ROPES COURSE AND CHALLENGE COURSE NEWS & EVENTS
Hocking Hills Canopy Tour in Rockbridge, Ohio to open on April 4, 2008
Posted 02-16-08
ROCKBRIDGE, OHIO CANOPY TOURS -- Canopy Tour Builders S.T.E.P.S. and Bonsai Design are proud to announce the opening of a new canopy tour in Rockbridge, Ohio. Located 45 minutes south of Columbus, Ohio in the heart of the Hocking Valley, Hocking Hills Canopy Tours and Zip Lines promises breathtaking views of the Hocking Hills.
Be the first to experience the more than 3200 feet of zip line cables and fly over rock bridges, fern covered gulleys and traverse the bluffs of the Hocking River. The two-and-a-half hour canopy tour experience will include a progression of 10 zip lines, 3 sky bridges, and a rappel.
"It really highlights the best of Ohio. The beauty of the Hocking River and Hocking HIlls makes this canopy tour a must for canopy tour and zip line enthusiasts. While you're not going to see parrots or monkeys like you might on a canopy tour in Costa Rica, the Hocking River Valley offers similar thrills, spectacular views, and it's located right in America's Heartland," declares Mike Smith, Lead Trainer and Consultant for S.T.E.P.S., Inc. "With canopy tours in Alaska, Texas, California and many other canopy tours planned for installation in the upcoming months, it's easy to forget about the beautiful deciduous forests right in our own backyard. I can't wait for people to experience the Hocking Hills Canopy Tour and fall in love with zip lining and Ohio all at once."
The canopy tour offers adventures and thrills for guests young and old. It's the perfect adventure for families, couples seeking to escape the fast-paced city, or adults looking to try something new. Designed for guests of moderate health, the progression of zip lines is designed to accomodate first time zip-liners, and to thrill even the most experienced canopy tour aficionado.
For more information about Hocking HIlls Canopy Tours Click here to learn more about Hocking Hills Canopy Tours or Call (740) 385-ZIPS. Reserve now and be one of the first to experience Ohio's First Zip Line Adventure Tour.
BOOK A RESERVATION FOR HOCKING HILLS CANOPY TOURS
What is a Canopy Tour?
Posted 06-19-07
The following article written by David C. Brassfield and Mike Smith of S.T.E.P.S., Inc. was printed in the June edition of Parellel Lines, the newsletter of the Association for Challenge Course Technology.
Canopy Tours in the western hemisphere were originally an outgrowth of techniques developed by biologists seeking to study the ecosystems of the Tropical Rainforest. Using a variety of approaches to access the upper reaches of the forest while minimizing their impact upon its ecology, researchers began about 30 years ago to observe and catalog the animals and plants that flourished there and to study their complex interrelationships.
Observation posts and transportation routes through the canopy were established by several means, including Tyrolean traverses and zip lines, rope ascension devices, towers and cranes, suspension bridges, and even hot air balloons. Each of these methods pioneered by scientists continue to be employed in one or another of the many commercial Canopy Tours that have grown up to serve and promote eco-tourism in the Rainforest. Some operators have gone one step further and installed aerial tramways complete with enclosed gondolas.
While many tours are quite serious about their mission of promoting awareness and appreciation of forest canopy ecology, many others now operate primarily as vehicles for recreation and amusement: the thrill of the ride is the principal attraction.
Zip lines and suspended walkways have come to figure most prominently in Canopy Tours as the industry has developed. Such courses typically feature an interconnected series of traverses and crossings over a route that runs down above a sloping forest floor, valley, ravine, or canyon. Entry and exit may be achieved by ground-level platforms or by stairways, ladders, and rappel stations. Fall protection is provided through harnesses, lanyards, clips, and trolleys. Riders may also be required to wear helmets and gloves. Speed control and braking may or may not require effort by the participant.
Guides and facilitators on these courses must master a variety of skills, including client screening, client management, equipment fitting and inspection, course inspection and maintenance, high angle rescue and course evacuation, belaying, and, of course, effective public speaking.
