New Sport Adds Zip To Whistler

Careering across a mountain valley while dangling from a steel cable is part for the course when ziptrekking, the newest adventure sport in B.C.'s biggest resort area

Hold the safety line. Sit down in the harness. Raise your legs. You're off!"

With those orders from my smiling guide, I am indeed off -- off a platform and careering across a mountain valley, dangling from a steel cable, and not a very thick one at that.

As the scenery flashes by, I look down -- way down -- at a rushing river and huge rocks. Never having had a fondness for heights, I ask myself: "What the hell am I doing here?"

Zipping along at a ridiculous speed (up to 80 kilometres an hour), my eye catches what a moment ago appeared to be a distant platform on the other side of the valley.

Now, it is looming large. I grit my teeth in preperation for a crash landing, but an ingenious braking system stops me dead (thankfully, not literally). Hands reach out to pull me onto the platform and unhook me from the zipline. I heave a sigh of relief.

I have just survived my first try at ziptrekking, the latest high mountain, pulse-pounding adventure sport to hit Whistler, B.C. In winter, skiing and snowboarding rule Whistler and Blackcomb, two towering peaks laced with spectualcular ski runs. But in the warmer months, the area buzzes with adventure sports such as mountain biking, white-water rafting, bungee jumping -- and now ziptrekking.

Entrepreneurs David Udow and his lifelong friend Charles Steele, both thirtysomething Winnipeg transplants with technology backgrounds, brought the sport to Whistler. Inspiration for developing the activity there came from another friend who is a tree research scientist.

"He told us over a beer that zip lines areused to get around when doing forest research. That planted the seed for us," Udow says, adding that they are used extensively for getting around in the rain forests of Costa Rica. (Other ski hills are getting in on the action. Ontario's Blue Mountain, near Collingwood, Ont., is offering a similar operation this summer.)

Udow says it took two years of planning and "more money than most realize" to start the business, called Ziptrek Ecotours, which is now in its second year of operation.

The ziptrek complex inclues eight platfroms and four cables extending across the valley between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. One of the cables, 335 metres in length, provides the longest zipline ride in the world. Forest footpaths connect the platforms.

Udow says that despite the newness of his business, there have been some memorable moments. One day, just as a young lady was launching herself off a platform, her boyfriend yelled, "Will you marry me!"

Once she had "landed" on the other side, she radioed back on the tour guide's walkie-talkie.

"Yes!" was the reply, much to the delight of her boyfriend -- as well as the applauding group around him.

But ziptrekking is more than just a good time on a zip line.

"We wanted to create a business that teaches people, as well as providing a good time," Udow explains.

He says that although some customers do get cold feet and refuse to go through with the experience, others with a lifelong fear of heights lose that phobia through ziptrekking.

I hope that I'm one of them.

My wife Pat and I are part of a group of 10 ziptrekkers on this hot summer day. Our guide, Jeremy Hazel is not only eager to send us off down the zip lines, he is also eager to tell us about our unique surroundings as we walk from one ziptrek platform to another.

On one side of the valley is a 100-year-old "new growth" forest, now becoming well-established after being logged early in the 20th century. On the other is a rare 10,000-year-old "old growth" rain forest.

Here, Hazel points out claw marks on the bark of some of the forest giants, which stretch into the clear blue skies. This is bear country, Hazel reminds us, and the animals mark the trees to stake out their territory. Bear sightings are common here, he says, as we stroll along the path. Is all this chatter supposed to be putting me at ease?

Hazel also points out the unique ecology of the area, from the huge red cedars and Douglas firs to tiny saplings growing out of rotting "nurse tree" trunks, not to mention the elusive forest animals.

We reach the last platform on our four-zip journey across the valley. It's time to climb up, shackle up, and drop off the platform -- this time, backward.

"Three points for this one," Hazel says with a now-familiar smile. "One point for jumping off backward, one for letting go of the safety line, and one for going across the valley upside down."

Clutching my camera, with lenses stuffed in my pockets, I decide to comply. After all, I have survived the experience unscathed, so far, and it's amazing what adrenaline can do.

The Globe and Mail, Brian Case, May 15 2004

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