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After watching Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Sean Connery fly between buildings, trees and mountains, and then personally flying 35,000 feet on eight Costa Rican Canopy Zipline Tours, the Captain Zipline concept was hatched by owner/operator Monty Holmes. In 2005, Monty found 25 acres of rugged canyon property near Salida, Colorado and declared it to be “home” for his Colorado zipline attraction.
Since then, ziplines have gone up all over the world. In spite of this proliferation, we still have a world-class attraction that is hard to surpass in the U.S.A. Colorado-style natural beauty and stature just can’t be beat…nor duplicated, for that matter! Read more about this thrilling, cutting-edge sport that just about anyone can do in this article from The Mountain Mail or on our media page.
The Long Road
Given that Monty had worked in the custom residential and commercial design-construction industry for over 30 years, the development and construction of an industrial-quality zipline cable system was supposed to be easy …
NOT!
There were hard-to-find engineers and several “cable guys” working in the electrical transmission line industry involved in the project, but these guys built spans to move electrons—which have no weight—rather than people (who have weight, both physical and legal as well as lawyers to consult with).
Many hours of research, consultation, design, and re-design were expended during this initial phase. Our guy wire and anchor systems were tested to 5,000 pounds with a dynamometer. Slope, sag, take-off and landing specifications were determined and field-tested by trial-and-error. A “crash dummy” (the owner) was employed to test the first cable runs. He later commented that it was a real thrill to take off and wonder what was going to happen at the other end!
Equipment research proved easy, and our local outdoor sporting goods store provided the gear. Guides were a little harder to come by. Our local rock climbing buddies seemed to fit the bill, and after being trained by a former NAVY SEAL, we had ourselves a group of fine guides indeed! We now have more than a dozen trained professional guides who work subcontracting their services.
A new addition was installed in 2009, dubbed “The Adrenaline Cable” for obvious reasons. It stretches almost 700 feet across the canyon floor, some 150-200 feet below. For 2011, we have added "The Intimidator Run," which has a dramatic drop off the platform edge and is our most scenic cable zip to date.
