New zipline is 'exhilarating'

You might flail your arms or pump your legs, but that won’t get you any closer to the ground as you zip 25 to 70 feet in the air through the treetops. But don’t worry, you’ll be strapped in a harness and guides are there to send you on your way and catch you. The Beanstalk Journey zipline adventure park has been open for a month and beckons daredevils and sloths alike. The attraction had a soft opening during the Red, White and Bluegrass Festival and drew up to almost 200 participants that Saturday and Sunday, Operations Manager TJ Weller said. Since then, business is slowly building up as news of the course spreads.

The Beanstalk Journey consists of 15 treehouses connected with bridges, ziplines and ladders. Two guides lead groups of up to eight through the 2.5-hour tour. Adding some local flavor, each treehouse, bridge and zip is named after locations in the Linville Gorge. Safety’s a main concern as the guides repeatedly go through the same process to hook participants to tethers, to themselves and to the ziplines. Each guide went through a four-day training session on the course, Weller said. Afterward, the guides had to take a practical exam to demonstrate their skills and a written exam. The course starts with a climb through the Giant’s Chair, a netted rope bridge, and a climb up a treehouse. There the path diverges, as it often does, to two suspended wood-planked bridges or to a rope bridge and wood bridge. The first zip makes or breaks adventurers, Operations Manager Tyler Barnhardt said. Participants can be lowered to the ground from treehouses, but the trip down seems more frightening than finishing the course. And don’t worry, the guides won’t leave you hanging in mid-air if you don’t make it across the zipline, Barnhardt said. Rescues are part of guides’ training. The course culminates with the “520,” a 520-foot long scream-inducing zipline that starts 70-feet in the air on the course’s highest treehouse. Participants are greeted with a mouthful of air and a widely padded landing platform before they are lowered back onto solid ground.

On Friday, 6-year-old Michael Barnhardt III of Huntersville took the tour in stride and at the end said he wasn’t scared at all. The pint-sized participant eagerly greeted each zipline, whether on his own or in tandem with his father. Michael Barnhardt III said the hardest part of the course was climbing through the rope bridge, but the best part was zipping along the 520 with his grandfather. Michael Barnhardt I agreed with his grandson that the 520 was the highlight of the tour. Everything else was just “a warm up to the big finale,” Michael Barnhardt I said. “I think (the journey) was just great. Good, clean fun. Exhilarating, too.” One tour just wasn’t enough either, both grandfather and grandson are ready for a second trip through the trees.

By Julie n. Chang
Published: August 01, 2010

News Herald Morganton