Kohala Zipline swings into action this month with a new pure tree experience, the Kohala Canopy Adventure. This thrilling aerial trek captivates and challenges your senses while leaving you feeling you have accomplished something you may have never dared to try before. Built on two decades of award winning guided adventures, Hawaii Forest & Trail delivers this nature-based elevated inspiration with style. The canopy course design is a tree-to-tree experience that features 5 elevated suspension bridges, 14 soaring tree platforms, 9 thrilling ziplines and 2 rappels.
Kohala Zipline
World Class Canopy Course Builders Working in Harmony with Nature The Kohala Canopy Adventure embraces the captivating beauty and history of Kohala’s Halawa Gulch with platforms built in towering trees that connect each zipline and allow guests to absorb the trainquility of a meandering stream, ancient taro fields and the forest floor below. These eight dual-cable, single-rider and one dual-cable tandem rider ziplines were constructed by a team of expert canopy course builders from Colorado and Costa Rica.
The platforms and elevated sky bridges use lumber milled from trees on site with minimal impact to the forest. “The serenity and natural beauty of this site really speaks for itself. Leaving as much of the canopy intact to create a nature based tour was our biggest challenge and we’re really excited about the outcome of this project. It is one of the highest quality sites I’ve had an opportunity to work on,” states Victor Gallo, Co-Founder of Adventure Playground, and Site Construction Manager for Kohala Zipline. “We wanted to honor the site by having as little disturbance as possible among these 100 year old trees.”
Kohala Zipline
State-of-the-Art
Along with creating an aerial trekking course that raises the bar on adventure tours, Kohala Zipline installed the latest safety features available today. Beginning with redundant attachment points throughout the trek, guests also enjoy being guided by professionally certified Zipline Guides, showing that safety is truly a priority.
Kohala Ziplines
Kohala Zipline uses a twin line cable system with two trolleys, one secured on the top line and one secured on the bottom line. Each line is constructed of aircraft-grade galvanized steel and coated with a proprietary polymer blend that reduces line noise by more than 50%. Kohala Zipline is Hawaii’s only course to use WhisperLinesSM, which allows guests to hear the distinctive sounds of the forest rather than line noise.
“Our guests feel really safe and comfortable being able to utilize the customized ‘participant control system’ for braking rather then the typical gravity brake other operators employ. This improved system allows the riders to control speed and orientation, making them true participants in their adventure, not simply along for the ride,” says Rob Pacheco, co-founder of Kohala Zipline. And, like other state-of-the-art safety systems found throughout the adventure, the redundant guide operated braking system is always in place in the event the rider needs assistance coming to a safe and smooth stop.
Kohala Zipline equipment
The Kohala Canopy Adventure takes guests from 8 years to 80 years old on a 3 hour adventure into a natural wonderland where riders are initiated with a short-course zipline that allows time for individual training in technique, proper positioning, hand braking and movement from platform to platform. As participants continue through the aerial course, ziplines increase in length and speed, ranging from about 110 feet to the memorable 1,100 foot course finale; a dual-rider, side-by-side zipline that stretches out over the Kohala Ditch flume some 75 feet below. By the time the rider’s feet are back on solid ground, nearly a mile will have passed underneath.
For more information or to book a Kohala Canopy Adventure call Kohala Zipline at 808-331-3620 or visit www.kohalazipline.com.
Filed under: aloha, Announcements, Big Island, Entertainment, Environment, Hawaii, Something New?, Tourism | Tagged: Hawaii Forest & Trail, Kohala Canopy Adventure, Kohala Ziplines, Rob Pacheco, Zip-line, Ziplines on the Big Island | Leave a comment »
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