble keeping tourists safe. Two deaths at other zip lines there have drawn the ire of local authorities. In June 2015, a Chinese tourist at wasn鈥檛 attached to a safety line and fell off a 90-foot platform . Then, in October 2015, a tourist reportedly broke her neck during a bizarre accident at , when two tourists were . Last April, under pressure from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, all zip-line operators in Chiang Mai , which included better training for guides, improved brakes, and the use of two safety lines.

In an interview with 国产吃瓜黑料 in August, Searle said Flight of the Gibbon takes safety seriously through third-party inspections by engineers, quarterly visits from EMS officers, and thorough training of Sky Rangers.聽“Our safety record places us among the very best zip-line courses in the world,鈥澛爃e said.聽The company鈥檚 website now touts its adherence to ACCT standards, and Searle says it plans to be the first in Thailand to employ a full staff certified by the ACCT. 鈥淲e are really sorry that somebody got hurt,鈥� Searle says. 鈥淎t the end of the day, we are constantly improving.鈥�

Such assurances may ring hollow to three Israeli tourists who visited the park on December 16. According to the Bangkok Post, all three visitors, including a seven-year-old boy, collided with one another on a line and were taken to the hospital. The most seriously injured was a 40-year old woman, Orit Rov, who was placed in intensive care and has since been released. Flight of the Gibbon shut down for two weeks, and the police promised an investigation. (Requests to Rov for comment were not returned.)

By mid-January, Flight of the Gibbon was back in operation. The company has updated the . It no longer features a claim about its unblemished safety record.

The post Just How Dangerous Are Zip Lines? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In hindsight, John Hines concedes, the idea seems simple: build an aerial adventure park on a flat swath of forested land near a major city, and charge an entrance fee. 鈥淎nywhere there are聽lots of people and lots of trees, there鈥檚 an opportunity,鈥� says Hines, co-owner of Outdoor Venture Group, a company聽founded in 2008 that聽owns nine parks in six states.

A decade ago, not a single aerial adventure park existed in the United States. They had flourished in Europe, where urban adventurers flocked by the tens of thousands to test themselves on the wood-and-rope challenge courses suspended among the treetops, 50 feet above the ground. Similar structures succeeded for decades in America as team-building venues for corporations and kids. But until Adirondack Extreme, in Lake George,聽New York, opened the first publicly available pay-to-play park in 2007, nobody聽had tested whether it was a model that could work in the United States.*

Today, we have our answer: there are anywhere from 200 to 450 aerial adventure parks in the United States, depending whom you ask. (Nobody聽tracks the numbers for this nascent industry.) In addition to aerial parks, many of these venues offer other contrived activities like zip聽lines, canopy tours, and mini-roller coasters. And more are on the way.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just going gangbusters all over the place,鈥� says Paul Cummings, president of Strategic 国产吃瓜黑料s, which has built a business out of helping people open aerial parks聽but doesn鈥檛 construct them or operate them. (The company conducts feasibility studies, consults on business plans, and coordinates investor meetings.) 鈥淚鈥檓 getting probably ten聽to 12 calls per week from people wanting to talk about whether they can open a park, from the Caribbean to Canada. Right now, we鈥檝e got six projects pending in California alone.鈥�

Cummings believes aerial adventure parks serve as 鈥済ateways to the natural world.鈥� 鈥淧eople who aren鈥檛 necessarily outdoorsy people come and have fun outside.聽They leave thinking, 鈥楳an, we should go hiking. Let鈥檚 go outside again.鈥櫬營f somebody wants an adventure,聽this is an opportunity to do it without having to travel far.鈥�

In general, an aerial adventure park operates in one of two ways: like a ski area, where everyone climbs a ladder to the same platform and chooses which 鈥渢rail鈥濃�攃olor聽coded by difficulty鈥攖o take from there,聽or like a golf course, where everyone follows the same progression of trails in a circuit.聽

Participants wear safety harnesses and are usually clipped in via carabiners that often work in tandem, with one not releasing until the other is secured. Most parks are open to kids as young as eight years old and offer easier courses built just for them.

The business model is generally predictable, as long as the park is constructed in a high-density area. It costs about $750,000 to $1 million to build a park, but aside from the materials, you don鈥檛 need much more than five to eight acres of land, some bathrooms, and power to a registration shed. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e probably looking at a 30 percent net profit on average,鈥� Cummings says.聽

Often parks will lease vacant land from nonprofit groups and enter into a revenue-sharing agreement. A park in Sandy Spring, Maryland, for example, is located on land owned by the Sandy Spring Friends School, which uses the money to provide financial aid to students. With 18 trails and more than 200 features, the park is one of the nation鈥檚 largest聽and busiest. A season pass runs $780鈥�$29 less than it costs for unlimited skiing or snowboarding at 12 world-class resorts on Vail Resorts鈥� Epic Pass鈥攁nd patrons wait in lines for hours.聽

