By David F. Rooney
Looking for adventure? Preferably something unusual that lets you get your feet off the ground? You don’t have to go far to find that: Skytrek Adventure Park, just 35 kilometres west of Revelstoke.
I recently had the pleasure of taking my nephews Nii Noi and Tettey Tetteh west along the highway to this addition to the much-loved Enchanted Forest. These are adventurous and sports-minded boys — well used to hiking in the Selkirks with their grandfather, Bud Stovel, and their Aunt Laura or playing hockey in the winter. So a trip to Skytrek seemed like a great way to let them have some fun and get their feedback on this adventure park.
And adventure is the operative word. Skytrek offers patrons and opportunity to explore the forest via zip lines. There is some scrambling up rope nets and over-handing your way from tree to tree but it is perfectly safe. It’s safe because you are never unsecured from your safety harness and you must undergo a training session before you are allowed more than a couple of metres off the ground.
People do have problems from time to time. Some individuals may experience a moment or two of acrophobia, but as guide Johnny Antoniuk noted after helping bring one woman down, “it’s all in your head.”
Veronica Stevenson, Skytrek’s extremely fit, Czech-born manager, said there has never been a serious injury at the park and she’d like to keep it that way.
“This is the perfect game for people who are looking for a little adventure and some exercise,” she said.
Game? But of course, it is. Think of Skytrek as a real-world video game where you — the player — have to advance through a series of increasingly challenging levels. In a video game there would be some kind of pay off. There is at Skytrek, too: the adrenaline rush of flying through the sky, whooping and laughing, as my nephews did.
“I really liked the zip lines and the climbing wall,” said Nii Noi. “I found part of it a little scary but not so scary that I couldn’t do it.”
His younger brother Tettey loved the zip lines, too, “but the thing I liked best were the hanging logs — they were sweet.”
How sweet was this adventure?
Check out the pictures and judge for yourself or go to the Enchanted Forest and Skytrek website.
