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Ness Lake camp adds rope challenge course |
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Written by MYRISSA KRENZLER
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 |
Jillian Berry, 11, starts out on the tightrope that is part of the new challenge course at the Ness Lake Bible Camp. (Citizen photo by David Mah)
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Camp Director Paul Bailey said the course has been very popular with campers.
"They love it," he said. "This is the first camp that we're using it with kids. We've done a few dry runs and training, but this is the first time we're operating it for our campers."
The $50,000 course is best described as an obstacle course 14-ft to 30-ft above the ground. "Kids get harnessed up and then they climb and they go from tree to tree, basically on steel cables," Bailey said.
There are 17 stations participants go through to reach the end of the course. One station, known as The Serpent, consists of at 30-foot mesh tube campers jump into and wiggle their way out of. "It's almost like a Chinese finger trap," Bailey said. He said Ness Lake is the only place that has The Serpent in Canada.
The camp has been fundraising for the course for five years. Bailey said the Downtown Rotary Club donated $25,000 and the rest was donated by four local businesses. The course was installed by Adventureworks! Associates, a company based in Ontario.
Use of the course will be limited to intermediate (ages 10 to 13) and teen camps (ages 13 to 17) and staff. Bailey said children in the junior (ages seven to 11) and squirt camps (ages six to nine) are too young to be using it.
High rope challenge courses are used for teamwork, communication, and training exercises.
"They're great for looking at trust issues," Bailey said. "They're really good at bonding a group together." But he said campers and staff like it because it's fun. "And at camp sometimes you need no other reason," he said.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 July 2008 )
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