Ropes Facilitator

 In May I was asked to become trained on the ropes course at the local church owned camp.  This involved 3 days of training 8-5 and making sure I was available to go to camp.  This worked out perfectly with my semester break.  I've enjoyed this so thoroughly and learned a lot from it.

This is the view from the mid-zip position I was trained on.  Here I would use a brake mechanism to slow the participant down and get them to the platform.  There is a rope attached to the brake that they are instructed to grab that allows me to pull them in the last little bit when they can't touch the platform yet.  I connect them to a "pigtail" on the pole the platform is built on, then transfer their trolley and smart snap hardware to the second zipline for their trip to the ground.

This was me atop the rappeling tower where I recieved climbers and sent them down.  I'm glad I got some good practice at this station during camp.  This is where I developed better visual comfort with heights and confidence in the equipment.

To enter the course participants need to climb this rope ladder.  This is the hardest physical task of the course.  If you can't do it, you are going to come back down and then you will never have to face the other difficulties.  If you can do this rope ladder then nothing else will require more strength.  The other challenges on the coures are 40 feet in the air so that challenges every task in the ropes course. This sweet sister trained to do ground belay but still tried to go up.  She wasn't able to complete the climb but in her own words, it was important for her to try hard things so she could support her young women.  She was so brave.

Working with the ropes course group was lovely.  They all shared this value of wanting to support the youth; giving their time, comfort, physical, and mental energy to learn these skills.  Working together, communicating, learning a little about each other was so good.  At the start everything was so novel and we took pictures of each thing we did.  Wow, I did this!  By the end it was no big deal to get the equipment set up and go do your job.  It was still thrilling to be judged capable of this responsibility because my brain loves that approval, but it wasn't like I had to get pumped up to do the job.

Some memorable times: 

I was on belay for someone and they were struggling.  While on belay there was a ruccus and all the other training team was chatting about it and looking.  It was tempting to put the brake hand down and look too but I kept my eyes on the climber, talking to them, supporting them.  That is what "on-belay" means for me.

I did the "leap of faith" a few times and it always seems like no big deal until you're up at the top and have to stand on the platform, then step off the platform.  Even knowing the rope is on your back it is still hard. I found that I needed to keep my eyes on the red boy to avoid feeling disoriented.  I could get to the platform, get to my knees, then to "mantle" I had to close my eyes because in the moment of standing I couldn't keep my eyes on the ball. That was wild to go up then close my eyes to stand. 

A girl was stuck on the "leap of faith", unwilling to jump.  The safest place to exit this is from the top.  Any other point will have greater likelihood of crashing into the pole.  She was up there sobing for many minutes before the facilitators finally pulled the rope to lift her off.  She clung to the platform.   While on the pole a group of onlookers were consoling and cheering for her.  After she was brought down they couldn't go to her because they didn't have helmets to enter the course area.  I asked the girls waiting to be sent up the ladder to go console her since they had helmets.  Only one went, but I hope that was a good experience for her to leave the group and console someone. I asked her leader the next day if she was fine and she said the girl was totally fine afterward.  

While at mid-zip I had to rescue 2 boys.  The first boy's safesnap strap was too short causing it to pull the trolley sideways and ride on the plastic rather than the wheels.  He didn't make it to to brake zone so I couldn't pull him in.  I had to clip onto the cable and climb out to him, give him a rope (I was supposed to clip a lobster claw to his trolley) and tow him in.  This really tested the limits of my strength.  I was taking smaller and smaller pulls before I reached the platform, but we made it!  The second boy forgot to grab the rope so I climbed out again.  He was much smaller and his trolley was not binding on the cable.  The second rescue was so much easier but I was getting tired so I switched out.

On Monday of camp it rained hard as we were inventorying the equipment.  There was a break in the rain so we set up.  Then it started to rain and kept raining.  I couldn't believe we were doing it in the rain but we did.  Afterward we strung up the equipment in the rafters of a work shed to let it airdry overnight with a fan.

There were so many talk moments in this experience.  As a facilitator it is your job to help the participants experience the course.  You're there to keep them safe so they can have the courage to do hard things.  As a parent I am doing that everyday.  

I learned to shift my gaze and get comfortable seeing the ground very far away.  I say "I learned" but it came with time and exposure.  At the beginning my eyes took a second to focus and in that second I felt off balance for a moment.  With exposure my eye muscles strengthened and my ability to switch instantly to seeing far away improved.  With that instant switch I no longer felt uneasy.  Perspective.

Trust the equipment.  You don't have to worry about falling.  The safesnap/carabiners will keep you from falling.  Focus on what your hands and feet are doing and don't worry about falling.  

There are many lessons in the ropes course.  It is an alegory of this life.  There is strength to be found and opportunities to bless others in the expeirence.  It has been a privilege to join this team, AND now I get ot go to camp forever!

The Saturday before camp our family was invited down to expeirence the course and so I could get more practice.  The kids had fun.  P said I was awesome.  It has been a great thing.  Grandma Buffy!