Well friends, your patience has paid off!
We held off the announcement until construction was complete, but we are now thrilled to inform you that the Bar Lazy J is officially the proud home of a brand new zip lining adventure! Last week a professional crew all the way from North Carolina worked for 3 days around the clock to bring this new attraction to life and what they accomplished was a 1500 foot angled drop across the Colorado River from our upper pasture down into the valley. And when we say it’s incredible—that’s an understatement!
Here’s a peek at the construction!
It started with a lot (I mean a LOT) of digging to make holes for the main posts—they don’t call these the Rocky Mountains for nothing! That’s Dale there in the Bobcat working on loosening up the rock. Then it was up with the poles!
The next step was setting up the “training” zip area where folks will get instruction on the do’s and don’ts of safe zip lining. A demo zip line running between the two platforms you see here up top is where riders will get to familiarize themselves with anything they need to know in advance. As always, safety is #1 with us!
Once the bottom pole in the lower pasture was set and secured, then came the task of running the heavy wire rope from the top to the bottom. And across the river meant…….SOMEONE was getting wet! Not sure those NC boys ever swam in a river that cold before, but they got it done while the guys up top unraveled the spool until they got it to its destination on the other side. That’s some long, heavy rope!
Then it was time to winch it tight to the right height—it had to be just perfect!
Check out the view from the top. The end of the line is on the far side of that bottom pasture!
And here it is from below—you can just see those top posts way up on the ridge. Now don’t fret about the “landing zone”—you don’t just run into this pole. Although effective at stopping you, that’s not the plan. We’ll get to “the plan” in a minute.
“The plan” is apparently optional for trained professionals who need only a gloved hand to manipulate their speed on the wire. So as soon as the wire was up, they took a few trial runs to test the height, speed, and do some “hedge-clipping” (aka: tree-topping) of any obstructing plant material. (We are grateful for that part.)
With a loss of momentum, he then needed a to be “ponied” to the end of the line. This made us laugh a bit. Looked just like the lead-arounds we do with the Buckaroos! (Minus the horse…..)
But once the lines were all set and the tension just right, it was time to build the lower “landing” platform and add the braking system (alternately called: “the plan” for not colliding with the bottom pole). After that there was just this one teeeeny tiny thing left to do…….
Give it a full test run!
And who else would get that honor, but Jerry himself!
So there you have it folks! Our big secret is out!
This weekend six of our staff will undergo 2 days of complete training to become certified operators and instructors and then the zip line will be up and running! We are very excited to have another thrilling adventure to offer our guests here at the ranch, and while we are still working out the details of how we’ll be incorporating it into the ranch program (no—sorry—we ruled out zip-lining directly onto the back of your horse….we apologize for dashing anyone’s hopes), we still wanted to let you know it was here! We knew you’d be as excited as we are. It’s an adrenaline rush for thrill-seekers both young and old!
Now hurry back so you can give it a try!
3 comments:
Do you provide helmets that look like cowboy hats! You guys never cease to amaze and astound us as you provide the perfect western ranch vacation with views from every angle!
My friend Judith just went all the way to Costa Rica for a scenic zip lining experience. She definitiely should have waited and come to the ranch instead!
Matt is going to be thrilled! Me on the other hand will work to overcome my fear of heights. How fun this will be. Never would have guessed this!
Post a Comment