Way up high in Germany's climbing parks
Found at airy heights, Germany boasts some 400 climbing parks. And these leisure facilities are becoming ever more popular - maybe because they seamlessly combine sports and fun with character- and team building.
Fear of heights not welcome
The one thing all of these high rope courses, climbing gardens and forest climbing crags have in common is their height. Low rope courses are to be found an average six meters above the ground, but high courses can be at a dizzying height of 20 meters. Before you clamber up the rope ladder, though, there is one thing that takes precedent at all times.
Safety first
Climbing harnesses, helmets and sometimes gloves are an absolute 'must have' if you want to complete a high rope course. There are two basic ways to secure yourself: either by yourself using carbines or by applying the top-rope method, so it is your climbing partner who secures you and vice-versa. In this case, team work is paramount.
Keeping your nerve on the pendant bridge
Put your helmet on, make sure you have your carbine ready and off you go. Without the help of a trainer or climbing partner - more or less on your own - you can easily manage to cross a wooden pendant bridge which stretches between two platforms. In a high rope climbing garden this is an easy obstacle to manage, as in a place like this things can be a lot more extreme and dangerous.
Finding your own center of gravity
Historically, the most simple form of a bridge is a single rope that has been tied between two points. In the high rope garden, history catches up with you. When crossing the simple suspension bridge it is essential to find your own center of gravity to keep the unpleasant wobbling to a minimum . Now, do you want an even greater thrill?
Time to play Tarzan
Whenever a simple suspension bridge connects two points that are at different heights, the bridge turns into a slide - a rope slide. Being held by only a climbing harness this high-speed segment of the high rope course promises a big adrenalin rush. Often this is the crowning finish to a high rope course.
The flying car
Those who run high rope gardens rely increasingly on tourism - and they spare no cost or work to ensure that their park stands out from the rest. To pull in the crowds, management come up with ever new ideas, like the adventure park Moritzburg near Dresden, where the operators decided to suspend an East German Trabant car high up in the trees. But this kind of gimmick comes at the expense of …
Team work
…the adventure park team building aspect. Of the around 400 high rope gardens in Germany, very few are team climbing parks. Here under the leadership of a trainer, people learn to work as a group. The message is very clear: we can only be strong as a team!
Out of the woods and into the city
High rope courses over the past few years have moved into the cities. The high rope garden MountMitte in Berlin is an impressive outdoor steel construction that boasts some 100 climbing stations on an area of just 1,000 square meters – working vertically is the magic here.
Climbing over the river Elbe
The first and only floating high rope climbing garden can be found in Hamburg on board the museum freighter 'Cap San Diego.' Here the challenges include climbing up the 16 meter high pilot ladder. And when you've climbed out on to the thin steelrope which connects the two masts some 30 meters above the water level, you are rewarded with a fabulous view of the harbor and the river Elbe.