Friday, April 11, 2008

Zipline training


Above : making the most of the (slightly) lighter evenings

With the daylight hours now starting to creep further into the evenings, Bob took advantage and held a zipline training session for some of the staff on the Monday. Roped activities are assessed yearly by the site's technical adviser, and it was a good opportunity to brush up on technique before they happen again in the next month or two.

4 staff turned up - Colin (Coco), Neil, Barrie and Scott (Ginga). After half an hour in the office going over all the equipment (and checking the kettle was still working), the team headed up to the zipline to make the most of the remaining light. The zipline platform itself is not the roomiest of places, so it was only possible for 2 at a time to climb up and practice setting everything up.


Above : Coco helps Barrie with his escapology act

After a highly productive hour or so, the light started to fade quickly and it was time to make a quick exit, making sure that no equipment was left lying around for the squirrels to play with. Ginga had made a rather hasty retreat from the top platform after complaining of feeling ill, but luckily made it safely to the ground without any major incident.



Above : Coco deep in thought.


Above : Ginga downclimbs briskly after feeling slightly ill at the top.

The staff are planning several other training sessions over the next few weeks for the zipline and other activities such as the Jacob's ladder - and there are also plans to get some exciting headcam footage of most of the activities which will no doubt make its way onto the blog soon (previous plans to upload first-person-footage of the challenge course had to be cancelled when Callum fell off the easiest obstable, ruining the video and almost ruining the headcam...)