Challenge Course Challenge

This past week we started our challenge course training.  Quite a bit of what we did at first was book work.  It is important to understand all the rules and policies concerning the challenge courses -safety is the number one concern.  On Thursday; however, we took to the outdoors on our ATV's and visited each of the challenge courses here at HVC.  There are five challenge courses (cc).   Each cc consists of six low activities and one high activity.  The high course activity allows the individual to build confidence in a challenging but safe environment.  Each cc is manned by four missionary couples who have been certified by CLAS ropes to conduct these challenges.  When the YW are in camp, the low activities are conducted by the YW leaders who have been trained by the missionaries.  When families or other groups are in camp, the low activity courses are conducted by the missionaries.  Each group has the use of one 3 hour challenge course session while they are in camp.  The challenge course assignments are made by the Young Women's Camp Committee.

Challenge Course #1 - The high challenge for this course consists of climbing a swinging pole, traversing a 2-line cable and then zipping down.  I don't have a picture of this course because it was still under too much snow and we weren't able to reach it yet.

Challenge Course #2 - In this high challenge, participants climb a pole, walk across a log and then zip down.

This is the high challenge on course #2.  The participant is put into a

harness and hooked onto a belay line held by an Elder.  They then climb a pole on the right

 (not in the picture), walk across the pole towards the eagles nest (pictured on the left) where a

Sister missionary is waiting to unhook them from the belay line and onto the zip line.  The

participant then zips down off the eagles nest where two more missionaries (an

Elder and a Sister) are waiting to unhook them from the zip line and help them get down.

This was the trail down to Challenge Course #2.  As you can see,

the first ATV in line got stuck in the snow.  It took several Elders, but they

finally got them unstuck so that the rest of us could follow.  Once

the trail was blazed through the snow, it was no problem for the

rest of us to get through.

Challenge Course #3 - In this high challenge participants climb a cargo net and then traverse a swinging foot bridge to the eagles nest where they zip down.

This is Challenge Course #3.  The cargo net will be hooked into anchors on
the ground in front of the pole on the right and then anchored again on top. The
zip line from this eagles nest is the longest of any on the challenge courses.

Challenge Course #4 - Participants on this challenge climb a pole and traverse a cable using dangling ropes.  Once they reach the eagles nest, they zip down.

Here is a picture of the high challenge on course #4.  One
climbs the pole on the right, walks across the cable to the eagles nest,
then zips down.

This is one of the lower challenges in course #4.  It is called "The Wall".

The object of this challenge is for everyone in a particular group or family to start

 on this side of the wall and get everyone safely over the top and down the other side.

Challenge Course #5 - the high challenge for this course is a giant swing.

This is Challenge Course #5.  

The participant is put into a harness and hooked to a belay rope with a munter knot.

The belayer (an Elder) then pulls the participant up to the black square

shown in the picture below.  The participant lets go of the munter knot and swings

through the two poles shown above towards the aspen tree at the end.  Estimated

speed is about 35-40 miles per hour.  Children under 8 are only pulled

up half way, and there is a full harness for toddlers so they can

experience the swing as well (they are not even pulled up half way).

  I guess it is quite a rush, but the favorite of many.

Can you see that black square near the top of the tree?

That is how far the belayer pulls the participant for a full swing.

As I stated before, the missionaries facilitate the high challenge courses.  The Elders are the belayers and also work the ladder at the bottom of the zip lines.  The Sisters have many more duties that the Elders because the Elders are not allowed to touch the YW.  Sisters help the YW into their harness, hook them to the belay rope, sit in the eagles nest so they can encourage them across (which means the Sisters are hooked to a belay line, climb the pole and walk across the challenge to get to the eagles nest where they stay for 3 hours at a time  - can you hear my heart pounding?)  The Sisters then unhook the YW from the belay rope and onto the zip line.  There is also a Sister working with the Elder at the end of the zip line to unhook the YW and help them down the ladder.

The Challenge Course is going to be challenging to say the least, but it provides the most interaction with the Young Women and families who visit Heber Valley Camp.  We are excited for this new "challenge".