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Flying Squirrel Canopy Tour Now Open
-- The ‘Squirrel’ takes flight for Summer 2010 -- Wisp Resort in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, continues to expand on their already long list of recreational adventure activities offered through the Wisp Outdoors program. Wisp Resort is proud to announce the opening of the new Flying Squirrel Canopy Tour, located above the Wisp Outdoors Adventure Park. The new guided canopy tour is $39 per person and reservations are recommended. The Flying Squirrel Canopy Tour is open daily during summer season from 10:00am – 7:00pm. This new participatory guided tour is a combination of a challenge course and zip line.
Phoenix Experiential Designs of Linville, NC was contracted to engineer and construct the guided canopy tour. Construction began on April 26, 2010 and after two months of construction, testing and training, on June 28, 2010, the Flying Squirrel Canopy Tour was passed by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulations, who work closely with Wisp Resort on the Chairlift and Mountain Coaster operations. Wisp Resort’s General Manager, Tim Prather, was among the first to try the newly constructed guided tour, “I thought it was going to be fairly tame but, oh man, it is NOT! I felt like an eagle landing on a postage stamp.”
The Flying Squirrel Canopy Tour begins with gear preparation at the Wisp Outdoors Adventure Building. Two Wisp Outdoors Adventure Guides will outfit up to eight guests per tour each with a climbing harness, two safety tethers, a micro-trolley, safety helmet and gloves. The Adventure Guides will escort participants up the Bear Claw Conveyor Carpet to the practice area where guests will learn how to brake, steer and zip along the cables. The canopy tour starts with a scurry up the cargo net feature to the first platform. Once secured onto the 12-ft high platform, a 160-ft zip will transport guests to the next challenge – a Burma Bridge. Participants will navigate the 3-point rope bridge carefully to the next platform and prepare for the second zip over 150-ft of cable. A Plank Bridge, with a few strategically missing planks, must be crossed carefully to set up for the third zip of 180-ft to the ‘Eagle’s Nest’ platform. The ‘Eagle’s Nest’ is the highest point of the canopy tour, towering at over 40-ft high with a view of McHenry Cove on Deep Creek Lake. Guests will then face the tour’s longest zip of 400-ft across the Bear Claw Tubing Hill onto the seventh platform, known as ‘Mallard’s Landing’. A final zip of 400-ft back across the tubing hill will place guests onto the ‘Leap of Faith’ platform where the only place to go is down. After a deep breath, guests will ease themselves off the 30-ft high platform back down to solid ground to complete the Flying Squirrel Canopy Tour!
Tips for Canopy Touring:
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