A ropes course is a challenging outdoor activity that is intended for personal development and team building.A ropes course usually consists of both high and low elements. Happy Valley has one of the best high-ropes courses in Northern California on-site, within the Redwoods.
Karl, Kyle, Kayla, and I began our time at Happy Valley with various trainings. During this time, us interns and some of the other staff members at Happy Valley participated in Challenge (High-Ropes) Course Facilitation Training. Over the course of two days, we spent about fourteen hours on the course. Our time on the course was spent with a nice man named Jerry from the Boojum Institute. Jerry lead the challenge course operations and facilitation training for Happy Valley.
Jeff and Amanda joined us for course training as well as Kati and Kyle, two students from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Our training schedule began with reviewing the gear, knot tying, and belay skills. Then we spent time with risk management; specifically concerning daily inspections, participants and facilitators, emotional concerns, environmental, and incident reports. After all of this was completed, we moved onto the course. We went through the set-up and tear down of the Happy Valley Challenge Course through each element on the course; Zone 1, Zone 2, and Zone 3.
