Austria 5/25: The Ropes Course in the Alps

Rain was forecasted for the early evening, and the tops of the mountains were smothered in clouds. A bad day to take a gondola for a view, so Dad took us to a ropes course in Hinterglemm. 

After twenty minutes of driving, we reached a small clearing in the mountains. We looked, with curious excitement, at wooden beams and thick ropes hanging from tall pine trees. More than 8 kilometers of ziplines, ladders, and other classic ropes course elements were spread out across the wooded park, making it the largest ropes course in Europe. 

The admission fare was 33 euros per person, roughly $40 when you round up. My little brothers all tried it out, and so did my mom, my dad, both of my uncles, and one of my aunts. We were all skeptical of Dad’s enthusiastic plans to join us but decided to leave all judgements up to our ropes course trainer. Despite ataxia, Dad managed to get along really well. He took a long time when he had to cross ropes but did ziplines and ladders without much trouble. We asked him about it and he said it wasn’t so bad because he was already used to putting a lot of thought into his movement. 

 Our trainer was a senior staff member who was originally from Ireland. He said he’d worked there for 3 or 4 years and had built a bunch of the courses. 

 I went on the easiest ropes courses first, right behind T. Rex. He was slow at first, but I wouldn’t help him clip and unclip his harnesses. I made him work with the clips himself. By the end of the day, he had everything down so well, he could finish a ropes course faster than our mom. 

 Once, when I was climbing a ladder underneath him, he dropped one of his carabiners and whacked me in the head.

 “T. Rex, you just dropped your carabiner and whacked me in the head!” I said. He shrugged. 

 “That’s why you’re wearing a helmet.” 

 When we were up in the ropes course, we had a good view of the rest of the pine forest and could always see one or two creeks running below us. Every time we took a zipline, though, the trees opened up and we could see the rocky snow tipped mountains that surrounded us. Water from the melted snow made countless waterfalls of all different sizes. 

 My favorite part about the ropes courses were the challenging way they made me think. All the courses were physically taxing, but when I got to the harder courses, I realized I wasn’t strong enough to complete some of the elements by sheer physical ability. I had to stop and analyze until I found an approach I’d be able to take. 

 We all enjoyed the experience, and decided to go back next weekend.