Recent Developments
Though canopy traverses began as a tool for scientific inquiry and evolved into a means of showing off the forest to the general public, many courses now are designed first and foremost to provide thrills and excitement. As the Fodor’s online travel site puts it: “There are two basic types of canopy tours: one that gives you a chance to see treetop animals up close; and one that lets you behave like them.”
These days Canopy Tours are often also referred to as Zip Tours, especially when they are not actually located in the forest canopy. Such courses are frequently installed on poles or towers, usually in the middle of a scenic landscape and often as a part of a recreation park or ski resort.
Canopy Tours and Zip Tours have become big business, generating some $120 million in annual revenues in Costa Rica alone. The cruise lines which ply the waters along the Pacific coast and around the Caribbean provide a huge market for expansion and have helped spawn much of the recent construction in the Temperate Rainforest regions of the Alaskan Inland Passage. Ski Resorts increasingly install courses to round out their recreational offerings. Dozens of new tours are likely to begin operation in the next few years.
Where Does Challenge Course Technology Fit In?
A number of arguments can be made for treating Canopy Tour courses as yet another development of the challenge course industry.
Zip lines have always been a powerful element in the repertoire of activities available to adventure educators. They form a part of many a challenge course and are usually guaranteed to provide the “peak experience” so prized by many programmers. Applicable installation techniques and operational practices are published in the current ACCT standards guide. Most other elements (bridges, transfer platforms, overhead belays, rappel stations) included in Canopy Tours and Zip Tours are already covered by those standards, as well. Thus an interconnected series of zip traverses, high bridges, and—in the case of some recently constructed hybrid courses—traditional challenge course elements, is not a new kind of structure but a variation or extension of what is already quite familiar to ACCT members.
At the heart of most challenge course programs are the concepts of the mutually supportive group, the importance of individual contributions, and the value of accepting reasonable risks in order to grow and to learn. As pods of clients move from station to station on a Canopy Tour course, under the supervision of trained guides and facilitators, they all share the common challenge course experience of working through their doubts and fears, including the fear of heights and the fear of letting go. Inevitably they must navigate an inward emotional terrain even as they explore the outward physical landscape.
Of course, the focus of most Canopy Tour and Zip Tour courses is less upon adventure education and more upon environmental awareness or upon high altitude recreation. But this is true of some challenge course and outdoor education programs, as well. Missions and means overlap, but members of the ACCT still move quite freely and quite regularly from one pole to the other, all the while within the realm of challenge course technology.
Where Do Interests Diverge?
On the other hand, many Canopy Tour courses do depart in significant ways from the traditional challenge course model, and arguments can be made that the differences really place them in a category that is outside the mission of the ACCT.
At one end of the spectrum is the Zip Tour which operates solely as an amusement ride, welcoming almost all comers and sending them through a series of zips as if they were riders on a roller coaster with transfer stations along the way. At the other extreme is the moderately paced, strictly educational journey along carefully engineered lines where guides do almost all of the work and participants mainly look, listen, ask questions, and ride. Neither of these less common approaches entails much in the way of self-examination or shared discussion and reflection: common elements of most challenge course experiences.
Such courses, though structurally they may resemble what one expects to find on a challenge course, in practice and in purpose they do not.
Has the Train Already Left the Station?
A brief search of the internet for Central American canopy tours will turn up many websites that proudly proclaim their operations to be ACCT certified and their staff ACCT trained. Many assert compliance with ACCT installation standards. Presumably the operators have availed themselves of the professional services of ACCT members, and those members have in turn applied the familiar standards of their work in the challenge course industry. [Editor’s note: in some cases, claims made by Canopy Tours in countries outside of the US about ACCT affiliation are not correct and should be carefully checked out.]
Insurance companies and risk managers in the cruise line industry are increasingly requiring that new canopy tour operators within the United States demonstrate compliance with what they refer to as ACCT standards. The evidence presented generally takes the form of an inspection report and certificate that refers to current ACCT standards.
As in any fast growing industry, it will take some time until the “dust settles” and it is clear whether the canopy tour industry will continue to ally itself with the challenge course industry, or take off on it’s own.
