Ropes Course!
Youth Odyssey has a Ropes Course! Did you know?! The Ropes Course is one of our favorite places to take the kids because of how much it stretches and grows them. A Ropes Course can be very challenging, but also very rewarding. We love to push ourselves as far as we can while relying on each other for encouragement. We stress TEAMWORK!
This past Saturday we took kids from our St. Marks Program to the Ropes Course. It was a fantastic day out in the sun! The kids partook in many activities, and felt accomplished after each activity they conquered. One of our favorite low ropes activities we saw the kids finish our Amazon River Crossing. The kids had to work as a team to traverse across steel cables from pole to pole. Their goal was to make it all the way across! It took tremendous balance and teamwork to make it through this one! The steel cables they went across are equivalent to aircraft carrier cables. They have a tensile strength of 14,400 lbs, which can easily hold your car! Now that's some tough stuff!
Later in the afternoon we started High Element activities. An all-time classic activity is our Rock Wall. Rock Walls are popular at challenge courses because you can do many things with it. Many climbers love to use rock walls to practice their bouldering skills. Bouldering is simply rock climbing, but you only go about 10 feet off the ground. This activity helps rock climbers practice their technique and other skills. With all that said, we mainly use it to climb to the very top! Each of our Rock Walls are supported by a Galvanized Steel Cable, Steel Pulleys, 11mm Dynamic Climbing Rope, and Aluminum Carabiners. The weakest point in the whole system is the carabiners, and they have a tensile strength of about 5,000 lbs (varies by brand)! That is about the same weight as a small car!
Let's Fly!
The Rock Wall wasn't the only cool High Element we did! We also conquered the Two-Line Bridge and the infamous Zip-Line! The Two-Bridge is an obstacle that brings out the nerves, but once we make it through, it's a wonderful feeling. To conquer this behemoth we had to climb up a pole, and traverse across a steel cable to the zip line platform on the other side. Did I forget to mention we are 40 feet up in the air!? The kids did so amazing! To wrap the course up, they went zip lining! This was their favorite part because they could fly through the air!
Bragging Rights
We had an amazing day out in the sun at the Ropes Course! All of the kids gave it their all out there, and had new experiences to brag about with their family and friends! Each ropes course trip we have at Youth Odyssey is different, and many memories were made this day. We look forward to bringing the kids back again!