Hines estimates the Sandy Spring park, the second one built by Outdoor Venture, sees 80,000 鈥渃limbers鈥� in a season,聽many paying the $53 three-hour usage fee, and says the company鈥檚 nine parks cater to 450,000 visitors聽in total. CrossFitters love them. So do summer camps. Last year, a 95-year-old woman completed one of the courses at Sandy Spring. It鈥檚 a far cry from when parks weren鈥檛 open to the public and were viewed strictly as a place where groups became more cohesive.聽

鈥淲hen we started, we were the black sheep, because we weren鈥檛 educators, team聽builders, or facilitators,鈥� Hines says. 鈥淲e were in it for all the wrong reasons. Well, in the past seven years, the entire world has changed, and virtually everybody is now dependent on the revenue that can be generated from the non-team-building, pay-to-play stuff.鈥�

Despite the industry鈥檚 growth, questions remain about how the market will evolve. There is no official regulatory agency overseeing the courses or their safety; instead, when a new course is constructed, local government and insurance agencies rely on inspectors accredited with the Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT) to deem the course聽safe and up to industry standards.

鈥淓very state is different,鈥� Hines says. 鈥淪ome states hold adventure parks to amusement park standards. Some states look at them and go, 鈥榃e don鈥檛 know what you are;聽therefore, we鈥檙e just going to watch.鈥欌��

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a patchwork regulatory framework that does not exactly fit,鈥� says Shawn Tierney, president of AACT. 鈥淪o what we try to do is be involved in the regulation of the industry so we can educate regulators but also have other stakeholders, like the operators, be involved, so that whatever regulation there is really makes sense. It鈥檚 still in the process of evolving and will be for years.鈥�

No agency, public or private, tracks accidents and deaths, though they are rare. Last year, a teenager died after falling at a newly opened aerial park in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he was found hanging from a log with his harness around his neck. State officials subsequently closed the park, but an ACCT-certified inspector the park to be safe. An autopsy revealed that the teen died of heart disease, not strangulation.

鈥淚f you compare this industry to other high-risk industries like climbing, mountaineering, heli-skiing, or programs like NOLS and Outward Bound, I think the number of accidents would look drastically lower,鈥� says Tierney, a former professional mountain guide who has climbed in the Himalayas and Patagonia. Still, some within the industry wonder whether a couple accidents might jeopardize the freedom with which they operate. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to gather more data because we need it to show [potential] regulators that we do have a very good risk-management structure in place,鈥� says Tierney.

It is probably not an accident that the rise in aerial adventure parks coincides聽with the explosion in popularity of obstacle-course racing, CrossFit, and TV shows like American Ninja Warrior. As Hines points out, although parks are popping up at ski resorts and in other tourist venues, most devotees have incorporated them into their daily and weekly routines.

鈥淚鈥檓 not competing for vacation money,鈥� Hines says. 鈥淢y competition is the couch, going bowling, going to a movie theater, going out to dinner, doing nothing. It鈥檚 a lifestyle thing.鈥�

Sports psychologist Mark Aoyogi, however, isn鈥檛 so sure that鈥檚 healthy. There is something to be gained by climbing a mountain instead of a ladder in the trees while harnessed to a rope, he argues.聽

鈥淥ur world has become so safe. And I鈥檓 a parent, so I get this, but I think parents get pulled into this idea that they should never put their kids at risk or in harm鈥檚 way,鈥� says Aoyogi, director of sport and performance psychology at the University of Denver. 鈥淪o instead of having them be outdoors in an uncontrolled environment where who knows what can happen, you put them in a semi-controlled environment where you still don鈥檛 know what can happen.鈥� In other words, maybe parents should forgo contrived adventures and let their kids climb real mountains, even if it takes longer to get there. 聽

Aoyogi makes a fair point, but convenience trumps style in this trend. The aerial adventure park market is 鈥渘ot even close鈥� to saturation, Hines says. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if five years from now there were 1,500 parks in the U.S.鈥� Cummings predicts growing popularity will require them to adopt reservation systems.

鈥淎t a well-designed adventure park,鈥� Hines says, 鈥渢here鈥檚 always something to come back and do.鈥�

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that聽Catamount Ski Area, in New York鈥檚 Berkshire Mountains, opened the first publicly available pay-to-play model in 2009.

The post 国产吃瓜黑料 Parks Are the New Amusement Parks appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Ski resorts take on a secret life in warmer months. The sun is shining, wildflowers are flaming, and everything鈥攕ingletrack, whitewater, beer鈥攆lows readily. Plus, there鈥檚 always an endurance event or music festival somewhere.