Written By: David Brassfield and Michael Smith
S.T.E.P.S. and Bonsai Design Launch a New Website for Canopy Tours and Zip Line Tours
Posted 01-26-07
S.T.E.P.S., Inc. is proud to announce the unveiling of its newest website, www.canopy-tours.com, to promote its product and service lines for canopy tours and zip line tours. The website combines the services and products offered by partners S.T.E.P.S. and Bonsai Design.
Based on their successful completion of two canopy tours in Alaska and an extensive canopy tour in Austin, Texas that include two tours, S.T.E.P.S. and Bonsai have expanded their services.
S.T.E.P.S. continues to focus its experience and efforts on program design and development with an emphasis on creating educational experiences that lead to a greater understanding of self and the environment. "Canopy tours provide an opportunity for guests with a wide range of physical abilities to explore a part of the forest otherwise inaccessible," explained Mike Smith, Director of Special Projects. "Courses are built to engage participants physically, mentally, and emotionally. It's a wilderness experience; a personal growth opportunity; and an opportunity for families, and small groups to experience shared adventure together."
Long-time partner Bonsai Design is focused on designing and installing adventure courses that push the leading edge of challenge course design. A strong emphasis is placed on designs that are aesthetic, work well with the environment, and are highly functional.
For more information on canopy tours built by S.T.E.P.S., Inc. and Bonsai Design, or simply to view photos and video, visit www.canopy-tours.com or www.zip-lines.com
Announcing a New Canopy Tour in Juneau, Alaska!
Posted 06-14-06
S.T.E.P.S. Bonsai Design, LLC is proud to announce the completion of a new canopy tour in Juneau, Alaska. The canopy tour is the second opened by Alaska Canopy Adventures in Alaska; the first was in Ketchikan last year.
Alaska Canopy Adventures' new tour consists of 10 Zip Lines, 2 Suspension Bridges and travel by jet boat and off-road vehicles. This eco-adventure canopy tour combines the thrill of gliding above the treetops in a rich rainforest on over 6,000 feet of dual zip lines, suspension bridges, and a ground- based trail network. Plus a channel crossing aboard an expedition craft, mountain ascent on an off-road vehicle, and exploring hidden relics of a world famous gold mine.
Explore Alaska as you cross aerial suspension bridges with breathtaking views of spectacular Bullion Creek, enjoy unique views of Juneau from the tree tops, and discover hidden ruins of the historic Treadwell Mine (1881-1917), once one of the world’s largest gold mines. During the tour you'll zip over one of the famous “glory holes” and explore the ruins of the original mine refinery, where millions of dollars of molten gold was poured into ingot molds.
View photos and video of the Juneau canopy tour at our canopy tour website.
Cypress Valley Canopy Tours Opens a Second Canopy Tour
Posted 04-23-06
Cypress Valley Canopy Tours in Spicewood, Texas will be offering new opportunities to guests this year. The Canopy Tour now feaures a second zip tour named the Canopy Challenge and overnight lodging for couples.
The Canopy Challenge will be available to those who have completed the orginal canopy tour. Guests can choose to complete the Canopy Challenge on a second visit or arrange for a full-day of zipping, completing both courses (a total of 10 zips, 5 wobbly bridges, and 9 ropes course elements. The zips are faster and the challenges more intense. It also provides access to a spectacular part of the canyon that not many get an opportunity to explore.
Announcing a new partnership!
Posted 03-14-06
Long-time Adventure Education Program provider S.T.E.P.S., Inc. has combined forces with our friends at Motor City Challenge. Together we will continue to offer the finest professionally led challenge course programs in Southeast Michigan, and we are now expanding into the Thumb as well.
Clients familiar with our former program sites in northern Oakland and western Wayne counties may be pleased to learn that we now have agreements to operate at a variety of locations throughout the region.
We are very excited about these new arrangements and we invite you to call us to discuss the options best suited to your needs.
You may phone us at 734-971-7470, or visit us on the web: stepscorp.com and mcchallenge.com.
Coming Attractions: Revamped Website Scheduled for Unveiling!
