Zipping is zip-tastic

When I was smaller, I was afraid of heights. I don't really know, it was sort of an irrational fear I suppose. As I got older, I wasn't as scared and recently, I think I may have just conquered that fear...because I went ziplinging! There is a zipline course in Peachland, about 30 minutes away from Kelowna, and my sister and I went there during her visit.

The first thing we saw when we got to the course was the plunging canyon. We chose this particular zipline, ZipZone Adventure, specifically because it was going to be over a canyon. Go big or go home right? We wanted a thrill and we wanted to be zipping hundreds of feet in the air as opposed to ten feet off the ground. After a brief tutorial, our leaders took us out to the first zipline. There wasn't even any coaching or coaxing, it was like, just do it.

The first step was the hardest. The guy hooked me up onto the lines and said I was good to go. I hesitated for about five seconds. The thoughts running through my head: what if I die, did he actually secure me on nice and tight, holy crap I'm going to be hundreds of feet in the air above a canyon...And then I thought, screw it, just go. That step into nothingness was awesome! When I get scared, I laugh because I think instinctively I don't really know what else to do so about a fourth of the way into it, I just burst into laughter and I didn't stop until I got to the end. The ride there was amazing, I was just twisting and turning my head all around because I wanted to see how high I was and what was around me (lots of trees and rocks obviously).

There were six lines in total and they just criss cross the canyon. There is a little bit of hiking in between the lines but for the most part, everything is close together. I think we were probably zipping for about 2 minutes total because each line took about 20 seconds each to cross. So in actuality, you're zipping for very little. You spend more time walking to the lines, waiting for the leaders to get set up and then waiting for everyone else to zip. The lines get really similar by the third one, which is why I think they decided to mix things up a bit for the fourth line: upside down zip! That was probably my favourite one: you start normally but then you kick your legs up and cross them in front of your harness and then you're upside down! Having this new challenge definitely brought the adrenaline and nervousness back into the game and it was awesome!

I don't know if I would do it again because it is a lot of money but if I were to, I would make sure I try zipping with a running start and then another one with a big jump right off the top. That would definitely keep things interesting.

Other things I learned? The word "zip" should be used often:

- zip-tastic

- zip-tacular

- zip on

- zipping

- get your zip on