Zipline
Participants are asked to ascend either a tree or rock platform as they are belayed up. They are then hooked into a multiple pulley system that rides on cables above their heads, and leap from the platform and zip down to the end below.
Objectives and Outcomes
* Participants experience the exhilaration of confronting a terrifying challenge as they discover the inner strength and team support to break through their fear, let go, and leap.
* Participants experience the power of being able to stop automatic responses to stressful situations,
challenge their fears and self-imposed 'boxes' they live in, and choose to step beyond those boundaries.
* Fear shifts to exhilaration as participants leap from the platform. The impact of this positive , risk taking experience encourages the participants to view future challenges as opportunities and adventures, rather than dangers or threats.
The Wall
All teams work together to get everyone over a 14-foot, vertical, blank wall.
Objectives and Outcomes
* The day is brought to a dramatic close as the team comes together to experience the remarkable power and peak performance generated when empowered learning teams join in a collaborative effort.
* At the base of the wall, teams encounter a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, which can symbolize the barriers the organization must face and overcome together. Getting the entire team over the wall can be a significant emotional event which will serve as a reminder during future challenges of the power of a team.
* All learnings and themes of the day are brought together and utilized - serving to impel participants into making the shift from "Me to We."
The Pole
Participants climb a 30 foot high pole, balance on top, and turn to leap for a trapeze.
They are then lowered to the ground in their safety system.
Objectives and Outcomes
* Participants who ordinarily "Play not to Fail" when confronted with difficult challenges find the group support necessary to confront their fears, discover their courage, and "Play to Succeed".
* Participants who do not perform optimally in a traditional, competitive environment, experience the reduction of performance anxiety and the enhanced performance achieved within a supportive team environment.
* "Lone Ranger" participants, not ordinarily supportive of their team , experience the exhilaration of watching others pursue and overcome goals that appear unattainable.
* Participants who do not make it to the top of the pole or "reach the trapeze" but who clearly push beyond their comfort zone, experience the power of "going as far as I can using 100%effort."
* Participants experience the techniques of "Focus/ Breathe/ and Choose"- a tool used for making conscious choices based upon fact, rather than upon irrational fears or habits.
* Encouraged by their dramatic memory of their success on the pole, participants overcome even greater challenges at work and in their daily lives.
Trust Falls
Participants climb up a low ladder to a 6 foot high platform and fall backwards into their teams upraised arms. Before being lowered to the ground, they experience the cradling support of their team.
Objectives and Outcomes
* Participants begin to explore their capacity to take risks, express their fears, and ask for team support.
* Participants who are hesitant about the experiential nature of the course or anxious about their performance on later events usually experience team support and success on this event.
* As participants catch teammates and cradle them in their arms, they develop team support, trust, and caring. This bonds the group and redefines the days events as team challenges, rather than individual undertakings.
* Spotters develop camaraderie, team spirit, and pride as they successfully assure the safety of their teammates.
The Edge
Participants plant their feet on a ledge and then are lowered so that they are leaning over a precipice looking down at the ground below by means of ropes attached to their harness
After a time, they are then raised to a standing position.
Objectives and Outcomes
* Although it is in fact the simplest event - it is without doubt, the most impactfuL.
* The participants are taken out of the 'normal' behaviors of "thinking" and "doing "and given the opportunity to really experience the realms of "being" and "feeling".
* Participants experience profound realizations from being literally 'On the Edge' - the edge of their personal comfort zones; the edge of 'the known'
* Participants experience an alternative to "action" for solutions.
* Participants 'trained' by society on the premise of achievement as a way to measure success establish new insight into personal value system.
High V's
A team of two participants climb together up a pole to a rope that is strung tightly between three points about 25 feet up in the air. By placing their hands above their heads and locking palms, they climb out as far as they can go and then are lowered to the ground.
Objectives and Outcomes
* Participants experience true "strategic partnering" in which success is ultimately dependent upon supporting the success of another.
* Participants experience the "point of commitment" where they must let go of trying to balance themselves and lean into each other for support.
* As participants lean into each other, they create a resilient, teepee-like stance, which allows them to balance way out onto the ropes and experience the stability, power and exhilaration of 100% mutual trust, commitment and support.
* Participants have the opportunity to assess their willingness to partner versus the more commonb"lone-ranger" or even adversarial mind set.
* The team of belayers quickly develops camaraderie, team spirit and pride as they successfully take responsibility for and assure the safety of the event.
Beam / Tightrope
Participants climb up to a suspended beam/ tightrope about 30-35 feet in the air and walk across to the opposite side using their balance to traverse the obstacle.
Objectives and Outcomes
* Participants practice principles of " Focus, Breathe, and Choose".
* Participants experience practical application of "Centering".
* Participants experience feelings of "Having to let go of what I have to get to what I want".
* Participants learn through experience to not "sprint" to end of goals, but maintain steady pace to accomplish task at hand.
* Participants given opportunity to "take the extra step past where I think I can go".
Burma Bridge / Rappel
Participants climb up to a suspended bridge about 50 feet high. By stepping on a cable strung between two trees and using two ropes for handrails, participants traverse between trees.
Upon reaching the end of the bridge, participants are then clipped into a friction device that they lower themselves down to the ground with.
Objectives and Outcomes
* Participants are given a practical demonstration of the power of intention in crossing the bridge.
* Participants experience the exhilaration of confronting terrifying challenges as they discover the inner strength and team support necessary to bust through their fears, let go, and traverse out into the unknown.
* Participants experience the ability to stop automatic responses to stressful situations; challenge their fears and self imposed boundaries; and finally start to make choices to step beyond those boundaries.
* Fear makes the transition to exhilaration as participants step from the platform. The dramatic memory of this positive risk-taking experience encourages participants to view future challenges as opportunities and adventures- rather than dangers or threats
* Participants experience self confidence as they lower themselves to the ground going at a pace that they set and are in total control of.