Posted 03-13-06
This spring the S.T.E.P.S., Inc. website is slated for a complete overhaul and updating. A lot has changed at S.T.E.P.S. in the past year and a half: new adventure education and challenge programs in Michigan, new sites, a merger with Motor City Challenge, a new equipment store, and a vastly expanded course construction program that has produced three of the most spectacular Canopy Tours in North America. Our new site will bring you all the details and much more. Check back soon: our brand new site is nearing completion!
Attention Course Managers... It's that time of year again.
Posted 02-13-06
Attention challenge course managers, camp directors, and course owners... It's that time of year again. We would like to remind you to schedule your annual course inspection and challenge course new staff training and/or challenge course refresher training for staff who have already received training. We are currently in the process of lining up inspections and trainings at courses across the company. With notice we can often schedule you along route to other sites and help share the cost of travel expenses.
Prior to giving us a call, it can be helpful to complete a visual walk through of your course, review last years inspection report, examine course equipment logs, and check staff certifications. The information you provide us can help us to ensure that we are prepared for the unexpected when we come out to see you.
If you know your course is in need of more than ordinary maintenance, have experienced severe storms since last use, or spot anything unusual during your visual inspection, please let us know. Digital pictures or descriptions can greatly reduce the time it takes us to help get your course up and running for the spring and summer.
For more information about training and inspections, please contact our corporate office at (734) 288-7286.
S.T.E.P.S. completes construction of canopy tour in Texas.
Posted 07-04-05
S.T.E.P.S. is proud to announce the completion of a canopy tour in Spicewood, Texas, just west of Austin. Built on the Beihlarz Ranch, the canopy tour consists of six zip lines and three sky bridges and provides guests the opportunity to see Texas Hill Country like never before.
Guides are well trained in local ecology and provide a thorough inquiry into the inhabitants, plants, and fauna of the creek and canyon that the tour follows to the Perdenales River.
After the tour, guests can relax on the beach, swim, or drop into the water from a releasable zip or rope swing. For more information on Canopy Tours, Early Morning Birding Tours, Corporate Team Events, or to book a tour for your family or friends, please contact Cypress Valley at (512) 264-8880.
Learn more about Cypress Valley Canopy Tours in Spicewood, Texas.
View photos of Cypress Valley Canopy Tours in our photo gallery.
S.T.E.P.S. completes construction of canopy tour in Alaska.
Posted 05-31-05
S.T.E.P.S. is proud to announce the completion of a canopy tour in Ketchikan, Alaska. The canopy tour provides tourists and locals the opportunity to experience temperate rain forest from eighty to one hundred thirty five feet in the air. With breathe-taking views and abundant wildlife, the tour has created quite a stir Southeastern, Alaska.
A kilometer in length with eight zip traverses and three sky bridges, the course keeps participants air bound throughout. The final zip lands on a 50-foot tower where participants can choose to descend by stair or rappel.
Learn more about the Alaska Canopy Adventure and other adventure tours in Ketchikan Alaska
View photos of the Alaska Canopy Adventure and other canopy tours in our photo gallery
Attention: S.T.E.P.S., Inc. leaves Tamarack Camps, Tamarack Outdoor Education Center, and Butzel Conference Center
Posted 10-04-05
Dear Adventure Challenge Client:
I am writing to let you know that we at S.T.E.P.S. are no longer managing the challenge course programs of the Tamarack Outdoor Education and Butzel Conference centers in Ortonville. As a company we are, however, very much alive and well and will continue to serve our clients at other locations.
Our current agreement with Tamarack, slated to run into June 2005, was abruptly cancelled by the agency’s executive director on Friday, September 24. No explanation was given for this change, but we have heard a number of reports from agency staff that the reason was financial. Tamarack will now dispense with an independent professional manager and use its own employees to run the challenge course programs.
In the fourteen years that S.T.E.P.S. has operated at Tamarack, our programs have consistently received the highest reviews for educational excellence. Our work has been distinguished for the care that we put into tailoring activities and discussions to the special needs and makeup of each individual group.
We have worked especially closely with area schools to integrate adventure challenge into the curriculum, and the lessons learned have often led to profound improvements in students’ treatment of one another and in their responsiveness to teachers. The effectiveness of our programs has stemmed from the large investments we have always made in staff training, retention, and continuing education.