Many resort hotels ratchet down their prices by as much as 80 percent compared to peak winter holiday rates, according to . Rooms that go for more than $1,000 a night during peak season at the exclusive 聽in Park City, for example, can be had for close to $300 in July.聽

Fewer crowds (with some exceptions, like Jackson Hole) and warmer, longer days to enjoy the ponderous beauty of the mountains make聽almost any ski town a sylvan gem come summer. Here are just a few of the best ski towns to hit up after the mud subsides.

Whitefish Mountain Resort, Montana聽

Best for: Mountain biking
The big news at this 聽is that it recently expanded the existing 30 miles of mountain bike terrain鈥攚ith 13 lift-access trails and eight cross-country trails鈥攖o include three premier聽expert downhill bike trails, each with more than 2,000 feet of vertical. But the goods were already great: In 2014,聽, a 2.54-mile black diamond run with an elevation loss of 1,684 vertical feet, one of the top four 鈥淢odel Flow Trails鈥� in the world. As for libations, , which reportedly makes the best beer in these parts, just opened a new location midway between the resort and town. Stay at Hibernation House on the mountain to get in on its 鈥淓at, Bike, Sleep, Repeat鈥� package for . One more thing: 聽is less than an hour away.聽

Mammoth Mountain Resort

Best for: A聽lake-cation
Everyone knows the eastern Sierra is experiencing the worst drought in more than 120 years. But the Twin Lakes are still full of water鈥攁ll the more reason to base out of a聽historic lakeside cabin at 聽at the foot of Mammoth Mountain Resort.聽You can sit on a large porch with a lake view (from $169 per night, including聽free boat and bike rentals) and watch your kids try to reel in trout (). On mountain, head up to the ,聽where, for $40 per head, the kids can have a go at the climbing wall, zip line, bungee trampoline, and lift-accessed 3,500-acre bike park.聽

Stowe, Vermont聽

Best for: Competitive types
Stowe is a summer festival magnet, beginning with the聽, June 12 to 14,聽featuring local brews and a farm-to-table bash. If you鈥檇 rather work off calories while on vacation, wait for The North Face , a multisport event for the everyman on August 23.聽The event聽draws almost 1,000 hikers, mountain bikers, and runners to climb 4.3 miles up the historic Toll Road to the top of 4,393-foot Mount Mansfield, Vermont鈥檚 highest peak. You鈥檒l be rewarded with聽live music and, of course, barbecue. Summer room rates at 聽start at $189, with discounts for booking early and staying three days or more.聽

Breckenridge, Colorado

Best for: Hiking 14ers
Come summer, you might forget that聽Breckenridge鈥攋ust a 90-minute聽drive from Denver鈥攊s actually overrun with skiers in the winter. Its massive playground of , five whitewater rivers , and endless miles of mountain and road biking, Breckenridge is the all-American summer resort. Which makes it nice to know that luxury hotels like , at the base of the mountain, offer seriously deep discounts. The average per-night stay from June 25 to August 27 starts in the vicinity of $226 for a one-bedroom condo unit that would cost upwards of $1,400 per night over Christmas break. Steel yourself for the new at the Breckenridge Fun Park. The two-stage zip line spans a collective 1,487 feet, 50 feet up in the air, with speeds up to 45 mph.聽

Snowmass, Colorado

Best for: Family fun
Downhill bike camp, field trips, fishing trips, whitewater rafting, and a 鈥渂uild聽your聽own聽rocket鈥澛燾amp鈥攁nd those are just for the kids through . Knowing they鈥檙e in good hands聽makes it easier for Mom and Dad to kick back with lift-accessed mountain biking on , mountain hikes with naturalists from the , or just chilling at the聽, an Aspen hotel where the rooms have balconies with stunning mountain views and the breakfast is famously generous聽with eggs and bacon or homemade granola. Airport and mountain shuttles are included in the price, which starts at $370 per night.

Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico

Best for: The food
The main resort area is undergoing a major makeover this summer with the addition of a new 85-room hotel, but the聽聽at the bottom of Lift 4 sits conveniently above the construction fray. In addition to four luxury suites that cost roughly half of what they do in the winter (from $180 per night with a two-night minimum stay), meals are classic Bavaria: bratwurst slathered with imported spicy mustard and beer steins so big you can barely lift them to your lips. Once you hoist the glass, the 36-ounce Spaten Optimator goes聽down especially well after standing atop 13,161-foot聽, the trailhead for which is just a few steps out the Bavarian鈥檚 front door. Or grab a bike and hit the scenic mountain biking playground of聽聽at Taos Ski Valley鈥�1,200 acres of looped trail that peaks at 12,163 feet and聽averages聽a 10 percent grade.

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Ziplines are great fun for families, but the recent trend in lines is to make them fast and high, creating rides that challenge adults as well as kids.

