Alpine Coaster and Zip Line

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swalker

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CO
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Vail
The day before we left for our trip to Yellowstone I had the opportunity to ride Vail's alpine coaster and zip line.

I had been invited to do so by the folks at Vail Resorts. They operate what is essentially an amusement park at the top of Vail called Adventure Ridge. There are many attractions including tubing, rock climbing, trampolines, canopy tour and zip line.

New for this year is the alpine coaster. It is essentially a rollercoaster on a mountain. It took an act of congress (literally) to authorize Vail Resorts to build the alpine coaster.

I had been hoping to take them up on the invitation all summer, but the weather and my travel schedule did not permit me to do so. The very last opportunity to do it was September 10, the day before we left for our four-week trip to Yellowstone.

I am so glad I was able to do this. The folks were absolutely amazing. They offered me unlimited rides (for free;)). Both the alpine coaster and the zip line were hard on my body, so I only did two rides on each.

I went solo on my first ride on the alpine coaster. You have to press handles forward to release the brakes and I had trouble doing that, so my speed was pretty limited. On the second ride, a staff member went with me and held the brakes release levers down for the whole ride. Now, that was a lot of fun!

The zip line was great. I have done a lot of technical mountain and rock climbing, so was pretty familiar with being in a climbing harness. They put one on me, hooked me to the zip line, and sent me off. It was great. There were 60 steps to descend at the tower at the bottom of the zip line. No worry, it is ADA compliant. That means there is a trap door in the floor of the tower. They simply clipped my climbing harness into some lowering apparatus and lowered me through that trap door.

What a blast. I truly appreciate what the folks at Vail Resorts have done for me. They have been so incredible. From skiing, to keeping me company on my wheelchair journeys, to rescuing me when I have gotten in over my head, to arranging this wonderful excursion. Who could ask for more?

Here are some pictures from that wonderful day.

Steve
 

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Wow Steve...so exciting for you. Thank you for the pics. Steve and I have zip lined in North Carolina and St Lucia. So much fun. How I wish we could go one last time together. Your pics made me happy. Thanks so much and so very happy for you!
 
Wow what a wonderful story and such adventures!

Thank you so much for sharing it with us, I needed your stories and images this morning and I'm sure that's true for so many others :)
 
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