While we were at Tamarack, we built the program from a yearly participation total of fewer than 2,000 into one of the largest in the country, with yearly numbers exceeding 16,000. We will be sad to leave the facilities we built in Ortonville, and we will miss working with our good friends Pat Sharpe and her staff of naturalists. But we are also excited about new opportunities available to us now.
Our agreements with Tamarack
required that we book nearly all of our groups
at their facilities. We are now free to take
our clients elsewhere, and we are already in
talks with several camps and retreat centers
known for their commitment to high quality programs
and customer service. Our goal is to provide
challenge course programming at a number of
locations throughout the region. We will, of
course, continue to offer portable initiatives
programs whenever the client’s own site is the
preferred venue.
We will keep you up to date as things develop.
In the meantime, please call if you have questions
or concerns about the changes. Call if you would
like to arrange a portable on-site pro¬gram
in the near future. And by all means call if
you would like to follow us to a new location.
Sincerely,
David Brassfield, President
S.T.E.P.S. Launches New Website
Posted 01-28-04
S.T.E.P.S., Inc. and Bonsai Design are pleased to announce the launch of a new website, www.ropescourseconstruction.com. The site is due to be 100% up and running by the end of February along with partner site www.stepscorp.com, which is due to be completely re-designed by April 1, 2005. The company has experienced massive growth in the past year, developing new partnerships with other leaders in the industry, creating new programs, and developing new venues. The new websites are just a small part of a much larger growth and branding effort. Web site design and hosting is completed by AdventureSmith, Inc., a long-time partner of S.T.E.P.S., Inc.
S.T.E.P.S., Inc. Merges with Ropes Course Construction Company Bonsai Design
Posted 01-21-04
On January 20, 2004, S.T.E.P.S., Inc., a leader in adventure challenge programming and ropes course management services entered into partnership with Bonsai Design from Scottsdale, Arizona. Formed in 1992, Bonsai Design and owner John Walker have made a name for themselves for high quality, custom ropes courses that provide both high functionality and aesthetic design. "It's an opportunity to bring together the best of both worlds," commented Mike Smith, Director of Projects for S.T.E.P.S., Inc. "John is a master craftsman with the abilities and creativity to bring to life what we as practitioners know makes a safe, functional, and profitable course. Bonsai Design, Inc. has been our builder of choice at our managed sites, including Tamarack Camps, in Ortonville, Michigan for many years. We wouldn't use anyone else."
S.T.E.P.S., Inc. Annoucnces Partnership with Joe Dumars' Fieldhouse
Posted 12-01-03
S.T.E.P.S., Inc. has entered into partnership with the Joe Dumars' Fieldhouse in Shelby Township, Michigan to deliver indoor adventure challenge programs. To learn more about the Fieldhouse, visit www.joedumarsfieldhouse.com.
When Joe Dumars' Fieldhouse opened its high ropes course in January 2003, they knew that it wouldn't be long before they were ready to unveil a teambuilding program to go along with it. "If my name was going to be on it, it had to be the best program in the region," states Joe Dumars. "That was my challenge to our team and they responded." Joe Dumars' Fieldhouse contracted with Dev Pathik of the Challenge Course Advisory out of Tampa, Florida to build a program Joe would be proud of. Dev is known as a leader in the industry having won the prestigious Association of Experiential Education (AEE) Organizational Member of the Year Award amongst many others. He is also one of the most sought after team facilitators anywhere, traveling around the world to conduct seminars and training for some of the world's largest companies. Mr. Pathik thinks that the Fieldhouse is one of the most unique centers for teambuilding anywhere. "The Fieldhouse's physical plant is amazing for this kind of training and with a few tweaks we can make it very hard to beat." Dev also noted that having the nicest physical facility was not enough.
For the Joe Dumars' Team and Leadership Center to be the best it had to couple great physical facilities with great facilitators. The Fieldhouse has entered into a relationship with S.T.E.P.S., Inc. S.T.E.P.S. is one of the most well regarded experiential training organizations in the Midwest with over 17,000 clients every year. "It is our goal that every team who makes an investment in our program feels that the return on that investment was undeniable," remarks Mike Smith from S.T.E.P.S., Inc.