鈥淓verybody鈥檚 trying to figure out how to go faster and longer. And to get speed, you need drop,” says Aaron Roper, a staffer and blogger for . That鈥檚 why people are starting to build ziplines higher up in trees.鈥�

In order to stay safe in such conditions, advanced zipline users are moving away from kits with a seat and handlebars. 鈥淭he safer way to ride the ziplines is to hook directly to the trolley using a carabiner, lanyard, and harness,鈥� says Roper. At the high end of the spectrum, are now using mechanisms that make it while up in the trees.

The following kit is a good example of the new breed of residential zipline systems. It stretches up to 500 feet and has a braking system that slowly brings you to a stop over the last 30 feet. We鈥檝e also included two well-built zipline trolley devices that would make a great foundation for your own kit, especially if you already have a harness, carabiner, and other climbing gear on hand.

Ziplinegear Quicksilver Kit
C.A.M.P Wing Traveling Pulley
Petzl Tandem Speed Transport Pulley

Backyard Zipline Gear: Ziplinegear Quicksilver Kit

The hooks directly to the included harness for an intense and safe ride through the trees. The Quicksilver trolley itself is the heart of the system, with a blazing maximum speed of 120 miles per hour, sealed dual-bearing wheels, and a braking strength of 10,000 pounds. For the price, you get a spool of cable, the braking system, harness, and tree anchoring equipment. The only thing you need is a tensioning tool, which you can borrow from Ziplinegear and mail back. The kit is available in lengths between 150 and 500 feet, and it can hold up to 350 pounds.

PRICE: $460 (for 150-foot kit)

Backyard Zipline Gear: C.A.M.P. Wing Traveling Pulley

The makes a great building block for your own homemade system. The Wing comes from longtime Italian climbing-gear manufacturer C.A.M.P., and boasts a cool quick-release mechanism. To attach it to the zipline, you pivot the arm out and snap it on. When you鈥檙e in the air, it鈥檚 impossible to detach from the zipline. The device has a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour, weighs 11.9 ounces, and can handle cables as thick as 15/16 of an inch.

PRICE: $120

Backyard Zipline Gear: Petzl Tandem Speed Transport Pulley

Made in France, works well as the main trolley for an advanced backyard zipline system. Like the C.A.M.P. Wing, the Speed accepts cables up to 15/16 inches in diameter and has a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour. But instead of using a locking mechanism, the Speed is a simpler device, allowing removal from the zipline only after you unclip your carabiner. It’s also lighter, at just 9.5 ounces.

PRICE: $85

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Though wilderness zip line tours aren鈥檛 exactly new, they've only recently begun proliferating in the U.S.. Hundreds have sprouted up in the last decade, and many more are being built. You have many worthy choices, Brendan, but consider these first.

Though wilderness zip line tours aren't exactly new, they've only recently begun proliferating in the U.S.. Hundreds have sprouted up in the last decade, and many more are being built. You have many worthy choices, Brendan, but consider these first.

Navitat Canopy 国产吃瓜黑料s

This in Barnardsville, North Carolina, takes you high through the heart of the Blue Ridge, about a half-hour outside of Asheville. It consists of 10 lines, two bridges, and two rappels. Along the way, the guides will teach you about the surrounding habitat and local history.

Captain Zipline

's zips in Salida, Colorado, are shorter than many others you'll find, but they're definitely among the most heart-pounding. Its seven lines, which run from 200 to 700 feet, hang above a deep canyon carved by the roaring Arkansas River near Salida. You'll go hurtling through the trees at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour, past the ruins of old mining claims and fleeting views of 14,000-foot peaks.

Redwood Canopy Tours

It's a strange sensation to peer at giant redwoods from above, instead of below. This nearly three-hour tour sends you soaring seven to 10 stories above the ground through the misty Arcata Community Forest in California. It's operated by , and is more hands-on and strenuous than most, at one point requiring a 25-foot tree climb through the branches of a redwood.

Arbortrek

The Northeast's premier zip line adventure lies near the maple-covered slopes of Vermont's tallest peak. 's eight lines vary in length from 150 to 1,000 feet, strung through the thick forests surrounding the Smuggler's Notch Ski resort. Some zips are hung as high as 75 feet in the air. Tours start at $65.

Zip 国产吃瓜黑料s

You'll feel a little like Evel Knievel, minus the potential for broken bones, when you launch over the Alkali Creek Canyon in Wolcott, Colorado, about 20 minutes outside of Vail, during a tour. A nearly 40-year-old Austrian military vehicle takes guests out to the six lines, which hang deep within the vast 4 Eagle Ranch. The zips vary in length from 200 to 1,000 feet and are essentially wide-open, accentuating their height and speed. Cost starts at $150 per person.

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Video Bonus: No, it's not Bain's zipline. But this South African zip looks pretty incredible.

h/t:

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