WOODINVILLE — Embrace your inner fearless monkey on this jungle gym that’s 50-feet above the ground.
Swing like Tarzan. Sprint across a cable. Or walk a catwalk, the easiest of the 18 elements on the high-wire obstacle course at Adventura Aerial Adventure Park.
Of course, “easy” is relative.
Scared to do any of the above? Don’t be. You are harnessed at all times, and an instructor is there to coach you out of your comfort zone.
“It is built to be demanding, but it’s not physically demanding. It’s mentally demanding,” owner Scott Chreist said.
Those who have braved the course in the past 14 years include blind people, students at a deaf school and 90-year-olds.
Chreist, 48, went to college in New Hampshire for experiential education, specializing in ropes course management. He worked for Outward Bound in Boston and New York City before moving to Seattle.
He opened the Woodinville park in 2002. An expansion that will double the size of the course and number of challenges is expected to ready by June.
The course is conveniently located on the grounds of Redhook Brewery and has a dozen wine tasting partners. This is not the liquid courage to use for motivation. Head there after, not before, you do the adventure course.
To get to the deck you have to climb a tilted 50-foot-tall cargo-net ladder to a platform (where there’s a pillar to hug).
But wait, not so fast.
First you have to get geared up in a harness, hooks and helmet.
Next comes safety school … on the ground. That’s where you get a crash course in how to use the gear and clip onto safety cables.
On the high course deck, participants select their own paths. The course is designed like a ski area with each activity station identified as “green,” “blue” or “black diamond.”
“You have a choice which area you want to go and how hard it can be,” Chreist said. “You make your way through the course at your own pace.”
Elements, with descriptions by Chreist, include:
The railroad: “It looks like a railroad. You walk across it and have nothing to hang onto.”
The Tarzan jump: “Jump, grab a vine and swing across.”
The heebie jeebie: “A cable crossing using ropes with your hands for balance.”
The pirate: “A cable crossing with ropes. You figure out how to crawl across.”
The course is open for public sessions, lasting 2.5 hours, by reservation and for corporate team-building events. Play dates for couples, with a wine tasting, start June 1.
As an online reviewer put it: “It’s you versus your fears.”
It’s not over when you reach the top.
You get down by zipline.
Andrea Brown at 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
If you go
Adventura Aerial Adventure Park, 14300 Northeast 145th St., Woodinville; 866-981-8665; adventuraplay.com.
The rules:
For ages 7 and older. Children 12 and younger are required to climb with an adult.
Weigh between 65 and 250 pounds.
Consumption of alcohol before climbing is not allowed.
Must sign a liability release agreement.
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